When Cyclone Idai struck the Southeast Africa coast last week, it swept away everything in its path, including churches, schools and homes in the Mozambican port city of Beira and beyond.

By Sunday, the number of confirmed deaths caused by the storm in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, already surpassing 700, continued to rise as churches, Christian relief organizations and agencies raced to aid the three countries most affected by the tropical storm.

After causing extensive flooding as a tropical storm, the cyclone — traveling at a speed of up to 177 kilometers (106 miles) an hour — made landfall on the Mozambican coast on March 14 and continued inland. On Saturday, agencies reported that the number of deaths had reached nearly 750 and was expected to rise in the three countries.

Last week, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said the number of deaths in his country could reach 1,000. Initial government estimates said nearly 1.8 million people were affected by the floods — including 900,000 children, according to UNICEF….

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Parishes in the diocese accuse Malasa of abusing funds as well as being greedy and power hungry.

They also claim that Malasa appointed himself chairman of most schools and health facilities owned by the diocese

Representatives of 37 of the 41 parishes last year resolved to ban their bishop from visiting all parishes within the diocese’s jurisdiction.

The parishes, according to the communication, also accuse the bishop of grabbing board chairmanships of most schools and health facilities in the diocese.

Resignations of priests from various roles and parishes they were deployed also angered the congregants.

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(Bp Tim Dakin: Diocese of Winchester photo)

My Lords, I too thank the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, for securing this debate. With Malawi on the brink of a major humanitarian crisis, there is no better time to highlight the challenges facing Africa today. I declare an interest as the chair of a small charity supporting education and development in Africa.

The welfare of the east African nations is of particular importance to me. I was born in Tanzania and spent some of my teenage years in Kenya. In the 1990s, I was the principal of a small college in Nairobi””indeed, we still keep a home situated on an old coffee farm near Thika. Through this previous experience and from regular visits, I have observed the finely balanced life which Kenyan agricultural workers live. Smallholdings are a significant element in the agricultural sector of Kenya. Many city dwellers also have a smallholding upcountry. A severe drought might mean the end of their children’s education. It may also result in families being unable to afford even the most basic medicines or in workers having to resort to desperate means of generating income to support their families.

The economic partnership agreements that we discuss today may have as much of an impact on the livelihoods of east African smallholders as a bumper harvest or a deadly drought. We have heard from the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, a sample of the difficulties caused by EPAs. I want to highlight two issues which could specifically affect the smallholder in Africa.

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Anglican bishop for Upper Shire Brighton Malasa has squarely put the blame on Malawi leaders for the problems facing the country.

Malasa said in an interview that Malawi leaders do not have plans for Malawians whenever they are getting into government.

“Yes, we have some misguided civil servants who steal money from the government but largely our leaders are to blame,” said Malasa.

President Peter Mutharika has blamed the cashgate and donors pull out as the major reasons for the economic turmoil.

However, it had to take the opposition, civil society g

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The Anglican Church in Malawi has appealed to all Malawians to take part in protecting people living with albinism and reporting any criminal acts by any suspects in our society.

The Church said it is sickened with reports that people living with albinism are still living in fear because some segments in the society continue hunting for their lives or body parts.

Chairman of the Anglican Council in Malawi, the Right Reverend Vitta Brighton Malasa, who disclosed that the Anglican Communion is monitoring the events and constantly engaging relevant sectors, observed that it is high time the nation joined hands in “uprooting this evil” so that sanity returns in the country.

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Water Missions International announced Tuesday that it is doubling its response to severe flooding that impacted southern Malawi in recent weeks.

An agreement between the Charleston-based nonprofit and UNICEF Malawi aims to increase safe water projects from eight to 17 communities in the African country, according to a news release.

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Waking up during a surgery would be a nightmare, yet that’s a regular problem for patients in low-income countries. Sketchy power grids mean the lights often go out, and with them, the anesthesia machine. In other cases, there are too few oxygen tanks for a surgery, so it’s canceled.

Two decades ago, Dr. Paul Fenton faced those hurdles almost daily while working as an anesthesiologist at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. The hospital had plenty of anesthesia machines, each provided by a well-intentioned western charity, but none were practical for his clinic.

“So I began tinkering with these old machines, and took a few bits and pieces from each,” recounts Fenton.

The result was a prototype for the Universal Anesthesia Machine (UAM), which delivers anesthesia without oxygen tanks or the need of stable power grid

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When Nyasaland became independent in 1964, Arden became Bishop of Malawi. He worked hard to encourage an indigenous ministry, consecrating the first Malawian suffragan bishop and increasing the number of ordained clergy from 23 to 100. He was keen on training the laity: “If the clergy are the lungs breathing in the fresh air of the Spirit, you laymen and laywomen are the hands and the feet and the mouth of the body of Christ,” he wrote. He was also instrumental in persuading the different Christian churches to establish a health association ”” it still provides 45 per cent of healthcare in Malawi.

Arden was particularly concerned about polio; at many confirmation services, polio sufferers would crawl to the front of the church or were carried there. He organised a survey of the area, discovering 500 cases. As a result he convinced a leading government surgeon to help to procure funds for a vaccination programme. Within a few years Malawi was the first developing country to be declared free of polio.

On the theological front, meanwhile, attempts were being made to revise the Book of Common Prayer, and Arden was a key figure in producing a new, 380-page prayer/hymnbook in Chichewa, the national language of Malawi.

He became Archbishop of Central Africa in 1971, and it was a matter of pride that he was the last white Archbishop of Central Africa.

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Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is one of fourteen signatories to an article in Living Church magazine entitled Defending Bishop Tengatenga.

The article highlighted what the fourteen said was a “gross injustice” to Bishop of Southern Malawi James Tengatenga whose job offer was withdrawn by New Hampshire’s Dartmouth College following complaints made by some students and staff….

“The President’s decision brought applause from some in the Dartmouth community,” it said. “Others were appalled, as are we. The action represents a gross injustice to an individual who would have made an ideal person to provide moral and ethical leadership at the College.

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The Anglican Church of Southern Malawi Diocese has finally elected a new bishop to take over from Rev James Tengatenga who resigned last month after he was offered a lucrative job in the USA.

The new bishop of the diocese is Venerable Rev Canaan Alinafe Kalemba and was elected Saturday during a process that was attended by a high-level mission in Blantyre.

Until his election, the bishop-elect, a former principal of Leonard Kamungu Theological College in Zomba (first Anglican theological college in Malawi), was a parish priest for Chirimba Anglican Church in Blantyre.

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In a communiqué issued at the end of its Fourth Synod Meeting held in Mangochi, the Anglican Diocese of Upper Shire regrets such conducts saying instead of benefiting the nation make it lose out.

“Political parties and individual politicians are asked to desist from the use of derogatory remarks, abusive language, personal insults and actions that would provoke anger and violence during campaign rallies, on polling day itself as well as after release of the elections results,” reads the communiqué signed by the Right Rev Brighton Vitta Malasa, Bishop of Upper Shire Diocese and President of the Synod of the Diocese of Upper Shire.

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Dartmouth College’s new president on Wednesday rescinded a job offer to an African bishop who was to have been dean of the institution’s Tucker Foundation, which promotes ethical leadership, spiritual development and social justice at the college. The appointment of James Tengatenga, a bishop of the Anglican church in Malawi, as dean set off a debate on campus and beyond because of his past anti-gay statements.

Philip J. Hanlon, the president, met with Tengatenga and announced that the college was taking back the job offer. In a statement, Hanlon said that there was much to praise in Tengatenga’s “inspiring life of service.”

Hanlon added: “However, following much reflection and consultation with senior leaders at Dartmouth, it has become clear to me that Dr. Tengatenga’s past comments about homosexuality and the uncertainty and controversy they created have compromised his ability to serve effectively as dean of Tucker. The foundation and Dartmouth’s commitment to inclusion are too important to be mired in discord over this appointment. Consequently, we have decided not to move forward with the appointment of Dr. Tengatenga as dean of the Tucker Foundation.”

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The Right Reverend Brighton Vitta Malasa, the Anglican Bishop of the Upper Shire Diocese has come under intense fire from his flock for being among the ”˜officiating clergy’ at ”˜New Year Prayers’ held at Mulli Brothers Limited Headquarters in Chigumula, Blantyre “without appropriate justification”.

There were ”˜New Year Prayers’ at Mulli Brothers premises on Wednesday “to pray for blessings in 2013” and according to an Anglican Christian who attended the function, “it was all politics and not prayers.”

“It was all politics where the officiating clergy that also included former president late Bingu wa Mutharika’s advisor, Reverend Bill Gama and Reverend Misheck Nasiyaya, both of the Blantyre Synod, kept on referring to the former DPP regime in their sermons….

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Delivering his sermon whose theme was kings and judges, Mr. E.L.C. Chirwa, a lay leader at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Lilongwe, said that it was the responsibility of Christians to pray for both religious and political leaders for them not to go astray.

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Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on 7 October discussed the Anglican church’s involvement in economic and agriculture projects with Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika.

“I talked about how sustainable agriculture methods should be developed and I am glad our church is involved in this,” said Williams, who is visiting Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia from 5-13 October.

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Anglican Church head Rowan Williams on Saturday praised pioneer missionaries to Malawi for ending the slave trade, at a service to mark their arrival in the country 150 years ago.

“The missionaries devoted their lives to liberation and challenged the evil of slavery,” Williams said at Magomero, northeast of Blantyre, at a colourful ceremony attended by President Bingu wa Mutharika and hundreds of worshippers.

The slave trade “degraded everyone and everything it touched,” the Archbishop of Canterbury said, adding, “The Church has done a great job in Africa.”

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On the other side of the table the extra-parliamentary dialogue group ”“ also led by an Anglican bishop ”“ has been consciously constructed to accommodate government sensitivities. To avoid antagonising [President Bingu wa] Mutharika’s government, key activists Undule Mwakasungula (Malawi Centre for Human Rights and Reconciliation), Rafik Hajat (Institute for Policy Interaction) and cleric Moses Mkandawire (Church and Society) have been kept out of the six-person team.

It is headed by current Anglican Bishop James Tengatenga and includes: Martha Kwataine (Malawi Health Equity Network), Robert Mkwezalamba (Malawi Congress of Trade Unions), Dorothy Ngoma (Nurses’ Union), Robert Phiri (Public Affairs Committee) and group spokesperson Voice Mhone (Council of NGOs of Malawi).

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