Fr. Alfred

 

 

 

We are happy to welcome the parish of Matumba into our twinning project. Fr Alfred is already known to us because he was sponsored by one of our families during his seminary studies. They and another parish family have met him in Malawi.

This is his initial report …

I am Rev. Fr. Alfred Kalumbi, a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Dedza in Malawi. I am the eldest of a family of five children and my parents are subsistent farmers.

I was ordained priest on 9th July 2016 and was appointed on 16th April 2018 to Holy Angels (Matumba Catholic Parish) as a Parish Priest and Administrator of Mikondo Health Centre, a Diocesan Health Facility.

My plans for Matumba Parish are as follows:

Ø  Assisting parishioners to have a great love for the Sacraments and living the truths of the Gospel in their homes.

Ø  Moving together with parishioners to address some of the problems the parish has i.e. addressing those problems that we can do on our own.

Ø  Helping parishioners to have goals in life that can move them to act.

Ø  Teaching parishioners the necessity of being self-reliant, for it’s those who are self-reliant who can positively contribute towards the development of the parish and even the development of the nation at large.

Ø  Sensitising parishioners to the importance of education in one’s life, with the aim of assisting parents to begin sending their children to school and encouraging children to put much effort into their studies.

I have already launched the St. Bernadette group here at Matumba Parish.

This is a group of young girls between ages of 12 and 14. The group leads a life of St. Bernadette. For instance, the group does almsgiving, visiting the sick and the elderly, living Marian devotion through the praying of the rosary. These are the major activities of this group. The young girls are encouraged to live a life of humility and working hard in class (this is how Bernadette lived). Currently, we have 33 young girls and the group has potential. For instance, yesterday on 25th Nov 2018, we visited the health centre to see the sick people and the young girls contributed alms to the patients.

BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF MATUMBA CATHOLIC PARISH

Matumba Catholic Parish is one of 17 parishes in the Diocese of Dedza. It was established in 2007 and is situated on the borders of Malawi and Mozambique in the western part of the district of Dedza.  The parish is situated in a very remote rural area of the district, about 63 kilometres from the diocesan offices and other modern facilities.  The parish is divided into four main administrative centres and has 26 out churches or prayer houses as we call them.  These churches are not all fully enclosed buildings. Many parishioners pray either in school blocks without roofs or on open ground; they are at risk during heavy rains and of exposure during our very hot summer season.

Recent statistics indicate that there are approximately 44,850 Catholics. Other established church groups include Protestants and Muslims, though these are a minority.  The main tribe in the area is the Chewa.

Matumba Parish has 22 schools: 19 Full Primary Schools and three Community Day Secondary Schools plus the Health Facility.

SITUATION ANALYSIS OF MATUMBA PARISH

The geographical terrain of Matumba Catholic Parish is flat with rough roads full of potholes. There is only an earth road that leads to the parish from the outlying district. Due to the bad state of the road, it takes not less than two hours to travel a distance of 63 kilometres to be covered in order to reach the parish. During the rainy season, it is much more difficult to reach the parish unless one has a reliable means of transport. We are two priests serving at Matumba Parish, with a population of 44,850 Catholics who need our pastoral care.

Generally, the parishioners of Matumba are too poor to stand on their own two feet.   This causes some parishioners to begin living an immoral life by selling their bodies in exchange for basic needs to take care of their families. Some indulge themselves in theft to obtain funds for their upkeep. We have also the increase of cases where husbands leave their families in Malawi and go to South Africa in search of greener pastures for their families.  The local people of Matumba depend on subsistent farming for their livelihood. They cultivate food crops such as maize and beans. On a small scale, they engage themselves in commercial farming, mainly by cultivating groundnuts.

While the parish depends on the parishioners’ contributions and offerings, parishioners do not fully meet the needs of the parish due to their crippled financial status. They support the parish by Sunday collections of cash offerings, annual tithes and food items. Once or twice a year we organise for a larger cash collection which we call Paper Sunday whereby the parishioners contribute a targeted sum of money for the parish budget. However, most of the time they fail to reach the targeted amount which consequently frustrates the Parish Budget.

Some parish families are severely poor due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other illnesses. We have an increase of cases where a single parent struggles to take care of their children. We have children taking care of their siblings, grandparents taking care of their grandchildren following the death of parents/ guardians. We have elderly widows and widowers bringing up helpless children who are crippled by HIV/AIDS or affected by it.  Such poor people cannot be expected to effectively contribute to the development of the parish.

However, we have some parishioners who have potential to do great things in life but are not productive towards society and the parish. Such people need to be empowered which would assist them to be self-reliant and effectively contribute towards the development of the parish in return, and indeed towards the development of Malawi as a state. As pastoral workers we know all these appalling conditions, but the parish is too limited to support them.

The scenario of poverty also prevents the young ones from attending free primary school education and/or eventually going to a paid government or private secondary school, college or university. This leaves the majority of our children and youths illiterate as are their parents.  We have a pathetic, vicious cycle of poverty and illiteracy.

In addition to poverty as a contributing factor to illiteracy, the learning conditions of our students in their respective schools are of a very poor standard. For instance, we have cases where some students learn under trees, on open ground and in poor grass thatched classrooms. Students use lighted candles for their studies due to the lack of electricity in most of our schools, lack of water in schools which is a necessity for students.  Students walk long distances from their homes to school and there is a shortage of teaching and learning materials.  It is therefore unrealistic to expect students learning under such pathetic and frustrating conditions to be successful in their education. Understaffing is another big problem in our schools. The required ratio for a teacher to students is 1 to 60, but this is not a case on the ground.

We have a very small number of students in schools (both primary and secondary) as compared to the population of the young ones who have reached the school age. Most children just stay idle in their home villages, for their parents feel that they cannot fully support their children at school. Some parents do not send their children to primary school even though this education is free.  They know that even if their children complete primary School education, they will not proceed to the secondary schools because of their inability to payschool fees. Thus, few students who complete their primary school education fail to proceed to the secondary school and beyond.

CONCLUSION

With the above overview of the life of Matumba Catholic Parish, I feel it will be very helpful and beneficial for the parishioners if the parish is to be included in your Malawi – Twin Project.

With every good wish, I beg to remain;

Fr. Alfred Kalumbi

17.10.2018

SOME OF THE SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES THEY CURRENTLY USE ..

AND A SPECIAL THANK YOU …..