Each
year in June we remember Saint Kizito who was one of the Martrys of Uganda. He was the youngest martyr slain by King Mwanga of Buganda in 1886. He was beatified
by Pope Benedict XV in 1920 and canonised in 1964 by
Pope Paul 6th. His feast day is June 3.
Fr Taylor continues to be very grateful and encouraged by our generous donations which allows him to further the Lord’s work in Malawi. The
last time he wrote to us around Easter he spoke about the ‘turmoil’ in Malawi with
endless queues for fuel and rising food
prices which was causing unrest and
anger to be directed at the Government. This anger boiled over into uprisings on the streets and following a
heavy handed crackdown some demonstrators were killed.
Not long afterwards following
the sudden death of the President from a heart attack a new woman President, Joyce
Hilda Banda was installed on 7 April 2012 and to date early signs
are very good!! Her roots are as an educator
as she holds both a degree in Education from
Columbus University and a diploma in management. She has an outstanding record
as a grassroots women's' rights
activist. She was previously Foreign Affairs Minister and Vice President
from 2009 to April 2012.
She is Malawi’s first
female president.
Prior to politics Banda was
founder of the Joyce Banda Foundation, The National Association of
Business Women, Young Women Leaders Network and the Hunger Project. She was
listed in Forbes Magazine 2011 as the third most powerful woman in Africa. Her smoother than expected transition
of power is a relief for both Malawians and neighbouring countries.
Our
projects are going very well. We pay school fees for 35 students at secondary
level and fund breakfast for 280 school - children. We also fund food and fees
for orphans. There is a great deal of malnutrition among the children in the
village and reluctance to go to school because they are hungry and with your
support, we can provide supplementary food for them. Fr Taylor tells us they are so happy to be
going to school. Some do very well, others poorly but all are grateful to have
time at school. As a measure to thank our parishioners we have printed a number of postcards which are on the
table in the gathering areas. On the front is a picture of the OLHC church at
Ntandire and on the back Sr Mary Doonan's prayer which she composed for the
Malawi Support Group and we recite at the end of each meeting. The card could
possibly be used as a post card but the idea is more a way of sharing in Sr Mary’s
prayer by way of thanks to donors. Mary composed
the prayer for us whilst serving as a medical missionary in Malawi. Below is a picture of myself giving this talk at Mass on the Sunday.
Afterwards we ran a CD with the latest pictures from Malawi.We were very pleased with the generous donations from parishioners.
