Our Lady & St Thomas of Canterbury/St Charles Lwanga parish link
Mission Statement:
The parishioners of St Charles Lwanga parish, Zomba, Malawi and
the parishioners of St Thomas of Canterbury parish, Wymondham,
England seek to develop an awareness of each others’ communities
through:
• Prayer
• Shared experiences of Faith
• Friendship
• Understanding and tolerance
In order to strengthen Christian faith and spirituality
The parish of Our Lady and St Thomas of Canterbury is linked
with a St Charles Lwanga parish in Zomba, Malawi. This link is
the result of an idea from the Parish Pastoral Council
which was trying to develop a stronger international dimension
to parish life. Malawi is a small peaceful country but the UN
say that it is one of the poorest countries in the world. Other
countries are poor because of wars or famine. but Malawi is so
poor because it has no natural resources. The poverty of the
country is seen in the health of the people; 20% are HIV
positive, 40% are malnourished, 30% of children die before they
are 5 years old and average life expectancy is 37.
Our link began with the exchange of letters and emails and in
2004 we began fundraising to build a brick wall fence around the
parish grounds. St Charles Lwanga Church owns quite a lot of
land and they had already started to build a brick wall for
security.
 The previous parish priest had been shot during an
attempted break in and they also found that people were
encroaching on their land and putting buildings up. In February
2005 a group of five parishioners made a first visit to Zomba to
develop friendship links and to find out what we could learn
from each other.
Malawi is known as ‘The Warm Heart of Africa’ and it is a well
deserved name. Our delegates received a tremendous welcome and
learned so much during their stay. In June 2006 the former
parish priest, Father Henry Kaleso, visited Wymondham.
The Malawi group are now fundraising to build a maize mill for
the parishioners in Zomba. Maize is a staple food; it is grown
by most people in their gardens and every family regularly take
maize to a mill for grinding. This is a service which they have
to pay for but it is used so frequently because the maize stores
better ‘on the cob’. If the parish owned a mill it would provide
employment for some people and would provide an income for the
parish.
Anyone who would like to make a donation to our appeal should
send or leave a cheque in the Presbytery made out to The Church
of Our Lady and St Thomas of Canterbury in an envelope marked
"Malawi Appeal". |
