Andermas

The old (Church) year was seen off with Gule, of course, but it is appropriate to record here the manner in which Advent Sunday was marked.   My colleague T. arranged for a service of Choral Evensong in the Kamuzu Academy chapel. Such rites are seldom performed in a chapel inspired by Presbyterianism and inclined…

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Words lead to Deeds

I return to Nampula, in the north of Mozambique, which I reached once, long ago, by boat and lorry, but most recently en route to Nairobi (and Kigali) by air.   It seems an act of supererogatory grace that I am enjoying the relative comfort of Business class: by a quirk of Kenya Airways the…

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L’amour des escargots

Back to Malawi, and while my assistants follow an Elephant to the Kulamba ceremony in Zambia, I am enjoying the otium of Little China. Malawi synchronicity has allowed something rather wonderful to result. (Gentle Reader – What follows is the substance of a letter to a dear friend and former colleague in England.)   Yesterday…

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Malawi in the Time of Covid

It is possible, once again, to consider travel ‘beyond the Lake’. If God and Kamuzu Academy allow, Tuesday will find me in Nairobi and Wednesday in Oxford. It is appropriate to reflect on what has passed since last I left Oxford on Saturday, 4th January, 2020.   I recall that Lent Term well. I wondered…

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At Dedza Pottery (again)

Hence up country (with the customary measure of diffidence) again.   It is necessary to set aside the usual standards by which one marks ‘the Days on the Year’. One recalls from Oxon. with fondness the beauty of the Mass of Christmas Day at the Oratory; and the time between Christmas Day and the Epiphany…

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Eighteen Years on the Inside

The rains have failed. A burning sun has set over 2021 and the Kasungu – Lilongwe plain. The heat torturous.   Diversion must be sought where it may. I note this, by David Warren of Toronto, founding editor of The Idler, on the eighteenth anniversary of his reception into the Church. Mine is also eighteen…

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Christmas Day

For Christmas Day… White egrets perch atop the papyrus at Kamuzu Academy’s ornamental lake. They are the harbingers of rain. White lilies spread over the waters of the lake. Cyperus papyrus

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Rains at Advent

There fell today the first heavy rains: later than last year, so all the more welcome. November is an exercise in endurance: a succession of days that seem always the same under a burning sky, when that part of Malawi which is not European has the good sense to attempt as little of purposeful activity…

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The Immaculate Conception

For the Immaculate Conception… Two bead trees (Adenanthera pavonina, also called false red sandlewood) flank the entrance to Kamuzu Academy’s library. They are native to India. It is alleged that their seeds were used once to weight gold: 30 seeds = 11.5 grammes. A. pavonina

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Our Lady’s Birthday

Today, in honour of Our Lady, a tree currently in flower at the Four Seasons Nursery in Lilongwe: Tabebuia aurea, aka. Yellow Tabebuia vel Caribbean Trumpet Tree. It is, in fact, S. American, like J. mimosifolia, aka. the Jacaranda, whose dusky purple, for this brief season, transfigures Capital City. T. aurea J. mimosifolia

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