Rural Leaders ― a Travel Log Vol. 17

January 24, 2025
Makiko Abe

We are sharing with you a series of travel logs written by ARI staff member Steven, who visited Africa in August.
Today is a Sunday to relax, which is essential on a long trip. The warm support of McDonald is very touching.
Don’t miss the incredibly cute-sounding Chichewa language lesson that will make you instantly friends with Malawians!
Let’s get started on our trip to Africa!

【An African journey to visit ARI graduates, Day 18】

A slow day
Sunday is a day for rest and so that is what we did. In Zomba, I started having the same symptoms as Kai, so MacDonald took me to his village clinic, where they set me up with some good meds, including pineapple flavored cough syrup. MacDonald wasn’t due to preach that day, so he attended another service. I wanted to join him, but he instructed Kai and me to sleep. So, we settled into our rooms in the Njala Resort on the edge of the lake and set our thoughts to getting healthy again.

I was feeling much better by later afternoon, so I took a walk around the compound. The church, from which I heard sweet Sunday morning singing, boasts a large stone on which Dr. David Livingstone sat to rest in September of 1866.

In the evening Catherine stopped by, coming all the way on her motorcycle. She really wants to send one boy from the village we visited to ARI. Jacob is his name. He is a super capable guy, dedicated to his village, but he doesn’t have a sending body to back his application to ARI. This is something we will have to work on over the next months.

Mac’s small dream
That evening, as we took supper by the shimmering waters, we talked a little more about Tito. Although they were solidly on opposite sides of the big conflict, Mac helped out Tito financially from time to time, after he had been excommunicated and had no salary. I asked MacDonald if it is good for ARI to train clergy. He responded that the leadership aspect of ARI is very good for clergy because they are so much connected with people. Regarding farming, however, it all depends on if there is support from upper church leadership or if agriculture, often referred to as “care for creation,” is a part of the mandate of the church. In Mac’s own experience, he said he has generally made more use of the leadership training, but his dream is to be sent one day to a rural parish where no other priest wants to go, to start farming with the church.
Mac also helped me to find 2018 ARI graduate, Sister Stella Notice. In 2018 we had three sisters from Africa! She had been hard to get ahold of, but eventually Mac found that she had left the nun’s life and was living in the north of Malawi. I was never able to talk with her directly.

Chabwino
We will end the day with a Chichewa language lesson. Whenever Mac was on his phone, he would wrap up conversations saying “chabwino.” It is such a cool word and fun to say so I asked him the context for usage and got the following lesson:

Zili bwino? Is it okay?
Zili bwino. It is okay.
Chabwino. Okay, good.

It was our last night at Njala Resort and the chance to drift off to sleep on the echoes of fishermen shouting out into the night.

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】