Today June 23, 2017 marks the 30th anniversary of the arrival of the first members of the MCSPA to start living permanently in Turkana. It was on the eve of St. John the Baptist’s Day and in spite of the precariousness of the situation we managed to celebrate the feast the best way possible. We arrived at an empty house and with a few things that we had been able to carry in a borrowed car. So many things have happened since then! From the small dispensary that already existed, we were able to go to the border with Ethiopia and South Sudan with our presence and work covering an important part of northern Turkana to this day: health, water, nutrition, education, agriculture …. Also From Turkana, cradle of Humanity, we went out to the whole world, America, Europe, Asia to continue sowing hope and to make Africa known to those who did not know about it to promote solidarity among all peoples, in the style of St. Paul.
One of the most interesting things is that children of those days are now adults, with their own families, growing and improving their lives and those of their families. The integral development of the human person has been and remains to this day our primary goal, including evangelization, showing the world a Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the full Life for all. As Bishop John Mahon, the first bishop of Lodwar (Turkana) said, our mission is to liberate all those oppressed by hunger, ignorance and opportunities.
We thank God for bringing us to the desert, a place of trial and at the same time a wonderful place of encounter with the Creator, where you can contemplate beauty of the human being in its purest, simplest state. We entrust ourselves to Mary, Mother of the Church, so that we may continue along this path to the end.
Cecilia Puig, MCSPA
