Reps Circular
From Sheenagh Burrell ALMA Communications Officer
sb@burrell1980.freeserve.co.uk T: 020 8567 7400
Dear ALMA Reps,
This bulletin has three sections
Sunday 14th May Revd David Geraldo from Mandimba (Niassa Diocese) is visiting his link parish of St Mary’s Hampton and will have a short slot at Evensong where London’s 2 new Archdeacons - Revd Rachel Treweek as Archdeacon of Northolt and the Revd Stephan Welch as Archdeacon of Middlesex-will be installed . The service is at St Paul’s Cathedral at 3.15pm. If you would like to support the two new Archdeacons and hear David please do come along. Revd Rachel Treweek will be familiar to ALMA reps - she went to Mozambique in 2002 and spoke to us after that visit. As Archdeacon she will carry the brief for overseas links and relations with other faith communities in London
19-28th May African Music Festival at Queen Elizabeth Hall
I noticed there is some Angolan music on offer: Wed 24th May 7.30pm Bonga ( Angola) and Mabusi and Prudence ( South Africa)
Saturday 16th September 2006 11.30-4.00: CELEBRATION WITH +Dinis, +Mark & +Andre (Eucharist at 12- bring lunch!)
MANNA (the national group linked with Angola and Mozambique) invites ALMA reps to join with them in celebrating 100 years of support for the Anglican church in Mozambique and Angola with a day of celebration at St John's Church, Waterloo (right by the station) on Saturday 16th September 2006 beginning at 11.30am. There will be a Eucharist at 12 and opportunities for questions, stories and sharing afterwards. Please bring lunch with you.
All three Bishops will be in attendance - Bishop Dinis Sengulane of Lebombo, Bishop Mark Van Koevering of Niassa and Bishop Andre Soares of the Missionary Diocese of Angola. It promises to be a very special day indeed!
24 March – 4 April 2006. Adrian Chatfield has returned from Angola, having visited in November 2004 on ALMA’s behalf to look at the provision of theological education and training. He has returned with encouraging news of 135 students (in six centres: Uige; Mucaba; Cabinda; Songo; Cunene and Luanda) following the course Mike Clarke helped translate. The 135 are more than double the anticipated 65 students! Additional centres in Quimbele, Benguela and Huambo are under consideration.
A fuller report will follow but in the interim I noticed one small but very practical comment by Adrian in response to a plea by some of the students: ‘We cannot read the material because we need glasses’. He suggests ‘we ought to have a small parcel of magnifying glasses to take out, each time any one of us visits Angola. As cataracts are a significant problem, this would be a useful solution barring an operation. I know, I’ve been there…’
IMPENDING VISITS
VISITS DATA….this means YOU . Please help as we try to compile a full list of the visits that have been made. If your church or school has visited or been visited PLEASE send me a short email with the dates and names so we can have a full picture of the growing relationship between Angola, London and Mozambique.
Links
-St John the Evangelist Great Stanmore and St John the Baptist Isleworth are well underway in the process of twinning with congregations in Niassa. Exciting times for all involved.
Bishop Mark has sent a Report on Niassa 2005 and a report on their ‘Equipas da Vida’ – life teams working with HIV/AIDS education, support and income generating which are thrilling and inspiring to read:
‘The Diocese of Niassa uses the name Equipas da Vida instead of Equipas da SIDA (AIDS Team) since our goal is to promote life not AIDS. We also aim for a situation in which even with HIV there is life – and Equipas da Vida try to help all living with HIV have abundant life’.
These two reports are accompanied with lovely photos (
903Kb).
MALARIA
Malaria alongside HIV/AIDS is a major issue in Mozambique and Angola. Bishop Dinis has long been involved in ‘Roll Back Malaria’ and although there are signs of improvement in urban areas there is much to be done in more remote areas. News from the Lakeshore in Niassa: Good rains this season have meant more malaria, and the hospital is overflowing here with malaria and a growing HIV/AIDS crisis. The two are quite related in the worst sufferers. There are areas such as along the Lakeshore, where parents just seem to accept that the rainy season means their youngest will die with malaria or related disease like diarrhoea.
ALMA is represented at the new UK Coalition Against Malaria (vision: universal access to malaria education, prevention and treatment by 2015) and will be making a submission to the DFID health consultation which will build on the previous Target Strategy Paper Better Health for Poor People, published in 2000. The new strategy will review developments over the last five years and define how DFID will work to turn the 2005 G8 commitments into action to improve health. If you are interested in this and would like to be involved look at the 10 questions on the following link: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/consultations/healthstrategy.pdf
ALMA BOOK CLUB
I came across this in the South Bank bulletin, ordered it from Amazon and was glad to have come across it – and also challenged!
‘Henning Mankell is the prize-winning and internationally acclaimed author of the Inspector Wallander Mysteries, which have sold ten million copies worldwide. He has now spread his wings and written Chronicler of the Winds, a mesmerising fable set in Africa. Set among the street children of Mozambique, the story reflects Mankell's great passion for Africa where he spends much of his time working for AIDS charities. Chronicler of the Winds is translated by Steven T Murray and Tiina Nunnally.’
Best wishes to you all, Sheenagh