On 5th February 2022 priests, religious sisters, religious brothers and the laity gathered at Nzekokere Cathedral to celebrate the feast of the presentation of the Lord in the temple and launch Pontifical Missionary Society (PMS) Jubilees. The function was presided over by his Lordship Rt. Rev. Montfort Stima.

At the beginning of the function Fr. Steve Kamanga made a presentation on the Synod of Bishops which runs from 2021-2023.  In his presentation he explained what the synod is all about and how the faithful can actively participate.  After the synod presentation, Eucharistic celebration followed.

In his homily the bishop said, “we need to live Christ’s teachings and share him with our fellow brothers and sisters everywhere we go.”  When the Mass was ended a common meal was shared marking the closure of the celebration of consecrated life.

Introduction

Recently Nzekokere diocese has experienced heavy rains, winds and flood disasters that occurred in Nzekokere, Machinga and Balaka as a result of Tropical Cyclone ANA. This report covers information on the situations for the three districts.  The aim of the report is to share impact of the disaster on the affected households and communities and highlight immediate support required for response to the affected households.

 Balaka District

In Balaka the disaster occurred from 24^th to 25^th January, 2022 affecting the whole district which covers 18 Traditional Authorities. The villages with support from Area Civil Protection Committees conducted assessments on 25^th January 2022 and the verification by District Civil Protection Committee commenced on 26th January 2022. A total of 5663 houses are damaged due to heavy rains and flood rendering 5663 households affected. Number of households whose crops are washed away is not yet provided by the agriculture cluster since assessments are in progress.

Table 1:  Major impacts of the disaster by TAs

The district council and the DCPC led by the District Commissioner are:-

• Fast tracking VCPC and ACPC assessments and reports completion and submission to the council
• Cluster members are providing various relief support to the camp through extension workers on the ground since the area is not passable by road
• Verification is in progress
• DCPC is writing disaster report at 3 pm today 26th January 2022

 Recommendations

The district council recommends the following:

• Need for immediate Relief to the affected household (more consideration on food security and shelter support)
• Need for additional logistical support ( More on 4 wheel vehicles)
• Need for financial support for smooth response

Need for prompt rehabilitation of the road to Phimbi Camp

Nzekokere District

Nzekokere experienced stormy rains and floods from 23^rd to 24^th January 2022. Assessment was done by ACPC and VCPC. A total number of 3008 households from Traditional Authorities Bwananyambi, Jalasi, Chiunda, Mtonda, Chilipa, Chowe, Katuli and Mponda were affected and their houses were damaged. The total population from the affected households is 16544 (7242 M, 9302 F). 157 people were displaced and 98 people were injured. The affected households are camping at Lidunde school and Lufalu school. Some of the items the affected households needs include food, shelter and non-food items. The detailed information on the breakdown of affected households and other assessment findings are in the excel file attached below.

 Machinga District

Machinga district experienced continuous rainfall which was accompanied by strong wind due to cyclone Ana from 23^rd to 24^th January 2022. This affected houses and crops from Traditional Authorities Chikweo, Mlomba, Liwonde, Sitola, Nkula, Mposa, Ngokwe, Mchinguza, Chiwalo, Kawinga, Mizinga and Nsanama.  Rapid needs assessment and verification was  done on 26^th January 2022.

A total of 9362 (5620 FHH, 3742 MHH) households were affected in all the TAs. The total amount of crops and land affected by the disaster is still being explored by the department of agriculture. 1977 (790 FHH, 1187 MHH) households are completely damaged and displaced, 7385 houses are partially damaged and their roofs removed. 80 people from T/A Mposa are camping at Namazengeza School and other displaced people are living with their relatives. A total of 24 (15 F, 9 M) were injured and 1 man died due to injury caused by falling bricks. Additionally, the affected households lost items including kitchen utensils, furniture, clothes, blankets, electronics and plastic buckets. Below is the table of the summary of the effects of the disaster and a table showing humanitarian needs required by the affected households.

Table 2: Summary of the households affected by the disaster by T/A

Table 3: Showing humanitarian needs required by the affected households

CADECOM Nzekokere Response

CADECOM Nzekokere has been coordinating with the District Civil Protection Committees in the assessment in the three districts of Balaka, Nzekokere and Machinga .Considering the time factor and resource requirements CADECOM cannot manage to the assessment alone.

CADECOM Nzekokere has placed an appeal at the Diocesan Office complex for donations in kind of food items, household utensils and construction materials. To date 2 bags of assorted second hand clothes have been collected, CADECOM Nzekokere has distributed   the following items to Lufalo and Malombe camps through District Civil Protection Committee:

CADECOM Nzekokere has submitted information and data on the effects of Cyclone ANA to National Office .National Office has submitted to Caritas Headquarters in Rome and the appeal has been placed on Caritas Baobab.
CADECOM Nzekokere is writing a project proposal for Livelihoods and Early Recovery targeting Traditional Authority Chunda (Mofolo parish) in Nzekokere and TA Chakadza (Utale 1) Parish in Balaka.
CONCLUSION
The assessment is still in progress in areas that were not reachable soon after the heavy rainfall due to poor road networks. Updates will be provide to all stakeholders frequently.

Re-echoing the words of Jesus Christ from the gospel of Matthew  Balaka Parish marriage encounter took out charity work yesterday 14/11/21 and reached out to a needy man Paul Gani who had an accident. He is on a wheel chair and lives a poor life in Balaka and is being taken care of by his old mother. The Marriage Encounter group paid him a visit and gave him some food items and other basic necessities.  Mr. Paul Gani thanked the group for visiting him and the gifts.

CADECOM with financial support from SCIAF is implementing Nzekokere Livelihoods and Economic Recovery project in Nzekokere district St Augustine (TA Chowe) and Nankhwali (Ta Nankumba) parishes. The project is for 6 years (2017-2022) targeting 4500 vulnerable households .The project works in thematic areas of Food and Income diversification, vocational training and entrepreneurship, Environment and Natural Resources Management and Gender.
Susan Chinomba is a 21 year old girl who comes from Mbondo village, Group village headman Mtuwa, Traditional Authority Chowe, Nzekokere District. She is the first born daughter in the family of 6 children. She left school when she was in standard eight due to early pregnancy in March 2017.She is a single parent.
Susan has gone through difficult life during pregnancy and after giving birth. She lacked food, clothes and other needs. Susan has been involved in doing casual work, selling firewood and charcoal as a copping mechanism but to no avail. She could not get employed because she had no skills in any field.
She was interested to pursue training in vocational skills development but had no access to such type training .The coming of the Nzekokere Livelihood and Economic Recovery Programme (MLERP) in the area by CADECOM with several interventions that include youth vocational skills in 2019 in her village gave an opportunity to Susan to fulfill her ambition. She enrolled in Tailoring and Fashion Designing course in December 2020.
Susan is one of the best student among the nine students who are attached to a Local Artisan in Tailoring and Fashion design. Every day she cycles 22 kilometers to and from the training venue. As she is about to finish her course in May 2021, she is able to design and make the dresses, jackets, skirts, shorts and face masks.
When Susan was visited during monitoring, she was quoted saying, “I have seen my life changing just in a few months to come”. Susan was extremely happy when she heard that CADECOM will provide a start- up kits (sowing Machine). Her plan is to open her own tailoring shop right in her village. Susan was happy to tell that her mother support her by taking care of her child and in return she will support her mother too in just near future.

RESOURCE RIGHTS AND USE PROJECT
Success story of the family of Mr Gayesi Adini on Livestock Production

CADECOM with financial support from Irish Aid through Trocaire project titled: Resource Rights and Use project in Machinga district in Mpiri (Traditional Authorities Chikweo, Kawinga) and St Marys (Traditional authority Nkoola) parishes targeting 200 households.
The overall objective of the project is that People living in poverty in the target communities, particularly rural women and their children, benefit from the sustainable use and management of natural resources. The project period is 2017-2023.The project is promoting livestock production, catchment conservation, village savings and loans groups, use of energy saving stoves ,irrigation farming, water sanitation and hygiene and advocacy on climate justice.

The project distributed 63 goats to 21 (14 female headed, 7 male headed) on pass-on program in Mdala village.Mr Gayesi Adini aged 61 and his family are livestock farmers from Mdala village, GVH Kawelama in T/A Kawinga. In 2017, household received 3 goats (2 she goats and 1 he goat) and training in general livestock management in 2017. In 2018 the goats gave birth to 2 she goats .The household gave the 2 she goats to the next beneficiary as per the pass-on program guidelines. In 2019 the number of goats increased to 8 and 4 goats at MK72, 000 to invest in groundnuts farming. They used the money to buy inputs for groundnuts farming. The household harvested 30 bags of groundnuts in September 2020 which were sold at MK250, 000. The household bought a motorcycle with the money. The motor cycle has eased mobility challenges that the household was facing when doing their everyday livelihood activities and other community responsibilities. They currently have 14 goats. They are planning to open a grocery shop as their income generating activity with income realised in their next goat sales

On 17 October 2021, following the call of Pope Francis, Rt. Rev. Montfort Stima formally opened the Synod of Bishops on Sunday 17^th October 2021 with a solemn Mass at Nzekokere Cathedral.

The Faithful from around the diocese of Nzekokere – including laymen and women, priests, seminarians, women and men religious, took part in the liturgy, which marked the beginning of a two-year synodal process.  In his reflection , Bishop Stima took the day’s Gospel reading as the starting point for a reflection on synodality: “Celebrating a Synod,” he said, “means walking on the same road, together.”

“This Synod offers us the opportunity to be with each other, to invite our family and friends back to the faith, to listen to each other’s joys and sorrows, and share our hopes and dreams for our parishes.”

Synod is a Greek word (synodos) meaning a meeting or assembly. The two Greek words that make up synod are syn meaning together and hodos meaning way or journey. the Synod of Bishops is a gathering of bishops that:  fosters closer unity between the bishops and Pope. provides counsel to the Pope on matters of faith and morals, and discipline of the Church. studies questions concerning the Church in the world (c.f. Code of Canon Law c. 342).

He said as a diocese will now actively engage in listening and in dialogue with Catholics of all ages. The intent of this synod is not to produce documents but to plant dreams, draw forth prophecies and visions, allow hope to flourish, inspire trust, bind up wounds, weave together relationships, awaken a dawn of hope, learn from one another and create a bright resourcefulness that will enlighten minds, warm hearts, give strength to our hands.

Synodality and the synodal process are not a gathering or meeting of bishops, nor are they the administrative arm of the Church. Rather, synodality is the path and process of the Church as communion. It is the communion of all the baptized who are listening to each other, dialoguing with each other and praying together to hear the voice of Holy Spirit as we all seek holiness and proclaim the Gospel.

Synodality involves clergy, religious and laity listening and speaking, praying and discerning together, and placing the hopes and concerns of the People of God at the foot of the bishops, who, united with the Pope, decide matters of faith and morals in order to preserve the faith and strengthen the Church throughout the world.

Synodality is the “way” of being Church. Pope Francis in his opening remarks of the synod said it is the “path… which God expects of the Church of the third millennium.” The Synod preparatory documents describe this way or path as one where the faithful journey together and reflect together on how the Church can live communion, achieve participation and open itself to the mission as the pilgrim and missionary People of God, especially in the complexity of the world situation today.

At the end of the ceremony the bishop prayed the Adsumus Sancte Spiritus, the first word of the original Latin, meaning, “We stand before You, Holy Spirit,” which has been historically used at Councils, Synods and other Church gatherings for hundreds of years, and is attributed to Saint Isidore of Seville (c. 560 – 4 April 636). As we embrace this Synodal Process, this prayer invites the Holy Spirit to be at work in us so that we may be a community and a people of grace. For the Synodal journey from 2021 to 2023.

We stand before You, Holy Spirit,

as we gather together in Your name.

With You alone to guide us, make Yourself at home in our hearts;

Teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it.

We are weak and sinful; do not let us promote disorder.

Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path nor partiality influence our actions.

Let us find in You our unity so that we may journey together to eternal life

and not stray from the way of truth and what is right.

All this we ask of You, who are at work in every place and time,

in the communion of the Father and the Son, forever and ever.

Amen.

By: Thokozani Chapola

On Thursday August 26, the Apostolic Nuncio to Malawi and Zambia, His Excellency Gianfranco Gallone visited the diocese of Nzekokere which is in the south eastern part of Malawi.

During his visit, he interacted with the bishop and priests of the diocese as well as celebrating mass in the St. Augustine’s Cathedral.

In his speech, bishop of Nzekokere diocese Right Reverend Montfort Stima applauded the Pope’s envoy for his visit citing that it will help him to have a clear image of the diocese.

He however cited financial problems, wrangles between Catholics and Muslims in the area as well as church’s land encroachment by villagers, as some of the challenges that the diocese is facing.

“I could have just informed him that everything is going on well in the diocese and we don’t have any challenges, but I would be wrong to do so. I wanted him to have a picture of what we are facing. Since we are surrounded by the Muslim community, there are good and bad things which we encounter in our everyday operations; some of them being issues to do with running our schools, disagreements with our Muslim brothers as well as land encroachment,” the bishop said.

In his remarks, the Vatican’s ambassador His Excellency Gianfranco Gallone encouraged the priests to work with enthusiasm so that they bear the much more needed fruits.

He emphasized on the need for the priests to act like bridges in bringing peace among people of different religious affiliations bearing in mind that the Catholic church in the diocese is purely surrounded by a large population of Muslims. He however said that there is need for both sides to respect each other and always opt for dialogue in case of any challenges.

“This is a great occasion to experience the vitality of the church in Malawi. I have encouraged the priests of this diocese to continue with the moral enthusiasm in the field of evangelization to establish bridges to realize the true communion because we are also with persons that are not in the same community of faith with us but we can always dialogue because we are all the children of God,” said the Nuncio.

The Catholic Diocese of Nzekokere which comprises of 25 parishes, is formed by Nzekokere and Balaka districts as well as part of Machinga district. The total population of this area is over 2 million but about 300 thousand are Catholics and a large population of the remainder is made up of Muslims.

This is the first Malawian diocese to be visited by the current apostolic nuncio to Malwi and Zambia since his appointment in February 2019.