2013 Annual Report
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January: very serious flooding along Limpopo River and at Chokwe (L); London raises funds for flood relief; six new deacons in Niassa; three new Archdeacons in Angola
February: Death of Revd Mendes Firmone from Mukaba (A); Ordination four priests in Maputo (L); Flooding along the Zambezi too (N);
March: ACSA approves new dioceses in Niassa; Rebecca and Mario from Niassa lead Tearfund training in Angola
April: death of ALMA Link Officer in Angola Revd Nunes Pedro
May: three more women priests ordained in Angola; unexpected death of Fr Juliao Mutemba, St Barnabas Bagamoyo, Maputo, husband of our Lebombo Link Officer Josephine; Fr Mukkoko (Metangula -N) dies.
July 14 Celebration 15th ALMA Sunday with Bishop André Soares in St Paul’s Cathedral who also had a full visit programme. Twyford School visit to Maciene School
July 25 Yohannah Abdallah Church (N) consecrated; Niassa Clergy receive their Africa Bible Commentaries; six new deacons ordained including first two Niassan women Claudia and Albertina
August: Archdeacon of Hackney visits Lebombo
October: Bishop André from Angola attends Lebombo Diocesan Family Weekend; Bishop Dinis announces his retirement in 2014; Renamo pulls out of 21 year peace agreement
In 2013 the seven visits have taken place between June and September. These include two ground breaking school visits.
In July nine Pupils and three staff from Twyford School visited their link schools in Maciene, and at the end of August the Headteacher of Maciene and two pupils came to London to join Twyford, and their Chinese links, in a tripartite exchange which culminated in a presentation to UNESCO at the Houses of Parliament when Twyford was awarded UNESCO associated schools status.
We were delighted to formally join with MANNA in July and collaborate on the annual visit from a partner Bishop and welcomed Bishop André Soares, Bishop of Angola to celebrate the 15th anniversary of ALMA.
Another visitor from Angola, Domingos Mbomba Massala, visited his link parish St Stephen’s Canonbury and three people from St Stephen’s visited St Stephen’s Golfe in Luanda in September where a workshop for twin parishes took place.
Dinos Kousoulou visited Niassa in June, and the Archdeacon of Hackney, Ven Rachel Treweek and Helen Doery visited Lebombo in August
See the list of visits in 2013 here.
47 parishes, nine schools and two Mothers Union branches are twinned through ALMA - c 12.5% of parishes in the diocese. Twyford School is a hub for schools.
By Episcopal Area:
Four Episcopal Areas have parish links with all of our three partner dioceses in Africa.
There are currently no London parishes considering twinning - although there are outstanding requests from partner dioceses.
The ALMA Community met in January, May, July (for an afternoon tea with Bishop André Soares in the delightful courtyard at St Vedast prior to the ALMA Sunday service in the Cathedral) and again in November.
ALMA Chair retires. Bishop Michael Colclough retired as Canon Pastor at the Cathedral and as ALMA Chair. He served ALMA for 13 years visiting each partner Diocese and also attended the consecration of Bishops André and Mark in South Africa in 2003. He will be greatly missed.
ALMA was invited to preach at: St John’s Greenhill, Harrow; St Paul’s, Old Ford; The Grosvenor Chapel; St Mary, Stoke Newington; St Paul’s Cathedral.
Bishop André’s visit itinerary included attending Diocesan Synod; lunch with Link Priests; visiting parishes with Angola links; and party with the ALMA Strategy group.
ALMA Communications. The email circular continues to have a wide reach but the floods in Mozambique underlined the value of Facebook in enabling us to share news quickly. There are now over 200 ALMA London friends and it is really encouraging to be able to share all aspects of ministry in such an accessible way - from the stages of church building projects, to special events, training and youth conferences.
In 2013 the Diocese of London Lent Appeal was for ‘Street Child World Cup’.
| Unrestricted Donations (ALMA General Fund) |
£11,722.91 |
| Restricted Donations (includes Special Projects; Link parish/school programmes and a major donation of £34,000 from New Wine) |
£97,556.30 |
| Donations remitted to ALMA Partners in 2013 | £157,663.68 |
There was a generous response to the extraordinary flooding at the start of 2013 along the Limpopo and later the Zambezi with £10,812 raised. 2013 also saw the implementation of some Lent Appeal projects in Lebombo including the refurbishment of Maciene School and the nursery at Magoanine.
Nsosso school in Angola is in the final stages of being built and St Stephen’s School Luanda has commenced work on the delayed second storey.
Special projects have included church building projects, updating clergy houses, and small community development and infrastructure projects particularly water projects.