Sun 19 July

Monire mose,

The ordination was really special and it was a privilege to be part of it. It was great meeting up with so many Malawian friends whom I haven’t seen for a couple of years. For those of you who have been before, I met: Fr. Mwangulu, Fr. Philip Nkunika, Fr. Cosmas Mwanjabala, Fr. Chinula, Sr. Kaunda, Fr. Albert Chirwa (my least favourite Malawian but at least we shook hands) Fr. Steven Bulambo and of course the 3 new priests Frs. Daniel, Cecilio and Joseph. It was announced at the end of the ordination that Joseph will be appointed here at St. Peter’s, which Fr. Chunda was ecstatic about. We also met some fellow Masungu at a dinner party on Friday night, which was arranged by Fr. Chinula. There were 2 Irish and 2 English who were out working with various projects/parish links.

The journey to Msiku was nothing short of spectacular if a little scary. Imagine the Alton towers rides Oblivion, Nemesis and air mixed with an off road driving experience and that would come close to the drive up a mountain track. We got stuck at one point and all had to get out of the car and swap drivers. Chris McLeod did a lot of the driving but when we hit the really difficult terrain Fr. Chunda took over. Fr. Chunda is a superb driver and at no point did I feel unsafe, even when looking over the side of the track to the lake thousands of feet below!! The breathtaking scenery and the ordination itself more than made up for the treacherous journey.

I’m actually managing to sneak off with Paul and Anne for 3 days at the lake from tomorrow so my next blog will be on Thurs. I’m really looking forward to lying in the sun and recharging my batteries before the last hectic week here. All being well Paul should manage to post his blog later today.