Tuesday, June 16, 2009
OUTSIDE NTANDIRE CHURCH WHILST IN MALAWI
Outside Ntandire church with parishioners and seated beside Silvester 
ST KIZITO CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
PICTURES CLOSE TO ST KIZITO'S AND INSIDE THE CHURCH
The above pictures are of local stalls near St Kizito. Above is the altar at St Kizito inside the church.
THE LANDSCAPE, FR PADDY HAGAN , AND STREETSCAPE
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
POSTCARD FROM AFRICA
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.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
THE DEGENARTES DONATE THEIR SERVICES TO MALAWI AND FOR OUR ENJOYMENT
Thursday, March 26, 2009
CRAZY WHIST NIGHT A GREAT SUCCESS
THE MALAWI GROUP wish to thank everyone for their attendance and donation support to the Crazy Whist night in the hall last Saturday which raised $600.
It was such an enjoyable social event that some people have suggested we run another one later in the year.
Raffle winners and various small leader prizes were given out during the night
It was such an enjoyable social event that some people have suggested we run another one later in the year.
Raffle winners and various small leader prizes were given out during the night
Monday, December 08, 2008
2008 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE PARISH
On behalf of the committee I am pleased to report that we are again delighted with the level of generosity within the parish.
The year began on a very positive note with a letter of thanks from Fr F Taylor informing us our last remittance was used to facilitate flooring and plastering at the new church / hall at Natandire. He told us the Christians were very happy in their new church. The work is now almost complete and we were delighted to learn the new church has been named ‘Our Lady Help of Christians’. The church is to be consecrated next year in May 2009 and I have accepted their invitation to attend. Any members are also welcome to attend. You can view pictures of the new church on the Malawi notice board in the gathering area of the church or by visiting our website at http://malawisupportgroup.blogspot.com
Next year will involve a significant change in our funding support to embrace humanitarian type projects rather than our previous focus on desperately needed community building works. Any donations parishioners may care to make to these important projects will make an enormous difference to the lives and outcomes of our extended parish family, in these outlying impoverished areas of Mt Siriza and Ntandire. Please see our treasurer Bernie Murray if you would like to make a donation.
The two projects that Fr Taylor has designated for us to help fund in 2009 are as follows.
- Paying school fees for orphans in primary and secondary schools for the areas of
Mtsiriza and Ntandire.
- Assisting feeding 6o nursery school children for Mtsiriza
The Nursery is run by Mtsiriza Church.
Activities this year
This year we conducted a Crazy whist fundraiser card night which was enjoyed by everyone, including many who had not previously played who learnt to play for the first time. The night raised $700.
Our theatre night continues to be succesful and we enjoyed the hilarious comedy written by Alan Ayckbourn entitled Absurd Person Singular.
The theatre was fully booked and we raised just under $1600 including proceeds from the raffle. In attendance were students from La Trobe University who were all from the Ithaca campus of Cornell University in NY and were over here for a semester to study Australian history. They all enjoyed there local cultural experience.
Raffles as always have also been very successful.
At our AGM current office bearers confirmed they continuance for the 2009 year.
The year began on a very positive note with a letter of thanks from Fr F Taylor informing us our last remittance was used to facilitate flooring and plastering at the new church / hall at Natandire. He told us the Christians were very happy in their new church. The work is now almost complete and we were delighted to learn the new church has been named ‘Our Lady Help of Christians’. The church is to be consecrated next year in May 2009 and I have accepted their invitation to attend. Any members are also welcome to attend. You can view pictures of the new church on the Malawi notice board in the gathering area of the church or by visiting our website at http://malawisupportgroup.blogspot.com
Next year will involve a significant change in our funding support to embrace humanitarian type projects rather than our previous focus on desperately needed community building works. Any donations parishioners may care to make to these important projects will make an enormous difference to the lives and outcomes of our extended parish family, in these outlying impoverished areas of Mt Siriza and Ntandire. Please see our treasurer Bernie Murray if you would like to make a donation.
The two projects that Fr Taylor has designated for us to help fund in 2009 are as follows.
- Paying school fees for orphans in primary and secondary schools for the areas of
Mtsiriza and Ntandire.
- Assisting feeding 6o nursery school children for Mtsiriza
The Nursery is run by Mtsiriza Church.
Activities this year
This year we conducted a Crazy whist fundraiser card night which was enjoyed by everyone, including many who had not previously played who learnt to play for the first time. The night raised $700.
Our theatre night continues to be succesful and we enjoyed the hilarious comedy written by Alan Ayckbourn entitled Absurd Person Singular.
The theatre was fully booked and we raised just under $1600 including proceeds from the raffle. In attendance were students from La Trobe University who were all from the Ithaca campus of Cornell University in NY and were over here for a semester to study Australian history. They all enjoyed there local cultural experience.
Raffles as always have also been very successful.
At our AGM current office bearers confirmed they continuance for the 2009 year.
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