The meeting at the Chiwanga congregation took place on August 21

The meeting at the Chiwanga congregation took place on August 21, 2002. The congregation is located in Chiwanga Village of the Chitipa District, the farthest north district in Malawi. Chitipa District is bordered on the west by the country of Zambia and the north by the country of Tanzania. According to the Nissan’s odometer, the Chiwanga congregation is 1,051 km from Blantyre. In order to reach Chitipa, we traveled north on the Nation’s main highway, M1, to Karonga which is a town on the shore of Lake Malawi. From Karonga we drove northwest through the mountains on 100 km of one of the roughest roads in the country to the town of Chitipa. (Traffic on this road is limited to trucks and 4x4 high clearance vehicles). From Chitipa we had to travel north another 46 km to Chiwanga.

Due to a communication problem, our attendance was small. We had sent word to the brethren that we would leave Blantyre on the 20^th and arrive on the 21^st for the meeting. They misunderstood the message as being we would be there on both the 20^th and 21^st. The brethren from surrounding congregations were at Chiwanga on the 20^th expecting the meeting to take place. When we didn’t arrive on the 20^th , they all left to return home. There were a few who had not left, they are the ones you see in the picture. We proceeded with the meeting as we had planned, but sad that so many had become discouraged and left because of a communication problem.

There are eight languages spoken in this area, and Chichewa is not one of them. The languages are: Nyika, Nkhonde, Namwanga, Rambiya, Nthale, Tumbuka, Mambwe and Nswahili. My lesson for the occasion was spoken in English, translated into Chichewa by Davidson, and then translated into Nyika by their preacher, Bro. S. Ngwira. Nyika was chosen because everyone present understood this particular language.

We were informed that there are now eleven congregations working with us in the general area. Nine are in Malawi, one in Zambia and one in Tanzania. Those in Malawi are: Chiwanga, Duweni, Titi, Fisa, Bameta, Kapere, Chitipa, Ntundu and Bolero. In Zambia, the congregation is Chimwemwe. In Tanzania, the congregation is Musiya which is located just over the border from Malawi in Musiya Village, Wilaya-Irenje District, Tanzania. --Jim Franklin