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The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search |
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a healthy church...transformingLIFE |
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Vital work in Mt Kenya West |
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The Anglican Diocese of Mt Kenya West was established in 1993 under the leadership of Bishop Alf Chipman, an Australian who has been working in Kenya for more than 25 years. With its network of parishes and schools the Diocese has a vital role in Kenya. Bishop Alf Chipman was in Tasmania over the summer months and spoke with Sheelagh Wegman. SW The Diocese of Kenya West is a relatively new diocese. We observe the enormous growth of the Christian Church across Africa. Tell us about the diocese and how it has grown. AC The Diocese began with 7,000 members and thirteen clergy in thirteen parishes, the first bishop being myself. At our tenth anniversary celebrations in July 2003 we had grown to 20,000 members with forty clergy and 407 laity trained in counselling in HIV/AIDS issues, civic education and human rights. Our mission statement is 'to bring [people] into a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ through preaching, teaching and social transformation - enabling them to grow in faith and live life in its fullness.' SW There is an enormous problem with HIV/AIDS in Africa generally. Is this the main focus for education and counselling in your Diocese? What role does Mothers' Union have in this? AC Yes, the problem is huge, particularly with many orphans and full-blown AIDS sufferers trying to cope alone. MU in Kenya is a vital part of this work. Five years ago we began training MU leaders to help care for the orphans and there is ongoing training. Mary Sumner House in London helped with initial training and in 1994 I approached Beth Hookey, Project Officer of AngliCORD in Melbourne for help. There is now a clinic in Nyeri. AngliCORD states that it 'works through a global partnership between Anglicans built on Christ's care for the poor and unjustly treated, towards development which is economically, environmentally and socially sustainable.' We value their support and we can train these MU women in special practical care. They help orphans with food, clothes, school fees and so on. We also train both men and women in each parsh as educators and advocates, trying to destigmatise HIV/AIDS. People are shunned largely through ignorance. Education is so important to overcome this. SW Given that this problem affects the whole country, do you receive any government support? AC We try to have one Parish Help Link Person on every parish council and the Government through the Education Department is training teachers as counsellors. This will continue to the end of primary school. But the government also supports parish level work with primary health carers. The Ministry of Health asked us what we could do together, with some funding, and currently some drugs and medical equipment are being purchased. We aim for 'best practice' in all this. SW Do clergy also have special training? AC Yes, all clergy are trained as counsellors and often preach about HIV/AIDS. In Uganda they preach at every funeral, but our ethnic set-up is a bit more conservative so we don't do that. SW Mothers' Union in Kenya seems very different from what Australians are used to. Tell me about some of the other work they do. AC MU members have a special uniform and are very proud to wear that especially when they visit women in prison. They collect toiletries and material to make clothes and useful items in prison. They also help women fit back into the community after their release and help their families . Another MU project is providing nutritious camel milk for nursery school kids in the North of Kenya. MU often buys camels! My wife Nola was elected National Treasurer of Kenya MU and travels all over the Diocese to visit and to check out prospective camels. This is very dangerous - and not just because of the roads. In the photo you can see the MU 4WD vehicle on the road: the men were seeking poachers and the guns were real! SW There are depressing problems facing the whole Church today -environmental, drugs, greed and mismanagement, and HIV/AIDS; yet you show a passionate optimism about the Church, particularly in Africa. What inspires that optimism? AC It is not just optimism. Let me quote from my charge to Synod in 2001, still relevant today: 'God is in the business of bringing in His Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven and this 'spiritual growth' takes place through men and women who are his disciples… We Christians are made outstandingly beautiful before God and before the people of this present age as we grow in God's Grace. How does something of outstanding beauty grow in the midst of such a messy and hostile environment? That is the mystery of God's miraculous ways. This is the way God wants to work with us.'
Contact AngliCORD 03 9882 6517. email anglicord@anglicord.org.au or Bishop Alf Chipman 'Bishopscourt' P.O. Box 229 Nyeri, Kenya |
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