Factbook
Established in 1891, the British protectorate of Nyasaland became the independent nation of Malawi in 1964. After three decades of one-party rule under President Hastings Kamuzu BANDA the country held multiparty elections in 1994, under a provisional constitution, which came into full effect the following year. Current President Bingu wa MUTHARIKA,was elected in May 2004. He was re-elected by a landslide in May of 2009. Malawi's constitution only allows for 2 consecutive terms.
Size : Slightly smaller than Pennsylvania (about 1/3 the size of Wyoming)
Elevation: 37 meters to 3000 meters. Lilongwe (where we live) is a little over 3000 feet in elevation.
Population: 15,000,000
Average Annual Income: $250 - a recent analysis noted Malawi to be the poorest country in the world!
Life Expectancy: 52 years
HIV/AIDS: Nearly 1,000,000 currently infected. Some estimate 40% are infected in urban areas. 14% are infected nation-wide.
Official Languages: English and Chichewa [There are several tribal languages, but the Chewa tribe's language is most common. There is a move to make English the only official language]
Adoption: It is quite difficult to adopt children in Malawi despite the large number of orphans. Practice is that the adoptive parent must be resident in Malawi for 18 months. Madonna made international news with her adoption of a child from Malawi (without being resident in the country) and is now in process of adopting another.
Religions: Protestant 50%, Catholic 20%, Muslim 20%, Traditional 10% [for a short article on Islam's early history in Malawi and Christian-Muslim relations in Malawi click on Islam in Malawi]
Links:
Malawi - MSN Encarta
Malawi - CIA World Factbook
Dehnert's Biography
Kelly and Connie Dehnert were raised in Lander, Wyoming and were married in 1986. They lived for 6 years in Colorado Springs teaching at Evangelical Christian Academy. In addition, Kelly was a freelance musician and performed as a trumpet player with the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra. In 1992 the Dehnerts and two children moved to Lander, Wyoming where he was Professor Music at Central Wyoming College for 14 years.
Kelly graduated with a Master of Music Performance from Yale University and Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of Arizona. Connie received a Bachelor degree in Education from Covenant College. Kelly and Connie are members of Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) and Kelly was elected as a Ruling Elder in 2005. Connie became a Christian while in elementary school and Kelly in his first year of college in 1981.
Though Connie had an interest in missions for many years, Kelly saw little possibility for a musician on the cross-cultural mission field! In the 1990s Hugh Wessel (of Mission to the World) explained to Kelly the need for music missionaries. This sparked an interest in missions for Kelly. In 1992, working with Scott MacNaughton (former Pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church), Dehnert founded the International Chamber Seminar in Telfes, Austria (now named Musik-Brücken - MB) for the purpose of reaching Austrian musicians with the gospel.
While in the MB planning stages, the Dehnerts were challenged by Linleigh Roberts to pursue the possibility of teaching at the African Bible College in Malawi. Within two days of hearing from Linleigh God made clear that he was sending the Dehnerts to Malawi to teach for one year while Kelly was on Sabbatical from Central Wyoming College. Remarkably, neither Kelly nor Connie had any thought or desire of traveling to Africa for any reason prior to the events of those two days!
Soon after arriving in Malawi in the fall of 2003 the Dehnerts were asked to stay on as long-term missionary faculty by the college administration. The Dehnerts returned to the United States and decided during the year following that God was calling them back to Malawi after fulfilling Kelly's Sabbatical contractual terms. The Dehnert family is now in their sixth year of an indefinite, long-term commitment to African Bible College.
Kelly and Connie have four children: Britney (22), Joel (20), Shea (16), and Janelle (13).