At Synod 2022, we committed to help fund an education project that +Vincente, Bishop of Zambezia in Mozambique is undertaking. The project is based on a private public partnership that will see the government providing teachers while the Diocese of Zambezia will provide the land as well as all administrative and managerial skills. Wendy Scott has been in Zambezia visiting with Bishop Vincente and she tells us about her experience there.

It was a joy to spend a week in the home of +Vincente and his family. Initially, the connection was through +Eleanor, then time spent together in Lambeth with +Justin and Jenny cemented a strong bond between the two diocese. Bishop Vincente was grateful for the way our diocese responded to the floods in 2019 by raising money to help buy seeds for farmers in the rural churches to replant after the devastating effects of the flooding. We spent time in both the rural and urban areas, discovering first-hand what it means to be a mission diocese.

Bishop Vincente and his family moved to Quelumaine to establish the new mission diocese of Zambezia. They have been one year in the establishment, but their plans are wide-ranging and adventurous. It's hard to comprehend what they are hoping to achieve with so little in the way of resources, but what they do have is energy, enthusiasm and an unwavering belief in God as provider and sustainer.

They welcomed me into their home and made me part of the family. The living was challenging with water supply intermittent and electricity unreliable. I have a great admiration for Anastasia, the Bishops wife, as she works full time, is the stronghold in the family home and the staunch leader of the mother’s union. As you can see from what she cooked on, I was in awe of the food they worked so hard to feed the family.

Rent and electricity is expensive, reliable drinking water has to be brought and the family move from house to house as the money allows for affordable rent. Their previous home would flood and often be without water or power for 3 days at a time. To say that life is tough is an understatement but with Western eyes I was humbled by the way they cared for me in every way possible.

We went out to the far end of the rural area where Rev Sam oversaw 37 churches. They ranged from mud huts to sack shelters and then there were brick churches that felt more established. Each church had a liturgist who would lead Sunday worship and undertake weekly Bible study. Often his wife would lead the mother’s union if the church was more established. Women played a significant role in all the churches we visited. Leading, singing liturgy and prayers. Rev Sam and his wife would travel for days around the parishes perhaps visiting each church 3-4 times a year with the bishop visiting 3 times a year and managing to see 1-2 churches a day as the distances and roads were so challenging. The most we managed to visit was four in one day, a four kilometre walk up goat tracks, a motorbike ride back which ended in a crash and the heat I was exhausted at the end of the day.

I hadn’t prayed the way I did while there in a long time. A complete reliance on God for protection, a need for provision, a need for healing in the remote rural villages where sick people were brought to us for prayer and understanding there was little or no chance of medical intervention which meant Jesus was the only hope. It was truly humbling.

Church planting was common place with great pride in growing the number of churches. Whole villages would come to faith and then work to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the neighbouring village and so it went on.

To say they had little would be naive. They have a love of Jesus, pride in what they have, generosity to share and a joy in worship that I found infectious.

I went to places that were remote and hot, the temperatures rising to 35 some days. Traveling on dirt tracks with pot holes the size of craters made me so grateful for the Bishop’s four-wheel drive and a driver (Rev John) who was great at negotiating the tracks.

For some of the villages I was the first white women they had seen and many of the children were excited to see me but weary of me. I was able to encourage them with showing them pictures of home and soon had lots of company.

They are hoping to establish an urban base from which they can work, live and worship. The hope is that with a multipurpose centre they will be able to establish a retreat for the clergy of the diocese, an after school base for homework, a preschool, and a place to host work programs for the poor such as mechanics, sewing etc. The hope is that they can have a sustainable income to help develop the diocese.

I look forward to sharing more of my trip with you all and exploring ways we can share in supporting the diocese of Zambezia and the work of +Vincente and his team.

By Wendy Scott

Wendy has also been appointed to the Anglican Communion - Anglican Consultative Council Standing Committee as the representative for The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. This is such a great honour, congratulations Wendy!