Wherever I travel I am greeted with “Welcome Home”; an acknowledgement I am considered to have returned to my home – Africa the cradle of civilisation ! Stopping over at Joburg I was shown the sights by my guide ; Mandela square; monuments to gold mining, historic buildings, and a 360 degree view from 50 floors above. New developments are shooting up like green sprouts to change the once very dangerous city to make it much more friendly.
Once I was in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, I visited many of the Christian communities that make up the extended 5 parishes, the local gaol, the Catholic school at Mt Siriza and a government school which has 5000 students. I also listened to numerous stories from the locals. The parish is made up of about 12,000, split into 5 churches : St Kizito, Gabriella , Philomenia, Mt Siriza and St Andrea.
Each church is further split into Christian communities of which there are 47 in total. I have confirmed a funding project with the sister headmistress at Mt Siriza which will involve daily breakfast for 300 children, made up of a mixture of maize, soya and sugar which will enable at least one meal per day to ensure the children are not hungry or malnourished; who are then are able to concentrate on their schoolwork. I also confirmed we are able to sponsor 15 children for secondary education.
Fr Frank and Fr Patrick O' Hagan looked after me very well. Fr Paddy looks after the orchard so I enjoyed some wonderful fruits at breakfast. I jokingly told Fr Frank he has concrete flowing in his veins and not blood since he is constantly involved in building projects for the communities. He even recently completed a shelter for the gaol, using labour from within the facility to increase their skills. At the gaol I mistook an inmate for an official. He thought it was hilarious as he was serving a 16 year sentence. The over crowing was unbelievable, 2,126 men in such a small space they scarcely have room to walk around. But there are only 56 women, a measure of the disproportionate crime committed by men.
The new church looks beautiful yet simple and welcoming. It would accommodate 1000 people at a push. Fr Taylor has also built another small building alongside from a donation he received from the wife of the Irish Ambassador which will be rented be provide income for the Ntandire community.
Wherever I went I was greeted by 50- 60 children who are fascinated to see you and people are all genuinely pleasant and welcoming. The trip was very good so far except for my back which gave me some curry
The celebration at Ntandire was a great success filled with joyous music to accompany the 3 hour Mass presided over by the Bishop and in the afternoon festivities continued with traditional dances, a play and comedy sketch. There were nearly 1000 people packed into the church and afterwards the numbers swelled to what I gauge to be 3000; a very attentive sea of teeming friendly faces. Afterwards I gave a radio interview with the very popular Catholic radio station, whose ratings exceed the commercial stations.
Earlier, on the way, as we lurched along the red dusty pot holed road, people were waving and greeting us (in the normal friendly way synonymous of the poorer areas of Malawi) when a rare motorist suddenly pulled out in front of us and we narrowly avoided an accident. The drivers are shocking and rarely give any signals, but even when they do it’s likely to be incorrect. The previous day an ambulance spilled into a group of people rushing to receive free voter sponsored T shirts killing 8. They are also fond of road blocks and we have been occasionally stopped by the army or police to check where we are coming from and our destination. The officers however are always friendly.
After numerous thank you's and an endless procession of gifts to Fr Taylor- goats, chickens -and speeches it was time to say goodbye. I asked FR Taylor to cut a section of the cloth I received and together with the hand carved crucifix for OLHC, post it off to me in mid June when I’m back. We left with such a crowd of people following the car you could barely see the road and we crawled along at 1 km until we could eventually break clear when the red dust gave way to a wider section. On the following Monday we travelled to Lake Malawi which is very beautiful and I enjoyed the warm clear water with Fr Taylor, Dyson and his son Felix. A long way off were crocodiles and hippo’s.
Once I was in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, I visited many of the Christian communities that make up the extended 5 parishes, the local gaol, the Catholic school at Mt Siriza and a government school which has 5000 students. I also listened to numerous stories from the locals. The parish is made up of about 12,000, split into 5 churches : St Kizito, Gabriella , Philomenia, Mt Siriza and St Andrea.
Each church is further split into Christian communities of which there are 47 in total. I have confirmed a funding project with the sister headmistress at Mt Siriza which will involve daily breakfast for 300 children, made up of a mixture of maize, soya and sugar which will enable at least one meal per day to ensure the children are not hungry or malnourished; who are then are able to concentrate on their schoolwork. I also confirmed we are able to sponsor 15 children for secondary education.
Fr Frank and Fr Patrick O' Hagan looked after me very well. Fr Paddy looks after the orchard so I enjoyed some wonderful fruits at breakfast. I jokingly told Fr Frank he has concrete flowing in his veins and not blood since he is constantly involved in building projects for the communities. He even recently completed a shelter for the gaol, using labour from within the facility to increase their skills. At the gaol I mistook an inmate for an official. He thought it was hilarious as he was serving a 16 year sentence. The over crowing was unbelievable, 2,126 men in such a small space they scarcely have room to walk around. But there are only 56 women, a measure of the disproportionate crime committed by men.
The new church looks beautiful yet simple and welcoming. It would accommodate 1000 people at a push. Fr Taylor has also built another small building alongside from a donation he received from the wife of the Irish Ambassador which will be rented be provide income for the Ntandire community.
Wherever I went I was greeted by 50- 60 children who are fascinated to see you and people are all genuinely pleasant and welcoming. The trip was very good so far except for my back which gave me some curry
The celebration at Ntandire was a great success filled with joyous music to accompany the 3 hour Mass presided over by the Bishop and in the afternoon festivities continued with traditional dances, a play and comedy sketch. There were nearly 1000 people packed into the church and afterwards the numbers swelled to what I gauge to be 3000; a very attentive sea of teeming friendly faces. Afterwards I gave a radio interview with the very popular Catholic radio station, whose ratings exceed the commercial stations.
Earlier, on the way, as we lurched along the red dusty pot holed road, people were waving and greeting us (in the normal friendly way synonymous of the poorer areas of Malawi) when a rare motorist suddenly pulled out in front of us and we narrowly avoided an accident. The drivers are shocking and rarely give any signals, but even when they do it’s likely to be incorrect. The previous day an ambulance spilled into a group of people rushing to receive free voter sponsored T shirts killing 8. They are also fond of road blocks and we have been occasionally stopped by the army or police to check where we are coming from and our destination. The officers however are always friendly.
After numerous thank you's and an endless procession of gifts to Fr Taylor- goats, chickens -and speeches it was time to say goodbye. I asked FR Taylor to cut a section of the cloth I received and together with the hand carved crucifix for OLHC, post it off to me in mid June when I’m back. We left with such a crowd of people following the car you could barely see the road and we crawled along at 1 km until we could eventually break clear when the red dust gave way to a wider section. On the following Monday we travelled to Lake Malawi which is very beautiful and I enjoyed the warm clear water with Fr Taylor, Dyson and his son Felix. A long way off were crocodiles and hippo’s.
