By the office of Communications
A great smile was expressed on 11th April, 2023 by some of the parishioners of the Catholic parish of St. Magdalene of Canossa (Koche) in the diocese of Mangochi when the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi (CADECOM) in the diocese of Mangochi arrived at their churches in order to distribute some items to improve their livelihood. These parishioners were those who were victimized by the tropical cyclone Freddy in Mid-March 2023, whereby some of them were displaced while others lost their fields and livestock. It further affected education of some children because learning process in the schools was temporarily suspended until third term which begins on 17th April 2023.
Following a letter of an appeal for humanitarian support to the victims of Cyclone Freddy written by Rt. Rev. Montfort Stima, the bishop of the diocese of Mangochi released on 17th March, 2023, some concerned members of the Catholic church in the archdiocese of Lilongwe collected some food items and money and sent them to the Catholic Secretariat in Lilongwe, in order to support these victims. According to CADECOM Coordinator, Mr. Peter Nthenda, the support came from Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) and also the CADECOM itself. He urged the Catholic Christians to learn from a practice of charity shown by their fellow Christians in the archdiocese of Lilongwe. Further, he advised the victims to learn from that bad experience of the floods, by starting caring the nature as an encyclical of Pope Francis entitled Laudato Si stipulates.
One of the beneficiaries, Rose Lucius, thanked the CADECOM by being a reliable channel through which that aid has reached them. She thanked the donors also for considering their education by distributing exercise books. The items distributed were maize flour, beans, packets of Soya pieces, tablets of soap, plastic buckets, exercise books and clothes. The parish of Koche has been the first in the diocese of Mangochi to receive that aid and the churches which had received that aid were St. Monica (Mchocholo), Sts. Peter and Paul (Nsenjere), St. Joseph (Ntonda), St. Louis (Chipasi) and St. Bakhita.
