When life is so low and down, it is difficult to be thankful for anything. So it was for Mr. Alemayehu when his wife and two of his children passed away. Alamayehu was left with only one son. He himself suffered from severe elephantiasis. Alamayehu lost all hope of living and all he sought was to be in a place where he could rest in peace.

While working at his “kebele” or village, MCSPA members were informed of Alamayehu’s case. We immediately took him to Aman Hospital where he was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his left leg. The doctors advised that his leg be amputated. Alamayehu did not hesitate: he chose amputation because he wanted the pain to be taken away and to smile again.
 
After the surgery, we visited him at the hospital everyday. The smile on his face revealed the deep joy in his heart. Alamayehu’s gratitude only proved that it is not how much one gives, rather how much love is put into that giving that matters.

Alamayehu has since returned to his “kebele” in Bench Maji Zone. He is very grateful for being able to return home free of physical pain. He is conscious of the many graces that God has given him, the most important of which is that he is able to be with his only surviving son.

We thank all those who supported Mr. Alamayehu, for a helping hand is a great gift that brings a smile and joy to others.

Esther Kerubo MCSPA

Bishop Dominic Kimengich is currently visiting Nariokotome Mission after several days visiting other parishes in the lake deanery, Diocese of Lodwar. He has spent the day visiting the Mission primary school, the constructions taking place at that school. He later on visited St. Rita ECD/Nutritional centre.

The elders of the area and the women with the children in the ECD paid him a courtesy call where issues of social and spiritual development were discussed. The Bishop was gifted with two goats by the elders.

The Bishop finishes his visitation to the Deanery tomorrow with Mass and deanery meeting at Kalokol. It has been a pleasure to have our Shepherd visiting us.

Fr. Denis -MCSPA

Today in St. John the Evangelist Lobur Catholic mission, we witnessed young men and women graduating from agricultural course offered by the Farrows In the Desert (FID) project.

This was the 12th graduation since the programme begun 7 years ago. Bishop Dominic Kimengich, The bishop of Lodwar diocese presided over the ceremony today.

As a result of this project there are 120 farmers all over Turkana County who practice active agriculture. Fr. Alex gave a brief history of the programme and also acknowledged the efforts of Frs. Paco and Albert who were the brain child of this wonderful initiative in partnership with other Israeli organizations.

The new graguates were encouraged to cheerfully go and put the knowledge they have received into practice for the betterment of their respective villages.

Such a programme under the watch and direction from the MCSPA are alternative ways to eradicate hunger in Turkana region since it gives an alternative source of livelihood and food security.

Fr. Joseph Githinji

We were blessed to have the MEDs team from Nairobi visiting our health facility in turkana. MEDs is a faith based organisation that supplies quality medicines in the country.

Members of the team were Dr. Jane Masiga Managing Director MEDS, Shadrack Meme Marketing and Business Development Manager, Meshack Thananga Field Officer. During their visit they also enjoyed the priviledge of visiting the cradle of man kind: the place were the fossile of the homo-erectus or nariokotome boy was discovered. They also visited the lake turkana, the largest permanet desert lake in the world. In addition they also visited some of our patients in the dispensary and at their homes.

Now they are able to testify that the medicines that are purchased from them reach the furthest corners of Kenya. They later faciltated a two days workshop for all the medical staff at the DOL thanks to the medical coodinator Sr. Winne.

We are so grateful by their visit. We give thanks to all the donors who support our health program because it is thanks to them that we are able to purchase medicines from Meds and bring health to the community around Nariokotome.

Lillian Omari – MCSPA

As part of his pastoral visit to the Lake deanery, Bishop Dominic went to St. Phillip Neri, Maisa outstation, where he blessed the chapel and visited the nearby farm initiated by the project “Furrows In the Desert” which is run by the MCSPA from Lobur Mission. He addressed the congregation and urged them to have faith and be prayerful. “It is through faith and prayer that great things are achieved”. The outstation which is under St. Joachim and Anne Kibish Parish is run by members of the Missionary Community of St. Paul (Frs. Alex and Joseph). We pray that the young seeds of faith planted in Maisa will grow into a big tree for all to enjoy! Amen.

Fr. Wycliffe Ochieng MCSPA

Today, 25th May 2019, there was a great celebration at the Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Todonyang. The celebration was marked by several events which include; confirmation of 82 people, blessing of Class 8 2019 candidates, and blessing of the newly completed multipurpose hall (dining hall and kitchen inclusive).

Three years ago, we lost one of the elders from the Dassenech community in the school compound, when all were gathered to celebrate ten years since Todonyang mission re-opened and there was peace.

Today we have remembered that all who lost their lives in this border area from both Turkana and Dassenech communities. We pray that peace will prevail in this corridor and all who pass by Our Lady Queen of Peace School, will be ambassadors of peace wherever they go.

In his homily and speech, Bishop Dominic called all to be peace ambassadors.

Todonyang Integrated Centres was the best in Turkana North in last year’s KCPE exams. We thank all MCSPA members who previously worked in Todonyang and the current ones in the persons of Frs. Andrew and Wycliffe. We also thank the mission staff for making Todonyang what it is today. God bless you all!

Lillian Omari – MCSPA

Missionaries from Kokuselei and Teachers from the public and private pre-primary and primary schools of Riokomor and Kokuselei enjoyed recently an exposure trip to Our Lady Queen of Peace Integrated Centre in Todonyang. They learned from the educational work that both teachers and children are carrying out at the border. Especially the dedication and commitment they put.

We thank the entire team of teachers from the mission school and our MCSPA missionaries in this place for their warm welcome.

There are many teachers with a lot of talent teaching in Turkana, who contribute a great deal to improve the situation of the vulnerable children where they work. We hope to continue sharing more experiences such as this to grow together and make quality education possible in Turkana.

Diana Trompetero, MCSPA

The 6th Inter-diocesan Conference on Cross-Border Peace and Evangelization took place in Lodwar with about 80 participants in attendance coming from Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. The theme was on “Reflections on Peaceful Disarmament”. The facilitators insisted on the reality of disarmament saying that it is a process which is tedious and with many challenges. For example, it took 18 years to disarm the Karamoja region of Uganda. Peaceful disarmament should begin with disarming the hearts and minds of the people. We are all called to advocate for a peaceful disarmament in our various regions and countries. The Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle works in conflict prone border areas where most of the people are illegally armed. This conference was therefore relevant to the members, from Todonyang, Kibish and Nyangatom who attended. The Bishop of Lodwar, Rt. Rev. Dominic Kimengich and the Bishop of Maralal, Rt. Rev. Virgilio Pante signed a declaration in the presence of all the delegates in order to disseminate the findings of the conference. They also thanked all participants and organizers of the event.

Wycliffe Ochieng MCSPA

From 8th-10th May 2019, the directors and heads of all Catholic schools under the Diocese of Lodwar underwent training on leadership skills at St. Teresa’s Center in Lodwar. The workshop was organized by the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle in collaboration with Strathmore University, on behalf of the Diocese of Lodwar. The sessions were conducted by a group of facilitators from Strathmore University in Nairobi. The key area that were looked at were:

a) Leadership and what it entails.
b) Catholic schools identity.
c) Mission and Vision in our schools.
d) Teaching, learning and assessment.

These key areas were looked into for the three days of the training by different facilitators, Fr. Steven Ochieng being one of them.

The last day of the workshop was graced by His Lordship Bishop Dominic Kimengich, who urged the directors and teachers to focus on the mission and vision of the Catholic private schools in the diocese for the betterment of the Diocese and Turkana county at large.

Fr. Andrew Yakulula MCSPA

On 11th May 2019, our standard 8 candidate class of 2019 were privileged to attend this year’s education day held in Lodwar. They were accompanied by the school director Fr. Andrew Yakulula and four teachers. All the Catholic sponsored schools were present. The function started with the Holy Mass, presided by His Lordship Bishop Dominic Kimengich, the Bishop of the Diocese of Lodwar. Thereafter, our school was awarded a trophy and two certificates for being the best Catholic run private school in the Diocese of Lodwar for our exemplary performance in the last year’s KCPE examinations.

The function was crowned by speeches from different invited guests. Our beloved bishop urged all the students to put all their efforts in their studies because it’s through education that those who are less fortunate in the society can be able to in the same class as the rich. We were motivated to work extra hard and thus we believe that through prayer and hardwork, we will always achieve the best.

Fr. Andrew Yakulula MCSPA