Pastoral Work at Kongwe

The Kongwe congregation had been founded by Rev Robert Blake in 1894 (Chilenje, 2007), the second congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church after Mvera which had been founded six years earlier. Geographically, Kongwe covered a wide area, with a radius of over 20 km.

Pastoral work at Kongwe was, therefore, quite a challenge for Rev Chienda. As a result, he acquired a motorcycle, a Honda, to help him quickly move around. Sometimes he would be gone for days on end, visiting his congregants in villages such as Jemusi, Chamvu and Kagwamtsobola. Sometimes he would go as far as Chibanzi, or even farther afield, to conduct evangelistic rallies.

One day he rolled with his bike and was burnt on the leg by the exhaust pipe. He stayed indoors for some days, while my mum nursed him. Once he recovered, he hit the road again to continue his pastoral work.

It was at Kongwe that he first came into contact with a young South African missionary called Rev Pauw (now Professor Pauw). Rev Pauw used t come home together with Dr Louw, who was then the Headmaster at Robert Blake Secondary School. I have no idea what subjects the missionaries were discussing with my father but one thing I do know is that Rev Pauw cherished those early days in Malawi. He (Professor Pauw, that is) preached in the Multipurpose Hall at St. Michael and All Angels Church, Blantyre, a few years ago when the General Assembly was sitting. His preaching was in English and in Chichewa, and his command of Chichewa was impeccable. He told the congregation that he had learnt Chichewa so well as a result of his association with Rev Chienda at Kongwe.

When he had some spare time, Yeremiah would take his children around the mission to visit some people or to admire nature. Close to Kongwe mission is the perennial Lingadzi River (not to be confused with the Lingadzi River that flows through Lilongwe city), which the South African missionaries dammed to provide water and electricity to the mission. One of Malawi's earliest hydro houses was planted on the Lingadzi. This was a favourite destination for Yeremiah and children, because it afforded them the opportunity to admire not only God's nature, but also human ingenuity to harness the nature into a useful resource.

Every evening, almost without exception, Yeremiah would bring all members of the family together for family devotions. Hymns would be sung, recitals said, prayers offered and the devotion would be crowned by a faithful exposition of God's word by the man of God. My mum would take this role when the Reverend was away. I knew most the hymns that I now know from these sessions.

He would, in addition to the family devotions, lock himself up in the study room to personally seek his God through reading and praying. By this time, he had built up a sizable library consisting, almost entirely, of spiritual books. He lived this type of life up until the time he was hospitalised in April, 2011.

In 1967, Rev Chienda was trasferred from Kongwe to Lilongwe to take charge of youth work. He was based at the Youth Hostel premises just beyond Falls Estate in the municipality.