Five-year Divisional Leader of Bermuda?s Salvation Army ? Major Lindsay Rowe ? will leave Bermuda in 12 days to take a new leadership role in South Africa.

Major Rowe said on Tuesday he was asked by the Salvation Army?s international office in London to lead the Army in the South Africa?s Western Cape Province, in the south-west of the country.

And Bermuda?s new Divisional Leaders have already been chosen, he said ? Majors Doug and Betty-Ann Lewis ? who will arrive as soon as approved by Immigration.

?I said to them they are arriving at an exciting time because the social programmes we have are more relevant now than ever before,? Major Rowe said. ?But they are also arriving in a challenging time. The drug scene is not getting any better, it is getting worse.?

They will also be challenged to keep up with demand for the Army?s social programmes ? like the very successful Harbour Light drug rehabilitation, he said.

For the record, Major Rowe said his leaving had nothing to do with a much-publicised row between Government and the Salvation Army over the last three months concerning the dilapidated state of its 30-year-old homeless shelter.

?It had nothing to do with the North Street shelter,? he said. ?It was a mere misunderstanding about how the charity spends its money.?

On December 19, 2005, it was reported that Health and Family Services Minister Patrice Minors was ?fed-up? with the charity?s pleas for more cash.

However, Mrs. Minors admitted that she was wrong on February 2 and said the charity did not send money it collected in Bermuda to Canada.

Yesterday, Major Rowe said he was pleased the misunderstanding was cleared up and the Army was now working hand and hand with Government in a good working relationship.

And he encouraged Government and the public to help expand Harbour Light.

Major Rowe and his wife will leave Bermuda on March 21, he said, in order to be in South Africa by April 1.

?I have never been to Africa,? Major Rowe said. ?But I have been sent on international appointments before. Our name had been on the list for international appointments for some time. We hoped for a little more notice but there are leadership problems in the place we will be going to.?

Major Rowe said he was very much looking forward to jetting to Africa but explained there would also be challenges in his new post.

?Cape Town is a western, progressive city,? Major Rowe said.

?There are 21 churches in the overseas post. A number of them in the townships. There is quite a contrast to the modern city in the outlying areas. There are also country churches in other parts of the province.?

The distant island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean ? located about midway between South America and Africa ? will also be under Major Rowe?s watch, he said, and he will have to travel back and forth to it numerous times.

?I will miss Bermuda,? he said. ?I have come to love Bermuda. It is a beautiful country.?

While not feeling he had entirely completed his goals for Bermuda, he said he felt he made a significant impact.

However, the new Divisional Leaders ? Majors Doug and Betty-Ann Lewis ? are arriving with more experience than he had when he arrived in 2001, he added.

?They have already been Divisional Leaders in the Bahamas and two different provinces in Canada,? he said.

Major Lewis was Divisional Secretary in British Columbia, Canada, Major Rose said and was understood to be quite excited to lead the Army again in a sub-tropical country.

The Rowes? belongings are currently being shipped to Toronto, then will be forwarded to Africa, he said.