ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN IN RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES OF MALAWI (AWRIM)
The Association of Religious Institutes of Malawi (ARIMA) was founded in 1966 as a support network for religious Men and Women. It was formally constituted as a Women Religious Association in the 1990s when the men formed their own Association which they named Association for Men Religious Institutes of Malawi – AMRIM. When this was done, the acronym ARIMA was changed to AWRIM which stands for Association of Women in Religious Institutes of Malawi.
To date AWRIM comprises twenty nine (29) Congregations, four of which are locally founded, two cloistered and the rest are of International origin with many of the Sisters being of Malawian origin.
The Executive members (5 Major Superiors) meet twice every year, in January and in June while the Major Superiors of all the Congregations in Malawi have a two day annual general meeting in the month of January. The number of religious women working in Malawi totals to about 1000 Sisters spread out in all the seven dioceses in Malawi.
Activities of AWRIM
- Justice and Peace desk,
- Human Trafficking campaign,
- Interfaith Dialogue,
- Co-ordinated on-going formation, and
- Inter-Congregational team work, e.g. pastoral work, education, health institutions for the elderly, HIV/AIDS services, orphan care, counselling, etc.
VALUES
Contacts
Postal Address : P.O. Box 1511, Lilongwe, Malawi
Telephone: +265888650643/995201632
Dedication to ensuring prevailing of social justice.
VISION
An association of committed, united and sustainable consecrated women, holistically formed and witnessing the Gospel values.
MISSION
To unite, coordinate and empower the congregations to live fully their prophetic roles by providing religious formation and skills building interventions.
GOALS
- To live prophetically as religious women, moved by the spirit to humbly support God’s flock entrusted to us.
- Promoting openness and unity among the different congregations in Malawi and supporting congregational charisms.
- Ensuring good leadership and holistic approach to our spiritual values and being empowered in our daily services to the people.
- To promote human dignity and improve their quality of being in the Church and society.
OBJECTIVES
- To build and enhance knowledge and skills levels of congregations in various areas.
- To enhance and sustain spiritual and religious vocation.
- To ensure that we have institutes that are financially sound and sustainable.
- To build and enhance knowledge and information sharing, teamwork and participation.