Reps Circular

Dear ALMA Reps and Friends,

Greetings to the ALMA Community in Angola, Lebombo, London and Niassa and every best wish for Christmas - a season  when we remember, as the Bishop of London said in his Christmas message, that

‘The birth of Jesus Christ is part of God’s plan to draw us into his generous self-giving, a way in which the more we give ourselves away the more we discover our true selves; the more we are equipped to build together a civilisation of love and a little taste of Heaven here on Earth’

(Listen to the full message here)

We thank God that in our ALMA partnership we have experienced some of this together.

Bishop Dinis’ Christmas wishes reached us today with some joyous family news and also encouragement on the political situation which had seemed bleak in a recent Guardian Report. He writes:

‘Maputo, 23 de Dezembro de 2013.

Dear Friends

Christmas greetings from Lebombo.

Emmanuel, God with us, the reality to be shared wherever we are to dedicate four churches including the founding of one of them, confirming hundreds in 15 days is a real blessing that says clearly that God is with us.

The birth of Theo, Chris and Olga’s second child on 26 November, 15th anniversary of Berta’s death, baptized December 5th which was Lina’s 60th birthday (making him a real grand mothers’ boy) is another sign of God being with us as a family. All the other members of the family are doing well.

In spite of the unfortunate and unnecessary very slow progress in the dialogue between the Government and Renamo which results in continued hardship and even deaths in Muxungwe/Zove, Gorongosa and Maringwe areas, the commitment of the political leaders to go through the way of the dialogue is a sign that God is with us.

Be cheerful, dear friends, Emmanuel God with us is a reality. Blessed Christmas and New Year.

+Dinis Lebombo’

1. Dairy Dates

23 December 8pm Radio 4 programme about Angola and Portugal

February 2014 Revd Helen Van Koevering, our Niassa Link Officer will be in the UK to attend an MU conference. While in London she will visit Blair Peach Primary School in Southall to receive the banners they have made for Yohannah Abdallah Church in Lichinga and also St Augustine’s Whitton Dorcas Group who have made banners for Mecanhelas. On 6 February 2014 there will also be an evening gathering to meet with Helen most probably at St Peter’s Hammersmith. Details to follow. Please RSVP in January to attend this.

5 March 2014: Ash Wednesday and Diocesan Lent Appeal This is for the Mission of London Diocese both at home, through Bishop of London’s Mission Fund (BLMF) and ALMA.

25 March 2014: ALMA Reps and Friends Meeting  (Main Hall, Diocesan House 5.30 -6 light refreshments, meeting 6-7.45) with Archdeacon Rachel and Helen Doery sharing their visit to Lebombo and we also have an opportunity to join with the church in Lebombo, as our long arranged meeting is also the day

25 March 2014 Bishop Dinis retires. We will give thanks for Bishop Dinis’ ministry, friendship and inspiration

TBA a farewell for Bishop Michael Colclough, our London ALMA Bishop who retired this year after leading ALMA since 2000.

13 July 2014 ALMA Sunday celebration. 6pm St Paul’s Cathedral

18 November 2014 ALMA Reps & Friends Meeting –venue & times same as 25 March

2. Brief News

Angola

• Schools update: There are several schools underway or planned in Angola. Revd Maria Domingos, our Link Officer, has been to visit the school in Nsosso which is nearing completion. Huambo and St Stephen’s School extension are continuing and shortly, when Nsosso is finished, the next project will  be the School at Benguela
• The November issue of ‘Journal O Mensagiero’ (3059Kb) is now available. Clearly the new printer has been a huge success and is featured prominently. The editorial team are doing a wonderful job.

Lebombo and Niassa News

• The political tensions following Renamo’s ending the 21 year peace deal, coupled with local elections, have made this a very stressful time for  Mozambique. The church has spoken out for peace and dialogue. See Bishop Dinis’ report and watch a video of a television interview with him.
• We send best wishes to the Van Koevering Family who are currently spending Christmas with Bishop Mark’s family in the United States.
• Some exciting Niassa news from Joanne Beale for 2014: You may remember Joanne first visited the Diocese of Niassa in 2007 as a university student and then on graduating went back for a few months to pilot a water project in Niassa. She, and her husband Andrew are now moving to the Diocese in February 2014 primarily to establish a water and sanitation programme and continue the good work of the Diocese in this area (project information here). They would love your prayers as they prepare for this exciting adventure: for good health and safe travels; for efficient language learning; and for wisdom to balance their time over Christmas between preparations and family and friends. If you'd like to follow their adventures they are keeping a blog.

London News

• Warm congratulations to Revd Tricia Hillis who is to be the new Canon Pastor at St Paul’s Cathedral. Her parish St Barnabas Northolt is twinned with St Andrew’s Chigoma, and recently received the visitors from Maciene School.

3. Wider Issues

• A challenging new report from Save the Children:  Getting to Zero is also available in Portuguese. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – a set of concrete goals and targets to be achieved by 2015 – have helped to spur unprecedented rates of poverty reduction over the past decade. Now, the post-2015 successor framework must do the same – and more. It must finish the job that the MDGs started, with ‘zero goals’ to eradicate key dimensions of poverty – including preventable child mortality, children missing out on good-quality education, and inadequate access to water and sanitation.

  New projections presented show that, if we allow current trends in income inequality to continue, we are highly unlikely to see the achievement of zero goals by 2030, even with strong economic growth. But the analysis suggests that rates of poverty reduction will accelerate significantly if income inequality is reduced and the accountability and effectiveness of governance are improved. By combining these steps with efforts to scale up poverty reduction programmes to reach the poorest and most marginalised people, we could get all the way to zero by 2030.