For twenty years years, the Innerleithen, Traquair and Walkerburn Parish Church has been twinned with Thondwe Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP), fostering transformative change for Malawians, and guided by 5 key ideas: assuaging meals poverty, fostering financial development, enhancing healthcare, bettering training, and advancing their mission.
Increasing on the muse of this twinning relationship, the Thondwe Group Partnership was established in 2016 to encourage shared studying, friendship, and growth.
In August 2024, marking the a centesimal anniversary of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, Rt Rev Dr Shaw Paterson, Moderator of the Basic Meeting of the Church of Scotland, visited the Shire Highlands church in Malawi the place the Zomba district and neighborhood of Thondwe are situated.
He was accompanied on his go to by his spouse, Christine, Church of Scotland congregational engagement officer, Carol Finlay, and Innerleithen, Traquair and Walkerburn Parish Church partnership chief, Denis Robson.
Their go to bolstered the mutual advantages of this initiative, together with the twinning partnership between St Ronan’s Major College in Innerleithen and a faculty in Thondwe, a rural village situated close to Zomba in southern Malawi.
Sharing his expertise with the Innerleithen congregation, Dr Paterson remarked, “What impressed me essentially the most was he [Denis Robinson] took no credit score and he spoke in regards to the contribution and help from the congregation and the neighborhood.
“He commented in regards to the two-way strategy of a twinning – it’s not nearly giving, it’s about receiving from Thondwe.”
One of the crucial impactful moments of his go to was witnessing how a £10 solar-powered mild enabled youngsters to check at evening in a faculty with no electrical energy and overcrowded lecture rooms of as much as 115 pupils.
Pushed by this expertise, Dr Paterson launched the Moderator’s Problem to fund solar-powered lights for college kids. Since its launch in December, it has raised £22,019, additionally helping PhD college students at Zomba Theological College examine at evening.
Deeply moved by the “easy, however life-changing” resolution, he expressed gratitude to the villagers for his or her twinning, which has enabled him to “hear God’s message”.
Quoting his religious calling, he stated, “I thank the great folks of the village for bringing me down from the lofty heights of being Moderator, bringing me down from the mountain and recognising that God has a job for me to do.
“God was saying to me ‘you’ve got seen how lives could be enriched and alternatives opened up – you’re the Moderator, use your place to make a sensible distinction in training,’” he added.
He concluded, “Let me guarantee you, you’ve got made actual not a mountain-top imaginative and prescient however what Jesus stated: ‘I used to be hungry and also you fed me, thirsty and also you gave me a drink, I used to be a stranger and also you acquired me in your houses, bare and also you clothed me, I used to be sick and also you took care of me.'”
Dr Paterson felt honoured when villagers gifted him a stay rooster, which was later given to a neighbouring village as a gesture of goodwill.
“Sharing is on the coronary heart of the gospel,” he mirrored.
One other spotlight of his journey was blessing a brand new bridge connecting Thondwe to the college, changing one destroyed by Cyclone Freddy in 2023.
Chatting with the congregation, he remarked, “What you’ve got enabled, what my problem has raised, can’t actually be thought to be a miracle however the distinction it makes to God’s youngsters, our neighbours in Malawi, is miraculous.
“Could God bless you as you proceed to develop and develop your twinning.”
Expressing delight for the Dr Paterson’s joint worship together with his congregation on Sunday, Innerleithen minister Rev Fraser Edwards stated, “It’s a robust partnership between the 2 church buildings and the 2 village colleges have a robust partnership too with life in Malawi being the topic of assemblies in Innerleithen.
“I’m in common contact with Rev James Chigoli and we share hymns and prayers – our partnership is about studying from one another and we lend help the place we are able to.
“It expands our religion as a result of it reminds us that we’re a part of a church that’s greater than the Church of Scotland.”
Final 12 months, the partnership achieved vital milestones, together with rebuilding two bridges for safer college entry, offering uniforms and desks, and creating a faculty backyard and light-weight library.
It additionally supported 150 women with menstrual hygiene kits and well being training, whereas academics and church members acquired 20 pairs of spectacles.
The church backyard yielded thirty 50kg luggage of maize for weak households, together with seeds and fertiliser for the 2025 season.
Moreover, the Scottish church delivered Good Information Bibles to Thondwe and funded native purchases of Chichewa Bibles from the Bible Society of Malawi.
This 12 months, plans embody launching a faculty feeding programme, planting banana and mango bushes, supplying 10 corrugated iron roofs, diversifying crops, and repairing the college borehole and rainwater drainage system.
