Serving the Wider Christian Community

The stay in Blantyre afforded Rev Chienda the opportunity to associate with a number of Christian organisations. Among these was the Blantyre Keswick Convention, an evangelical, interdenominational grouping which conducted one big evangelistic rally every year. While serving the Keswick Convention, he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Mr Luwani, Rev Le Page and Mr Willie Musopole, among many others.

He also became a regular at the New Life for All meetings, that time being held in the Red Cross Hall near Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. He normally took preaching engagements at these meetings, along with other clergymen like Rev Bomba and Rev Bwanaisa, who were from the Assemblies of God Church.

In the early 1908s an American relief organisation called World Vision International started its operations in Malawi. Its director was John Howell. Rev Chienda was contacted to serve on the Council of World Vision and he accepted. Also on the same council was his brother in law, Rev HA Kamnkhwani.

Following its registration with the Malawi Government, World Vision ran into a big problem. Somebody reported to the Malawi Police that the World Vision staff were taking pictures of naked children to be sold abroad, in an effort to raise funds for its projects. The Police raided the World Vision offices and seized boxes of photographs. In the meantime, threats were issued by the Police suggesting that the organisation would face immediate closure.

As it turned out, the pictures that were being referred to were only shoulder high, and did not bear any resemblance to the indecent material they had been made out to be.

Rev Chienda decided to personally take up the matter with the Malawi Police Force. He had a number of meetings with top ranking police officers with a view to explaining the plain truth about the contentious issue. He assured the police that World Vision was a well meaning organisation, which would not, under any circumstances, get involved in anything sinister. The officers took him seriously and the plan to close World Vision was dropped.

Not long after this incident, John Howell had to leave Malawi to lead World Vision Senegal, from where he would deal with the serious hunger situation in the Sahel. This left World Vision Malawi without a leader. The Council had to quickly look around for a John Howell replacement. The name of Jeff Thindwa (then 28) was suggested, but some Council members objected to to it because they felt he was not mature enough. Rev Chienda thought it was a great opportunity to try young leadership in World Vision. After all, he had so much confidence in the young man. After some deliberation, the Council decided to appoint Jeff Thindwa as Country Director. He did not disappoint.