He came home, closed himself in his bedroom and drank battery acid. The Butss do not believe that Mr. Muth took his own life because of personal problems alone. They also speak of the difficult life in the Mozambican capital of Maputo, of the aftermath of genocidal war, of street crime, and of too much new money flaunted in too few new hands. Mr. Muth worked to bring to Mozambique peace and reconciliation, the Butts say. The council, and indeed most African church agencies, lack the capacity to respond adequately to the spiritual and psychological needs of their lay professional African staff.
Few agencies are even aware that there is such a problem.
The prophetic call is never easy or peaceful, but these African frontline workers are having a real tough time of it. Some are traumatized. Mr. Muth's program, for example, had improbable expectations. The estimates of the number of weapons in the country were as high as six million, but the UN collected only 189,827 weapons between 1992 and 1995 when the mission ended. The first phase of Mr. Muth's project began in October 1995.