The Rev. Shadreck Kwagwanji, T’21 may have just left Sewanee a few months ago, but he’s already living into his ministry and acting as the hands and feet of Jesus. Bess Turner asked Shadreck about his new project and what our alumni can do to help.
“I think what the alumni would like to know about the project is that Niassa Province is the biggest province in Mozambique located very far north from the capital city of Mozambique called Maputo. There is vast land, rich in untapped natural resources which include game reserves, gold, diamond and many different kinds of precious stones like rubies. People live sparsely. Thus, there are communities that are very difficult to reach and have not been developed. Medication is scarce and education is difficult. There are few schools and where they exist, they are in bad condition or learning takes place under trees or even grass thatched churches. Most of these schools have no teaching materials. There is also the issue of language barriers; Portuguese is the official language used for instruction in all schools with so many local languages in different parts of the country. To tackle these issues Missao da Misericodia Abranjente em Mocambique (MIMAMO) translated as Outreaching Mercy Mission was born led by me with some proposals for improvement. Our work is to strive to address health, illiteracy, and the aftermath of natural disasters like flooding. I feel education is an immediate issue to tackle as the number of children not going to school is growing rapidly. This results into early pregnancies, robbery, prostitution, and spread of various diseases in the communities. Your support towards this project will be a blessing to Mozambican poor communities.”
Gifts to support this project can be made via PayPal using kwagwsf0@sewanee.edu or by contacting Shadreck at kwagwsf0@sewanee.edu. For Sewanee residents, you can deposit directly into his account at Regions Bank in the Village. The account is in the name Shadreck Francis Chithila Kwagwanji.
