Malawi News

Malawi Visit:

It's only a short time since the presbytery group returned from the visit to Malawi, where we spent a fortnight visiting the Presbytery of Bandawi. Our trip out was long and tiring and the connections times in between flights were fairly tight and there was a real possibility as the flights left Glasgow late that we would miss our connection at Amsterdam, but with some prayer and the providence of God and hurrying through the airport at Amsterdam we made the connections and we arrived in Lilongwe to be met by our driver Owen. Cases loaded onto the ‘Sputnik Car Hire’ minivan we set off on a six hour journey by road to the north of the country, and Bandawe Presbytery. We stayed the first two nights in Mzuzu where we met with some of the officials from the Synod of Livingstonia at the head office of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP). We also went to the local cash and carry or large shop and purchased sweets, biscuits and soap as gifts for the children and others that we would visit on our journey. Saturday morning came and with another visit from the Deputy General Secretary of the church and the Presbytery clerk. We set off for our stay at our partner church at Phiri. We arrived at a place called Singo and just a matter of 100 meters away from the road we stopped and were greeted by a large group of people; women’s guild members in their uniforms, church elders and children were all gathered and sang as we decanted from the minibus. A tremendous welcome from everyone: Sandra McCall and myself were to be here for the next two nights and three days to see exactly what it meant to be the church in that place. The rest of the party set off to stay with their partner church for the next few days and we would meet up again on Monday.

The Minister at Phiri the Rev. Joseph Chimembe had organised that we would have the chance to visit all of the prayer houses that were associated with the church at Phiri. The system is that there as some eight prayer houses at various locations throughout the parish or area that the church covers, and the people will meet for worship at the prayer houses and will only come to the main church occasionally. This of course means that the minister can only conduct services at each prayer house now and again. The responsibility for the worship at the prayer houses rests with the elders and sometime evangelists who are attached to the congregations. There is a great responsibility goes along with this, yet there is a great enthusiasm for their faith and their church. We travelled far to get to all the prayer houses and they were in differing states of repair and or building. Some were in excellent condition, but many were in need of iron sheets for roofing or cement to give some sort of flooring, one had only the walls with no roof and no floor. The minister is in some ways a bit more like a bishop and has the care of some 2,000 – 3,000 souls.

When we went to visit the last two prayer houses we had to descend a slope that would have been as steep as parts of Goat Fell, but not as high, where we reached the shore of Lake Malawi and into an open fishing boat that belonged to the session clerk William. We then travelled for half an hour on the lake to be welcomed again with singing from the women’s guild and gifts. By the time we returned the light had gone and we had to climb the hill in the dark with the aid of torches. I think there were serious concerns about my wellbeing as I (being totally unfit and a little overweight) was puffing like an old horse well before I reached the top. Reaching the top we then got into the car that would take us back to Phiri. There had been some young men in the boat with us who travelled to the top of the hill, but as we got into the car they set off on a three hour walk to get to the church that they might be there in the morning for the service.

There were two services on Sunday the first in between 8 am and 10 am where I preached and celebrated communion and the second where their own minister Joseph preached and Sandra was made an honorary member of the guild, which meant that she was dressed in the guild uniform and danced and sung into the church by the other guild members (much to her embarrassment). The worship in the church was of a very lively and exuberant nature, with many choirs who not only sang but sang with attitude, and had well rehearsed dance routines. There was a great informality and there were occasions when the minister would take the microphone and sing and lead the singing in the congregation.

The overwhelming impression that you have when you go to Malawi is of the poverty of the people, of how little they have and yet how great is their faith and their joy. The buildings are made from clay bricks, made from the local soil, that are fired and built together with mud. If the people are wealthy enough the bricks are then coated with cement; the roofs are often of thatch or perhaps iron roofs. We stayed in the manse at Phiri, which last year had an inside toilet installed. There was a cold shower, and as guests we were provided with basins of hot water for our use – this was relatively luxurious, although it didn’t feel like that at the time. There was electricity in the manse and the church and yet cooking is still done everywhere on open wood burning fires and the smell of wood smoke is all pervasive. There are many long term and short term problems in Malawi, but there is an incredible warmth and the country deserves the name of ‘The Warm Heart of Africa’

We took many gifts with us mainly in the form of money, but we did also take along  a pulpit fall very generously made and gifted by Frances Coid, and this is now in use at the church in Phiri.

There is much more to tell and over the coming weeks I am sure we will have many opportunities to speak about our experiences and to show some of the photos and video that we were able to take when we were there.