by Ian Neil
An Anglican parish in the remote Ntchisi mountains region of central Malawi is playing a major role in the local battle against the HIV/AIDS pandemic tearing apart this African nation.
The parish of Kayoyo is far from affluent and literally dying as parishioners succumb to the deadly virus, but those remaining are determined to cast aside any thoughts of stigmatisation and work to help the dying and those left behind.
Malawi, a nation of 10 million people, is like many others surrounding it in sub-Sahara Africa; the HIV/AIDS pandemic is killing off its population in what should be their most productive years. The effect on its food production is devastating, but the greatest impact is on the children.
The Anglican parish, in collaboration with World Vision, has established a skills training program for orphans and vulnerable children, teaching girls dressmaking and boys carpentry. This will provide them with vocational skills as they move in to adult life.
The Rev Mndefu Wallace, the minister in charge at Kayoyo, says he rejoices that his parish is able to show God’s love to a population badly bruised by poverty and the scourge of AIDS.
Sitting on the veranda of the vicarage is 14-year-old Lifti Waiya, who, despite her tender age, has already lost two sets of parents.
Lifti was too young to remember the death of her biological parents. But she does remember the years of grinding poverty in a region already poor by Malawi’s standards and of watching other children going to school when she could not, of being hungry, of seeing no future hope.
She remembers with special pain the long, lingering death of her step-parents last year; two more casualties in a region wracked by HIV and the diseases that spread with it.
Lifti is one of the first to benefit from the Kayoyo Anglican Church’s vocational training project, with the parish providing the sewing machines while World Vision has donated the material and teachers.
Lifti now looks forward to the day when she is a qualified dressmaker and can earn a living from her skills. She also agrees that she is feeling the touch of a loving God, after a lifetime short on miracles.
“This is one of the best things that could happen to me. It’s nice that, though I am not a member of this church, they have supported me to meet my needs. I do have hope for the future,” she says.
The clothes Lifti is making are given to other orphans and vulnerable children, all under five years old, who are being fed by local volunteers in a community-based childcare centre over the hill.
The parish has also established a feeding centre for about 200 orphans and elderly people who now have at least one substantial meal a day prepared by the Women’s Guild.
Apart from coordinating the skills training and the feeding program, Mndefu Wallace is sadly kept busy arranging funerals for the AIDS victims. Most weeks, he buries two or three people.
“Many of our parents have died, and it is particularly bad for the children left behind,” says the diminutive minister. “We must do what we can to give them a chance.”
Ian Neil is a member of St.Luke’s, Vermont in Melbourne and works for World Vision Australia. He recently visited Malawi and is available to speak to church groups about his research into the AIDS issue in Africa. He can be contacted on 03 9287-2330 or email neili@wva.org.au
