ALMA
link

From Church Leaders

Logo

A visit to Milange - at the end of the goat track, working with the marginalized!

[Source: Helen Van Koevering, May 2005.]

In May this year, Mark and I, along with Kylie and Naomi (our gap year friend, who has really seen some sights, tasted some delights, heard some stories this year!) took off for a visit to the churches of Milange. For me, this was the first time to leave the town of Milange, having only so far visited Archdeacon Bonifacio at his home there. I know the story of Milange, its miracle, its beauty, its opportunities which seem to be growing every time we meet up with Bonifacio. To be with Bonifacio is to be with an old friend – Mark and I were both at his ordination and wedding in 1995, Mark and Deacon Bonifacio travelled together on that first ever journey of discovery in Milange when 12 congregations were founded in 1996; I had frequent correspondence about church growth and needs with Padre Bonifacio when secretary of MANNA; and now he is Archdeacon Bonifacio, with about 120 churches, two other priests (Atanasio and Alfonso) and one new deacon (Victor) to oversee. He is just as laid-back as ever, but has grown very noticeably in maturity and spiritually. And his wife, now with eight children, is still smiling broadly!

We stayed with the Dewas family in Milange town. A joy for me, as I love sitting around with the women in the quintal, was hearing all the gossip, and the current struggles of life for Mozambican women. This time I heard that there are new laws for protection of women caught up in domestic violence, but that the laws haven’t reached Milange yet (!). This was said by someone who was being beaten daily, she said, and the women were encouraging her to go for help. Another lady walked by, and I was told that she had lost so much weight since being married, and wasn’t that what marriage did for strong women? I personally am beginning to look on anyone who seems thinner than the average as perhaps suffering from a long-term illness, perhaps HIV/AIDS, not necessarily marital strife. But the conversation does tie in with what we are hearing more and more about – violent abuse of women and children.

Kylie and Naomi stayed in Milange when Mark and I made our daily visits out to the districts. It was completely exhausting. The roads are rough and dry, and Mark has not only to drive but preach and celebrate, confirm and teach on arrival. But it was fascinating. We saw the great new houses built for Atanasio in Mulombo (what a nice little village, at the foot of some hills and a comfortable guesthouse of the Christian Council opposite a ruined Portuguese prison) and Alfonso in Mongue. I always enjoy meeting up with Marta, Alfonso’s wife – she hardly speaks Portuguese, but we get by with smiles and gestures. She has a long-term health problem, and needs to get to a hospital in Malawi. Women are the last in the families to receive health care because of costs, but also because of distance to a clinic/hospital. She is enjoying her new home, and has a little stall up in her front garden to sell oil, candles and/or soap. They have six children, but there’s plenty of space. But their living room was bare, and the walls dirty already – but they have moved there from a lifetime in mud huts, so that was to be expected. They are in a particularly dry and remote part of Milange, so were delighted to hear that their link church in London is raising funds for them to have a well.

Atanasio is about to move into his new house from Milange and we were impressed by the plans he has made, and how much he is already known in the area. Each of the priests has at least 30 congregations to visit, and Atanasio is moving to a village with no church yet. He says he’ll do what Bonifacio did – meet in his house first with interested folk, and take it from there. A lot of work, but he and his family seemed ready for it. Alfonso is ministering in an area of completely new growth for the Anglican church, and it was good to see Alban, the catechist I have seen so much of at recent meetings in Lichinga, in action. He is a candidate for local priesthood (the first week of the course begins on 6th June), and I could see why he was chosen by his community – he has presence, popularity and passion. Congregations had come together for these services now, and most of the churches had built makeshift grass canopies outside their buildings to accommodate us, the altar space and the overflow of folk. However, they are not yet used to such a tall bishop, and the canopies make wearing a mitre for Mark a little tricky!

I like Victor, the new deacon, ordained during this visit. He spent several years in Kenya and his English is great, but he was so delighted to meet congregations around Milange with us who spoke his mother tongue, Takwana. There are missionaries in Milange right now who are learning and translating Takwana, so they will be interested to hear of such a keen Takwana Christian.  And he is keen – a jolly little guy, with a wonderful testimony and a heart for evangelism. His whole family are apparently keen evangelists, though his wife is limited right now because of language. His son, Mario, is a lovely guy working with Rebecca on the HIV/AIDS programme in Quelimane.

We also visited the school, which has just been finished at Ngema, though it was school holidays, but it is impressive, and with that work and the literacy classes in the adjacent church, a real community is being supported. We visited there as a detour before arriving at a little church at the end of the craziest ‘road’ imaginable! The congregation had been out to build the road for us beforehand, and built little mud and thatch shelters for us to rest before the service. Such warm welcomes! We even arrived four hours late for confirmations at one place, St Catherine’s outside Milange – and they were still all there, and the excitement and expectation of the event of confirmation was uplifting and encouraging. We really enjoyed that little church – and remembering one young lad’s expression as he was confirmed makes me think that perhaps we have a future bishop there!

However, it was during this trip that we began to laugh about our mission being to the marginalized! The Anglican Church seems to have been one of the last to arrive in Milange district, and the roads to each of the district churches demonstrated our lateness. We would pass the Catholic Church, and a variety of mainline churches on the reasonable roads out of Milange. The road would narrow and the surface worsen as we passed some more obscure denominations – AoG’s, Living Waters, independent churches – until the final fork in the road where even goats would struggle to pass! Then, at the end of those tracks, we find a crowd, singing and dancing, awaiting our arrival, with many Malawian MU women present, and we knew we had arrived at the Anglican Church, the one at the end of the goat tracks, the one that is reaching the marginalized of the marginalized! But that is what is energising about Milange, amidst all the difficulties and hassles of distances and lack of resources – so much to do, and so much that is for the least of us. And who else are we meant to be serving?