Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 12

A journey to meet ARI graduates in Zambia & Malawi, 2024

We are sharing with you a series of travel logs written by ARI staff member Steven, who visited Africa in August.
On this day, just at the turn of the trip, they step into the next country, Malawi!
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa!

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day 13】

Sister Esther at the Chikungu Mission
Today is the day we cross the border into Malawi. Kai is pretty excited about this because he has never crossed an international land border. That would be hard to do from Japan! But before heading there, we spent some time with Sr. Esther to learn more about Chikungu Mission. Judy commented how Catholic mission stations in rural areas tend to be quite good. They obtain a large amount of land and start by building a hospital and a school, and of course, a church. Thinking over the few Catholic mission stations I have visited in Africa, I believe her observation to be true.

Unfortunately, Kai woke up with a sore throat and a fever but was delighted to find all the best things to treat these symptoms at the breakfast table – honey, ginger, citrus jams, and tea and a nice bowl of steaming hot mushroom soup. Breakfast conversation turned to the drought and Esther said that for the moment this area is not much effected, but “in two months people will be crying.” Judy shared that in her place, Kanakantapa, people line up from 1:00 AM to get a bag of mielie meal (corn flour). If the rains don’t come again this season they will need foreign aid, but “that aid never reaches the people.” Those in charge ensure it is first distributed to their own families and tribe / political party members. (Whole tribes are often affiliated with one party). However, in Chongwe, where EDF is located, there is a very strong chief who makes sure the handouts go out quickly and fairly, because “she doesn’t want to see her people suffer.” I didn’t realize that it is common for a woman to become chief, but the position is hereditary so if there are no sons, it will go to the daughter. This Chongwe chief seems to have quite a bit of power, as she will call the politicians to meet with her one by one!

Esther and one Priest (whose name I forgot, so sorry!) took us for a tour of the compound. The Chikungu Mission was established in 1985 and has two centers. One is a catechist training center (a catechist is like an assistant to a priest). The last group of catechists completed their two-year program a month ago, and the Mission is now interviewing for the next group. 20 catechists are trained at a time, including men and women. When a woman is accepted, her husband has to sign an agreement that he understands this training is for her, and he is meant to take a support role. Trainees come with their families and family housing is provided along with plots of land that they can farm for their needs. The spouse who is not studying can find employment in town, but they often choose to work the provided land. Trainees are also given time off to farm when needed. They grow maize, ground nuts, sunflowers, and soybeans and Esther assists them with farming advice. The children attend the nearby primary and secondary schools.

The other main facility is a Pastoral Care Center which is used for conferences, meetings and planning sessions. There is also a chapel, offices, and several classrooms. Esther was eager to show us the Mission’s gardens. I’m not sure if these are Esther’s initiative or a Mission project, but either way, she wanted us to see how sustainable farming is an integral part of life in the Mission Station.

Another one of John’s footprints
We departed mid-morning and began making our way down the dusty road toward Chipata. If this were the rainy season, the roads would be vastly different, impassable, as some parts ford flowing rivers (which are dry at the moment). On passing a cassava field, Judy noted how Casava is more drought tolerant. You can make nshima from casava, but people prefer maize. Kai asked why people want metal roofs rather than grass roofs, and it was explained that they are sturdier and more waterproof. Grass roofs last about five years. Since we were there in the dry season, the value of a metal roof was not so obvious, but when the rains come, I’m sure it becomes clear. When a family gets a little extra income, the first thing they get is a metal roof. As we passed by a place called Mazimoyo (water life), John told us that he had once been a pastor there. It seems as if John has touched all parts of Zambia in his long and giving life.

Lots of Sisters – don’t get confused!
When we reached Chipata (our final city in the east of Zambia), we stopped in at the Chipata Mission to meet with the Head of the Order of the Good Shepherd Sisters. This town is famous for a large colonial time s church called St. Anne’s Cathedral. The Sister Superior General was in a meeting, so we talked with Sr. Florence Kapende instead. Priscilla had been stationed in the Chipata Mission until February of 2024, and this is where she was when she went to ARI. Sr. Florence was quick to point out that Priscilla was doing farming here. “She has implemented what she learned in ARI, and she is very particular in organic farming.” She also started raising poultry and pigs, using the manure as compost. Priscilla was always ready to share with others and formed a group of women farmers from the town. She handed all her activities over to the mission when she left. Sister Florence described Priscilla as an active organic farmer, whereas Esther is more small scale. The meeting concluded with Sr. Florence providing her contact information and agreeing that it might be good to send more sisters from their order to ARI. By the way, you may have noticed that I don’t prefix Priscilla or Esther with a “Sr.” This is because at ARI we didn’t use it, so I’m just continuing with what feels natural to me.

The Hungry Lion
Our last requirement in Chipata was to eat lunch at the Hungry Lion, a fast-food chicken chain (like KFC) with stores all over the country. Kai and I had been wanting to try it since the day we arrived, but for one reason or another we always had to put it off and today was our last chance. There are no branches in Malawi. We checked! It was delicious! The chicken was fresh, and the place was very clean. Prices were reasonable for me, but I think they are on the high side for the average Zambian, so eating here is a special treat. Still, they seem to have no shortage of customers! Unfortunately, Kai was still not well and couldn’t enjoy it, though he had waited so long. Next door was a pharmacy, so we dropped by for some meds. Oh, and one quick observation about Chipata is that the motorcycle taxis were mounted with big umbrellas, something I had not seen in other places!

Into Malawi we go
The border crossing went smoothly. Only Kai had a longish wait to process his visa. MacDonald was there waiting for us with his car and helped us change money to Malawi Kwacha. We said our goodbyes to John and Judy, and they circled back to Zambia to visit Judy’s father, who lives in the Chipata area. He is 103 years old. Or was it 104? We will be seeing John and Judy again at the conference in Lilongwe in about a week!

Before the European colonists drew their arbitrary borders, East Zambia and Central Malawi were one tribe. They still are one tribe with a common language, called Nyanja in Zambia and Chichewa in Malawi. It is one and the same language with only some differences in accent.

An erratic introduction to Malawi
Derived from random chats in the car with MacDonald One of the first things you will notice in Malawi is the excessive number of policemen. Checkpoints are everywhere and they will search your car for any possible excuse to fine you. According to Mac, this is how the government (or maybe just the politicians) get a big portion of their revenue, and the police are even given quotas for fine collections! There also happens to be a loooot of goats wandering around the sides of the roads, and on the roads (be careful!), and so I asked Mac which are more plentiful, the police or the goats. He laughed and said he really didn’t know. Collecting wood for charcoal is illegal in Malawi, but only creating laws doesn’t seem very effective in solving the root problems of deforestation. This means that you see less people selling charcoal on the roadsides than in Zambia and when the police decide to do something about it, those policemen just take it to another location and sell it themselves.

A few other notable roadside sightings were two men painted all in white. Mac called them Masquerades. They wear animal masks and consider themselves to be the spirits of beasts. If I understood correctly, they are capable of wearing masks that look like your own face – freaky. These fellows used to dance and sometimes beat people (why?), but not so much nowadays, as they will be arrested for that. Next, we saw a couple of guys holding puppies high up for passersby to see. Puppies for sale, Malawi style! They were super cute and of a specific breed, not just common village dogs.

Malawi has a population of 20 million and Zambia is 26 million. Although Malawi is much smaller than Zambia, and has a higher population density, its land is being sold to the Chinese, Indians, and people in Burundi, Rwanda, and the DRC. Ninety percent of the people are subsistence farmers dependent on rain. Though Lake Malawi spans almost the entire length of the country, there is very little irrigation, so when the rains are scarce, the crops fail. The main cash crop is tobacco for export. Good for the Malawians that I saw almost nobody smoking!

Islam is older than Christianity here, brought by Arab slave traders. Mosques are all around and my first morning in Malawi I was awakened early by the call to prayer. The first Christians were the Anglicans, arriving in 1861.

MacDonald, the first ARI participant from Malawi
MacDonald is an Anglican priest currently assigned to the diocese of Malindi on the eastern shores of Lake Malawi. His real name is Fr. Njala Banda. Well, even that is not his full name. I saw the full version written once somewhere and it included lots of other names, letters, and apostrophes, and looked very impressive, but I think I am just going to stick with MacDonald…or Mac…sometimes maybe Njala. If you want to know how he got the name MacDonald, let me know and I’ll ask him. He is the first Participant to come to ARI from Malawi (in 2010), recommended by his Bishop at the very last minute, when another candidate suddenly withdrew. I’m proud to say that I was a part of that happening, because MacDonald opened a path to ARI that has been followed by more than a dozen more Malawian Rural Leaders!

Pulling apart and pulling back together
That very same Bishop has since been excommunicated from the church. There is a long and painful drama behind this, which deeply affected MacDonald and sent a split through the whole church. I’ll spare you the details, but the long, drawn-out incident had deep repercussions in congregations across the land. Parishioners were divided into those who supported the bishop and those who were against him. Some members spent weeks in prison because they had been reported against by fellow members. After the excommunication of the bishop, MacDonald was sent to the Malindi parish, where there were deep rifts, with many members of the congregation having been arrested, due to the situation described above. People were full of anger and hatred, vowing never to return or never to speak to a fellow church member again. MacDonald had a lot of work to do to bring healing here and he started by talking one by one to those who had spent time in prison. Then he talked to other members of the congregation and preached sermons of unity and forgiveness. He spoke of how they are one people of one community. They cannot divide themselves for the sake of following a single person, an outsider, like the bishop. Even MacDonald is an outsider, but this congregation, this is their home and their family. These are some of the things he told me he said, but I am sure I am not getting it very complete. Within a month, however, all the people returned, and the church became united and active again.

Now there is a new bishop, whom we met a few days later. When the list of names to consider for the new bishop was being composed, MacDonald’s name was included. However, when Mac found out about it, he asked for it to be erased. Firstly, he did not want it to appear that he had designs to become bishop, as was claimed by the ex-communicated bishop. Secondly, since he was actively associated with one side in the conflict, he felt his appointment would only deepen the chasm in the church and he would not be able to provide the healing that was needed. It seems as if this issue is behind everyone now and let us hope this is truly the case and a new chapter has started.

We had planned to drive all the way to Salima near lake Malawi, but because of Kai’s condition we stopped for the night in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital city, so we could all have a good rest, and Kai could visit a hospital the next morning. Tomorrow will be the true start of our Malawi adventures!

Written by Steven Cutting (Graduate Outreach Coordinator)
Travelling with Kai Shinoda (Admissions and Recruitment Coordinator)

Click here to read the series of articles

Vol.0 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Prologue】

Vol.1 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 1-2】

Vol.2 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 3】

Vol.3 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 4】

Vol.4 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 5】

Vol.5 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 6】

Vol.6 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 7】

Vol.7 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 8】

Vol.8 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 9】

Vol.9 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 10】

Vol.10 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 11】

Vol.11 【The African journey to visit ARI graduates Day 12】