A group of churchgoers in Zambia have celebrated their first Christmas in a new church built with money raised by a Malvern Link congregation.

St Matthias' Church has raised more than £1,300 in the last three years to send to Friar Thomas Kabaso, an archdeacon of the diocese of Central Zambia.

It has enabled him to build a large new church in his parish of St Leonard, Kamungu in Kabwe.

The church replaces a previous one washed away by rain and used up just over a third of the cash sent from Malvern.

St Matthias' rector Reverend Graham Lyall said: "It seems amazing that £500 can build a church but it seems it did."

In a letter of thanks, Fr Kabaso wrote: "We will always remember you and our children do so for such wonderful generosity. We have built this church because the previous church was destroyed by the heavy downpour which killed some of our fellow Christians including some of the children."

St Matthias' took an interest in Fr Kabaso after a visiting parishioner found he could not afford bread and wine to celebrate the Euch-arist.

Money was raised through an extra collection and auctioning produce from harvest thanksgiving.

Rev Lyall explained: "It started off as a one-off gesture. We thought we should do something about it."

The plight of the Zambian parish deepened further when two years of drought was followed by the heaviest rainfall in living memory.

The main parish church was destroyed, many people were killed and the only minibus was washed away by torrents of water.

The Bishop of Central Zambia recently dedicated the new church to St Leonard Kamungu, a 19th Century Christian martyr.

Numerous problems still face Fr Kabaso, most of which stem from the dire poverty of his parish. There are no vestments for the priest to wear and the altar consists often of just a bare wooden table.

John West, a churchwarden at St Matthias', said Fr Kabaso's job is very taxing.

He said: "On a Sunday he has to walk between the various churches in his parish and sometimes he covers 15 miles in one day. When you think that we can just jump in a car and be at church a few minutes later, that's quite something."

Despite its own desperate situation, the parish welcomes around 2000 refugees a day from countries such as the Congo and Burundi, which are involved in the civil wars which plague central Africa.

Fr Kabaso is also prominent in the fight against HIV and Aids by putting on seminars and workshops on the subject.