Glenn and Linda Inglis in Malawi

In 2011 the Blantyre Synod Health and Development Commission (BSHDC) agreed on five key areas of focus: Public Health (including HIV and AIDS); Livelihoods (including climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction); Orphans and Vulnerable Children; Governance (Human Rights and Advocacy); and Gender (including gender based violence). It was also decided, as much as practicable, [...]

My work as Visitor Coordinator within the Blantyre Synod seems to get busier each year. Blantyre Synod has formal partnership agreements with the Presbyterian/Reformed Churches in Canada, USA, Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands and Australia. Each year there are groups who come from all of these partners.

Some people ask why the Church in Malawi gets involved in health and development issues when there are so many competent faith-based and secular agencies equipped to do such work. First, the early missionaries had a holistic understanding of the gospel.

To say 2010 was a busy year is to use a cliché even though it sums up the situation quite well. In terms of Glenn’s work at the Blantyre Synod Health & Development Commission (BSHDC) some of the financial pressures eased as donors regained their equilibrium after the global financial crisis (although we are far from ‘back to normal!).

There are two emerging issues in our development thinking which are worth sharing and seeking some feedback from the wider constituency. The first is the matter of integration.

In July our watchman died. We had known Custom since 1980 when the Synod appointed him to keep an eye on our house. Those who have visited ‘Canada House’ know of whom I speak.

I was at a workshop in Lilongwe last week and during the morning break was chatting with friends under the shade of a flowering cassia tree. Blue sky, not too hot, greenery all around – perfect, I thought.