Norwich TFG welcomes its first African member :-)

Sometimes when I am updating this blogspot, I wonder if anyone benefits from reading the articles posted here. Now I know they do!

In May 2009, I received an e-mail from a gentleman in northern Namibia in response to one of the articles on this BlogSpot. He requested Torch literature and I passed his request to the International department at Torch House in Market Harborough in Leicestershire as they have the resources and contacts to fulfil his requirements.

Last week I received another e-mail from him:

Thank you very much for your concern about my request i really appreaciate it. Last month i received the bi-monthly magazine of the torch trust. Im very much excited to be a member of your organisation. Good day

Intrigued, I decided to learn some more about this man's country.

Namibia is a country in Southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It's other borders are shared with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the east, and South Africa to the south and east

It is the second most sparsely populated country in the world after Mongolia and has a population of 1.8 million people. With a stable multiparty parliamentary democracy, the economy consists of agriculture, herding, tourism and the mining of precious stones and metals. Approximately half the population live below the international poverty line of U.S.$1.25 a day, and the nation has suffered heavily from the effects of HIV/AIDS, with 15% of the adult population infected with HIV in 2007.

Interestingly, there seemed to be a lot of churches in my contact's town and I have since found out that the Christian community makes up at least 80% of the population of the country. Missionary work during the 1800s drew many Namibians to Christianity. While 50% of Namibian Christians are Lutheran, there also are Roman Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, African Methodist Episcopal and Dutch Reformed Christians represented.