Church of Central Africa Presbyterian

Western Mission Efforts in Northern Malawi

The Northern Region of Malawi is home to the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia. The Synod oversees three medical facilities: Embangweni, Ekwendeni and Livingstonia. Each of the three locations houses a hospital and is staffed at least in part by Western missionaries. Churches supporting these missions include the United Presbyterian Church-USA, the Church of Ireland, the Church of Scotland and the Church of Canada. These churches send doctors, administrators, public health workers and nurses who serve terms from one to several years. Need, of course, always exceeds available personnel; as of July 1997 there was no licensed doctor at Livingstonia. The entire case load there was being cared for by a single Malawian medical assistant and a handful of nurses.

Ekwendeni is the most accessible of the three centers, located along one of the few main paved roads in northern Malawi. Livingstonia lies high on a plateau overlooking Lake Malawi. The primary road in is dirt and contains 20 hairpin turns in a relatively short distance. During the rainy season it is the road of choice; the other is even worse in mud! Embangweni is reached by traveling a paved road 2 or 3 hours from the nearest large town, then going 30 kilometers on a dirt road with quality ranging from awful to "I'd rather walk".