Newsletter PCM,  1 May 2015, p. 1.

Brothers of the Immaculate Conception 

(Brothers FIC- Malawi)

 P.O. Box 51074, Limbe - Malawi

 Email: Prov. Superior <dariyomfic@yahoo.com>, <martinusdariyo@gmail.com>

 Phone: *(265) 888522825

May 1, 2015.

Dear Brothers, I send you some information as follows:

1.Transfer of Brothers.

1.1. Bro. Henry Anthony Ibrahim. In November 2014 he informed us that his contract working at John Paul II Academy ended in December 2014 and he decided not to renew it. We accept his decision. We offered him a new task to lead the Income Generating Activities and Maintenance Committees which was headed by Bro. Emmanuel Mtegha. With the appointment of a new chairperson we revise the IGA Committee and stated the job description as follows:

Members of the Committee.

1.  Bro. Henry Anthony Ibrahim (chairperson)

2.  Bro. Andrew Makocho 

3.  Bro. Ivo Heatubun

 4. Bro. Emmanuel Mtegha

5.  Bro. Peter Nthulula.

6.  Bro. Lawrence Nkonde  

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Job description for the chairperson

• 1.The Chairperson of IGA/Maintenance Committee should promote TEAM WORK.

• 2.The IGA/Maintenance Committee is responsible for the structures we have such as  FIC workshop, brothers houses, schools, hostels, lake house etc.

• 3. As such the chairman should conduct a regular meeting e.g. to decide the project to be done, to assign a member (members) to take responsibility in carrying out the project, etc.

• 4.Accountable to Provincial Council.

               For transparency' sake, the chairperson should recommend to PC, three different quotations     

               of each project. PC will decide which contractor should be awarded the project.

• 5. The Committee is assigned to monitor or to check of the work agreed upon.

• 6. The chairman of IGA/Maintenance Committee is the liaison between the donors and PC. In term of maintenance of the School of the deaf he has to communicate to donors on first and fifteenth of every month.

• 7. Every transaction of the financial expenses, he should seek the consent of PC.

• 8. Provincial bursar as a member of the IGA/Maintenance Committee is responsible for the finance management of IGA/maintenance.

• 9. Should check the condition of the structures/buildings

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1.2. Bro. Emmanuel Mtegha was a chairman of IGA Committee as from Januari 2013- December 2014. He is transferred to Mitengo to strengthen Mitengo Community and Mitengo Technical College and at the same time to leave the hectic environment of Maryview to the quiet place of Mitengo where he is assigned to deepen the value of religious life in the new and conducive environment. We expressed our gratitude for the work done as chairperson of IGA/Maintenance Committee for two years.

1.3. We asked Bro. Mark Adamah to Bethel Community. He is to replace Bro. Henry as local superior of  and at the same time to finalized his study. Thanks to Bro. Mark for accepting this new post or assignment. 

2. Canonical Novitiate in Malawi.

So far we have one pre novitiate candidate. Initially we planned to send the pre-novice to proceed to Canonical Novitiate in Ghana. But due to lack of manpower, we cannot send a formator to accompany him. As such we decided to do our canonical novitiate in Malawi. Here we will cooperate with other congregations who have programme of Canonical Novitiate. The General Council granted our request. We expressed our thank and gratitude. The Canonical Novitiate will take place in Mzedi Formation house and will start in September 2015. We appointed Bro. Thomas Edison as director of  Canonical Novitiate.

3. Study Bro. Lawrence Sitima. In fact he planned to study last year but it was not materialized. He tried to find a place of study within Malawi or Africa but to no avail. He is accepted at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington State in West USA. (not Washington DC which is in East USA). He pursues a Master Degree in “Teaching English as a Second Language”. This study will last for one and half year. 

4. Replacement members of Provincial Council Malawi.

4.1. Since Bro. Joe Banda left the Congregation we discussed the replacement. We are in the opinion that we can continue working with three members that consists of Provincial Superior and two Councilors.  This decision among other things based on practical matter and experiences of the past years.

4.2. As Bro. Lawrence goes for study we discussed the matter and proposed the replacement in accordance to the rule in Canon Law as our Constitutions. We proposed Bro. Thomas Chikoti to replace Bro. Lawrence Sitima. We sent this proposal to the General. The General granted our proposal. We expressed our gratitude to the General Council. We also expressed our gratitude to Bro. Thomas Chikoti who accepts our request. It is a big responsibilities that consume a lot of energy and attention that may affect the “blood pressure”. We believe that it is a religious matter that relates to God who calls us to spread His Love and His Kingdom. We do what we can, we try to do our best and the rest will be determined by Him. We humbly ask the brothers to give moral support to us. Bro. Thomas Chikoti will replace Bro. Lawrence Sitima as Vice Provincial Superior until the end of the term of office in 2018.

I quote part of the letter from General Council:

Recently we received your letter of 10 April 2015 concerning the above topic, for which we would like to express our gratitude. As General Council we have discussed the two requests you present to us and would like to react as follows:

1. Now that Joe Banda has left our Congregation, the Provincial Council is consisting of the Provincial Superior and two members only. Since you are of the opinion that this is sufficient, we herewith 

approve your proposal to function in the present composition for this term of office (and thus not replace Joe Banda as PC member).

2. You have given Bro. Lawrence Sitima permission to take a master degree in the USA. Since he is the vice-Provincial Superior, you would like to replace him. We agree to the replacement of Bro. Lawrence  by Bro. Thomas Chikoti. In accordance with Canon Law and what is stated about this in our Constitutions we do this under the condition that this is a full replacement and that Bro. Chikoti will

function as Provincial Councillor with full rights and obligations until the end of this term of office. This also implies that Bro. Sitima is no longer a member of the Provincial Council until a new PC team will be elected at the Provincial Chapter 2018.

Dear Brothers, we wish you lots of success and blessing in your new and limited composition as PC. Be assured of our support and prayers for you.

With fraternal regards,

on behalf of the General Council,

Bro. Martin Handoko General Superior FIC

Vote of thank to Bro. Lawrence Sitima.

I have been working with Bro. Lawrence since 2009 and I would like say thank you very much for his commitment to the work assigned to him as member of Provincial Council. He contributes a lot and also a source of encouragement and courage. I will miss him but in other hands this study is also for the benefit of the Congregation and for the people especially those we are serving and working with.  

5. General Conference 2015 in Ghana.

It is an annual meeting what we call Con-Con or Congregational Conference. The meeting in Ghana is a General Conference. As such it will be attended by Provincial Superiors and other delegate. There will be one delegate from Malawi. We discussed the matter and we decided to appoint Bro. Henry Ibrahim as a representative of Malawi and to go to Ghana together with Bro. Provincial Superior. We are grateful to Henry Ibrahim for accepting the assignment. 

6. Maintenance of brothers’ houses in Mzedi and Maryview.

Every year we allocated resources to maintain the community’s houses under the heading “capital expenses”. As our houses are old and need more maintenance we stop this practice. Instead we concentrate on one or two houses. This year we will pay attention to Maryview and Mzedi houses. These two houses are old and need thorough maintenance.

7. Renovation Mua School of the Deaf.

After renovating the convent of the Sisters, we continue renovating the hostel of the School of the Deaf in Mua. We started this December last year and up to now the work is still going on. Very slow indeed. However we have to be patient in everything we do as it involves so many people.

8. School of the Deaf  Mua champion.

Certain international organization that works to promote education for the Deaf Children has chosen Mua School for the Deaf to take part in international Competition held in South Africa. It is an Arts and Sporting Activities Competition that was attended 

by representative of The School of the Deaf from ten countries in Southern Africa. These are: South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi. Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Angola, and Namibia. 

In all these competition, Mua School for the Deaf was awarded as the best performance in Arts and Sporting Activities. The organisation paid the transport and accommodation. Congratulations to all 

people involve in Mua School for Deaf Children, Congratulations especially for the pupils and teacher who represent Malawi.

9. Renovation of part of the wall in Nyambadwe.

Due to heavy rain this year, one panel of the wall of our house in Nyambadwe collapsed. We managed to repair it. Related to this flood victims, we appklied for help to General Council. It was a good response, the application was granted. We distribute the resources received to the communities. For Bethel Community, Bro. Mark Adamah and Bro. Peter Nthulula went to the townships of Manase and Chilobwe in Blantyre, to identify houses who were collapsed. It was too many. We decided to repair two houses in Manase and two houses in Chilobwe. Other communities do the same such as buying iron sheets, cement, etc. We appreciate the response the headquarter, and on behalf of the people helped we expressed our Gratitude to General Council.

10. Celebration 175 years. 

So far the Celebration Committee is busy doing the assignment for the Celebration of 175 yeas FIC. Our celebration will take place in Mzedi ground on November 21, 2015. We will communicate the details plan in due time.

11. Letter of reminder to the Ministry of Education.

On April 20, 2015, I went to the Ministry of Education to present a letter of reminder on permanent employment of support staff working in Special Schools for the Deaf Children in Mua, Mountainview and Maryview. It is the continuation of our effort  since January 2010, to put support staff salaries on the government pay roll.  My letter to the Secretary was written on 3 Sept. 2010 in response to the latter 1 September 2010 No. EDU/SNE/56/10 that among other things runs as followed:

“We would like to thank the Provincial Superior Brothers FIC Malawi for paying severance pay to all support staff up to 31 August 2010. I however wish to appeal to the Brothers to retain the proposed 10 workers per school to start work immediately as we are processing to retain them permanently.”

My letter to Secretary of Education 3 Sept 2010, among other things, asking question: “ Does it mean that while processing modalities to retain them permanently, government will pay salaries of support staff as from September 2010 onwards? ”.  On 14 September 2010 The Secretary for Education wrote letter to us asking details of support staff including the job description. On 22 September 2010 I sent my last letter to Secretary of Education, giving them the list needed stated in letter 14 Sept. 2010. 

Recently on 10 April 2015, I obtained a copy of a letter from The Secretary of Education to all District Education Managers, dated 1 October 2012, asking them to utilize Special Needs Education budget allocations effectively and efficiently to achieve equitable access to education by learners with special education need. Some key areas for expenditure include the following:

• Hostel and Resource – room maintenance/renovations, 

• Food staffs, 

• Utility Bills, 

• Support staff for hostels and resource rooms, 

• Some teaching and learning materials, 

• Special Needs Education And inclusive education orientation and support staff, 

• mobility support for Specialist  teachers and learners with special educational needs,

• Support for needy children with special educational needs, 

• Any other related issues.

These are the backgrounds of my letter to the Secretary of Education, 20 April 2015. Note: indeed the schools receive fund from the District Education Managers. The amount of allocation differs from district to district. Chiradzulu district allocates better funding for Maryview School for the Deaf Children in Nguludi. 

12. Application Letter for retirement.

Last year I sent application letter to Department of teacher Education (DTED), copy to Director of Special Needs of Education for a transfer from Blantyre Teacher Training College to Montfort SNE College. This transfer would enable me to officially get involve more in the Schools for the Deaf Children. But as we have no idea how the process of transfer is being handled, I decided to retire. I am 64 years and has been working at Teacher Training College for 25 years. 

I got a staff appointment from the Education Secretary General, 18 April 1990. I quote an excepts of the letter  sent to Catholic Secretariate: “l am pleased to inform you that Ministerial approval has been granted for Brother Martinus Dariyo FIC to be employed as Missionary Teacher at Montfort Teachers College. Yours faithfully, signed: S. Sakanda (Mrs), for Secretary for Education and Culture”

On 27 October I was posted or transferred to Blantyre Teacher Training College. 

Dear Brothers, so far our information.

On behalf of Provincial Council.

 

Bro. Martinus Dariyo, FIC.