Pastoral Work at Mlanda

Rev Chienda was back in the Nkhoma Synod in 1988. He was posted to Mlanda Congregation in Ntcheu District.

His going to Mlanda afforded him the opportunity to renew his association with Mr and Mrs Retief, South African missionaries who had worked at Nkhoma and at Kongwe and were now teaching at the newly established Mlanda Girls's Secondary School.

Close to Mlanda is the Nkosini, the headquarters of the Ngoni paramount chief. The Inkosi ya Makosi Gomani III was a congregant at Mlanda, and became a very good friend of Rev Chienda. He (Rev Chienda) once took me to the Nkosini to have a chat with the paramount chief.

One day death struck in the royal family. The chief's sister died. My father and I rushed to the Nkosini to check on the funeral arrangements. We were surprised to learn that the chief had not been to the siwa (the house where mourners gather and the body is kept pending burial). We were told that according to strict Ngoni culture, the chief does not, under any circumstances, go anywhere close to the siwa.

Mlanda lies very close to the Malawian border with Mozambique. In the late 1980s, there were in Malawi scores of Mozambican refugees fleeing the conflict in their country between Renamo and Frelimo. One would see many refugee camps around Mlanda. Gunshots could sometimes be heard across the border. One day, while returning from Lilongwe, the vehicle that Rev Chienda was driving developed a flat tyre as we got to Mlanda turn off. It was after sunset, and we heard gunshots close by. In fright, we decided to drive the vehicle on the flat tyre until we got to the mission. The tyre was completely tattered.

At the end of September, 1988, Rev and Mrs Chienda traveled to Blantyre to attend the wedding of the man writing this blog to Elubie Kaliati. The wedding, like all the others before it, was officiated at St Michael and All Angels Church on 1st October, 1988.