Bangwe Parish project gets K1.3m CFM boost
A church construction project underway at Bangwe Catholic Parish in the Archdiocese of Blantyre got a K1.3 million fundraising boost through a dinner and dance organised by the parish’s Catholic Family Movement (CFM) on December 23 at Bangwe Community Day Secondary School.
Guest of honour John Bande took the opportunity of the event to encourage the Catholic faithful to be supportive of church projects in view of donor fatigue.
“We can no longer continue relying on foreign donations because the people who have been helping us all along feel they have done enough, and it is time for us to stand on our own,” said Bande amid nods of approval from patrons who came in many pairs and singles.
Parish priest Father Cornelius Manyungwa hailed the support of the parish’s CFM members, who were joined by members from other parishes in the archdiocese.
He said, so far, the project is wholly being sponsored by the Christians through various fundraising activities such as the dinner and dance initiated by CFM.
“There is still a lot more funding required to complete the project; hence my appeal to the Christians to be generous towards the project. I am grateful for your presence tonight,” said Fr Manyungwa, who was in the company of three other priests.
The parish’s CFM couple chair of McTimes and Doreen Malowa described the response to the event as excitingly overwhelming.
McTimes said they were overwhelmed by the response, which has seen them beat their target by K300 000.
“We are sincerely thankful to all those who patronised the event. They made our dream come true,” he said, adding that they initially targeted to raise K1 million from 250 invitation cards, but ended up with an additional 100 cards.
One of the patrons, Charles Botomani, hailed CFM for the superb organisation of the event, saying it was worth being a present for an early Christmas
party.
The event was spiced up with a delicious dinner, an American auction for a microwave and a raffle draw. It just fell short of being declared a ‘Phungwee!’ as the cash bar and the dance floor remained open till dawn.
CFM promotes family values and Catholic faith. As part of its social responsibility, the movement, which has membership at most parishes in the archdiocese, carries out charitable and developmental activities at parish level and across other sectors in society.
Bangwe Parish, which clocks 50 this year, is currently constructing a multi-million kwacha more spacious church, which is at beam
