On Tuesday 8 June 1999 I first set foot in Malawi. I was there for two months working with Scripture Union in organising a Christian library. It was to be eight weeks that quite literally changed my life as I went on to visit Malawi every year, eventually meeting my now wife in 2008 and living in Lilongwe as a Global Mission Worker for 5 years.
I returned to Malawi last year, having left in 2018, to join the celebrations for Scripture Union’s 50th anniversary. After that trip I received a letter from a friend I haven’t seen since July 1999. My host during that first trip was Rev Malcolm Smith, a retired United Reformed Church (URC) minister from Yorkshire. We kept in touch for a few years, but we haven’t communicated in two decades. Malcolm’s letter was so welcome and has inspired me to look back at my 24 year involvement in Malawi.
To do this, my intention is to post a photograph from the past quarter of a century every Monday. They won’t be in chronological order, but I will try to explain a little about it. The photos will be on the blog, on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. You can also find them using the hashtag #mondaymalawimemories.
To start, on Monday 30 January 2023, the photo is of the garden and house I first lived in. It is located in Area 12 of Lilongwe and is the Manse (minister’s residence) of Lingadzi CCAP. It was built in the 1960s by Jack Selfridge, a missionary with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP). It was designed to be cool in the summer and warm in the winter and was a welcome retreat at the end of each working day.
