Christ is Risen!
By the Grace of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ, the Wishes and Blessings of His Beatitude the Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa THEODORE II and your prayers, our diocesan ministry continues in faraway Malawi. Glory to God for all things!
After the Great and Holy Week and the Resurrection services, for the following days, our ministry has focused on the work of drilling wells in various Parishes of our Holy Diocese, so that our brothers living here can have access to clean drinking water for their survival needs.
As you have already been informed in a previous communication, here in Malawi there is a big problem in the houses, especially in the villages, as regards access to clean water for their daily household needs. They are forced to resort to taking water from the rivers, which, unfortunately, often has fatal consequences, especially for the children.
Dear brothers, our missionary work, as we have pointed out many times on many occasions, is primarily spiritual, that is, “to snatch souls from sin and the devil and lead them to God, that is, to Salvation”, as St. Gregory the Theologian says. Nevertheless, as spiritual Fathers here in Africa, we must also care for the survival needs of our indigent fellow human beings.
After all, let us not forget, my beloved brothers, that in the Gospel passage of Meatfare Sunday, as you well remember, the Lord, the Righteous Judge, on the Day of Judgment will say to us “I was thirsty and you gave me water…,,….” , that is, if we offer clean water to our brothers in need, we do His will. And may all of us be made worthy of hearing from His never-lying mouth, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink”.
Therefore, since the period of the year that we are going through is a period of drought, for this reason our Holy Diocese has decided to have a borehole drilled on every plot of land where there is a church building and a rectory to ensure access to clean water and sanitation throughout the year. By the Grace of God, in some Parishes this project has already been implemented; however, there are still several Parishes awaiting the gift of your Love. The cost of each borehole drilling comes to € 5,000 because the special machine that opens them descends many meters into the ground and many meters of pipes are placed. In addition, a manual water pump system is also installed. The pictures can help you see how it works.
My dearly beloved brethren, and most desired, my joy and my crown, once again I am making a fervent appeal to your loving heart to help with your contribution so that at least one more well is drilled very soon and relieve our underprivileged brothers. As we mentioned before, in the Easter period , we had the pleasure of carrying out and launching new boreholes which were drilled. Let us give joy and relief to other brothers who are awaiting this Divine gift of pure water.
Here the indigenous people say in their language “Maji di mojo”, that is,” water is life”. So, please help us give life to our Malawian brothers. With many Resurrection wishes and infinite gratitude
† Fotios Malawi
