Malawi had been our home from 1965 until 1981 and so our visit back after 14 years absence meant a renewal of old friendships and the opportunity to gain a first hand knowledge of how the country is today.

We knew Malawian hospitality and friendship would not let us down but we were nevertheless surprised by the overwhelming love and generosity from our former Churches in town and rural areas. Blantyre Synod officials also did their best to make our stay comfortable and happy and even put on a moving farewell for us when our time of departure came. I was not sure whether my old fluency in Chichewa would come back but I am glad to say that- except when I was very tired - it did return. This in itself opened many doors into the thoughts and hearts of Malawians of all backgrounds and enabled us to get a real feel for the country and the Church. The great bulk of our visit was to the Southern region. However during our first week Eleanor and I were by ourselves and we spent time in Lilongwe and then the Northern Region. We were given hospitality by dear Malawian friends in Lilongwe and were glad through them to renew our friendship with others too. From Lilongwe Eleanor and I went North visiting - with the help of Anne Dawson - Mzuzu, Ekwendeni, and Livingtsonia. We had an interesting tour of both Ekwendeni and Livingstonia missions and briefly met Livingstonia Synod officials in Mzuzu. We had unexpected re-unions with Mupa Shumba who we remember being taken away into detention during the cruel oppression of the former government. We found Catherine and Louis Chinula settled in a beautiful spot off the Nkhata Bay road, but feeling the financial strain of the collapse of the Malawian economy.Ian who had been in Zaire for one year arrived in Malawi after we had been there a few days and then a few days later Douglas and Keith joined us from England and Germany respectively. We spent the weekends visiting our former Churches in the Blantyre and Zomba areas and mid-weeks visiting the tourist sites of Zomba Plateau, Liwonde, Mulanje Mountain, and Lake Malawi as well as Mulanje Mission hospital. On our four weekends I was asked to preach eight times - four in English and four in Chichewa.During the whole time we spoke with many Malawians in senior positions in government secretariat especially those sections of government dealing with investment and negotiations with the IMF. We  had a brief but moving conversation was with Harry Bwanausi who as one of Dr. Banda's rebel ministers and had fled the country in 1964 and then returned once the new political freedom came. We also had many friendly and open discussions with Malawians who had little education and could not speak English. We summarise our impressions under the headings: 1. Politics and Government, 2. Church, 3. Health and Environment.

In the few days before we left Malawi the Civil Service was on strike. Their standard of living - as with most of the country - has dropped dramatically in recent years. They also see the very fat cheques that are paid to the Government ministers for expenses on overseas travel. Poverty was noticeably worse in both town and villages with many roads in very poor condition, and noticeably fewer cars on the roads. However we only met two people who openly favoured the previous regime - both were small business men. Both spoke of missing stability and sound financial management. In the Southern Region we met many enthusiastic supporters of the new government but they were mainly those who did not speak or read English and were probably not aware of the very serious nature of the crisis now facing Malawi. They were simply happy to be free from fear and intimidation. Some more educated too did support the government and blamed the present economic crisis on an alleged sabotage by the outgoing MCP just before it left power. The decision to float the Kwacha was seen as part of this sabotage. However I doubt the truth of this. For one thing the MCP had real hopes of winning the election and would not therefore deliberately sabotage the economy. The decision to `float' was almost certainly taken under pressure from the IMF which would reason that foreign investment will never be attracted by an artificially high kwacha. However there is probably a grain of truth in the accusation against the MCP. Like many governments facing election the MCP did artificially overstimulate the economy to engineer a temporary boom. This then led to the inevitable rise in inflation and a fall in the currency's value. Apart from a few exceptions we did find strong criticism of the present government among the educated Malawians in all regions. The belief is widespread that many government ministers are very corrupt and are just enriching themselves as quickly as possible knowing that in a democracy their time is short. That was said to us by a number of Malawians.

We were not in the country long enough to judge for ourselves the truth or otherwise of these very serious criticisms of government. However we know they are widely believed by highly intelligent Malawians of integrity who do have access to the facts. We heard little or nothing about the Malawi Government's debt to International Banks and the heavy burden of interest repayments. Although some say it would be dangerous to simply cancel Third World debt (possibly contributing to a world recession  - with bad consequences for the world's poor), it surely should be possible to cancel the debts of the world's smallest and poorest countries without so endangering the fragile world economy. Malawi's economy is surely one that could be considered for debt cancellation. Because of widespread disillusionment with politicians many Malawians are looking to the Church for a lead. There is no doubt about the fact that a number of Malawian Church leaders have been courageous in the past and are held in high esteem by many ordinary people. Of course there has always been the danger - evident throughout Church history that when clergy take political power they become corrupted in the same way as do secular politicians. The situation then is worse than at first because the Church as well as government becomes corrupt and finds itself unable to give the spiritual lead that any nation needs for its survival.

We heard from Livingstonia Synod officials that they are losing many young people to the Pentecostal denominations. It is clear that the various Pentecostal Churches are very much stronger than we remember before. However - whether or not Blantyre Synod is losing people to the Pentecostal Churches - it certainly does not lack young people. Blantyre Synod has seen very great growth (in terms of active ministers alone , there has been increase from 40 to 200 in the 14 years we have been away). The Churches seemed to be full of young people. The Synod ministers speak as if they have severe problems, but on listening to them it became clear they were the usual problems of growth. The main one seemed to be what has affected expanding Churches everywhere - namely the conflict between the traditional clergy and leadership on the one hand and on the other those who put all the emphasis on God given spiritual power given to young lay people. So in Blantyre Synod there are those younger members (called the `born agains' who seem to believe that the Church hierarchy is spiritually dead) and the older members who are afraid that their old certainties of authority are under threat. There is surely need for spiritual humility on both sides. Certainly we got the impression that many clergy are now realising that young people are always going to be looking for `spiritual power' and they won't be fobbed off with anything less. The young too, need to recognise the spiritual riches often hidden behind even a clerical collar. One of the most moving experiences of worship in most of the Churches was to see the active participation in worship of children and young people. The participation was at a deeper level than one often gets in the Western Church family services. The children really seemed to know their Bibles and bring across their knowledge in deeply touching and impressive ways. Incidentally it is vital to know the local language if missionaries are to experience the richness of worship and preaching in Malawian Churches. Silas Nchozana has been very highly regarded as a General Secretary with vision who has contributed greatly to the development of the Synod. His departure to other areas of service is going to be a big loss to the Church. However our friend Misanjo Kansilanga will make a worthy successor. We asked about relationships with the Church of Scotland. There was appreciation of all the support received during the struggle for political freedom but disappointment that interest in the development of the Synod lacked imagination and enterprise. This was contrasted with the Pittsburgh Presbytery of the U.P.U.S.A. which regularly sends volunteer workers in big numbers to do hands on development. We met some of them during our time there and were impressed by contribution to the Synod's life. However I doubt whether our World Mission Dept is really to blame. The root problem here is that the Church of Scotland as a whole is getting increasingly elderly and suffering rapid decline. That is the main problem that WM faces as it seeks to motivate the Church in Scotland to be involved in Africa.

We could hardly believe how low the lake is - a very visible sign of the lack of water. Malaria is rampant as never before and before we left for Malawi the official medical advice we received was that only the semi - toxic `Mefloquine' can be trusted as suitable prophylactic against Malawi's malaria. We understand from doctors in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) that the hospital administration, drugs policy and lab work is nothing short of chaotic and hopelessly unreliable. There has been a massive deterioration in the hospital over the past decade.Then there is the all pervasive problem of AIDS. Over and over again we heard the phrase

`Every day ... '

What about the fight against AIDS? One of the most depressing things said to me by a Malawian CCAP minister - speaking about his home area - was to this effect: 

Fortunately SAFE has gained an influential ally in a Black American woman who has met this racism head on in the States itself and is now bringing the message to Africa.

It is easy to swing between feelings of great hope and then hopelessness. Certainly Malawi is going through a very very difficult time. However the sheer cheerfulness of so many of its poor shows that relationships are still strong. The problems faced by the country have led to highly intelligent, well informed and earnest discussions about the human condition and what needs to be done about it. Returning to Britain it is hard to take the trivial nature of so much of our pre-occupations. Yet here too our problems are enormous. The massive break down of Christian family life in Britain - driven as it is by the all powerful liberal establishment both inside and outside the Church - has deeply wounded the lives of millions of our young people and children. Although Malawi's problems are huge it is not at all clear that Malawians are less happy than we are in this country. If anything they are happier. Poverty and disease - though great evils - don't have to break relationships. Family break down does destroy relationships and therefore happiness.