Eleni Tsegaw, a member of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle, describes her vocation that arose from leaving her home country of Ethiopia and the joys that have filled her life as a missionary.

I had just finished high school and I was thinking what to do with my life, whether to continue studying at college or perhaps start working. While pondering on this, I met Cecilia from the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) for the first time. She had been a year in Ethiopia to carry out projects aiding the most needy in the Valley of Angar Guten. What she was doing seemed very interesting; I wondered why she was doing this, what moved her to come from so far. Why was she helping people with whom she shared neither bonds nor connections? But I kept all these questions in my heart as I did not speak English and Cecilia could not speak Amharic! 

Cecilia suggested to me to study English so that we would be able to talk and so that she could explain to me all the things she wanted to develop in Ethiopia. I studied English for six months so as to have some spoken foundation. Then I travelled to Angar Guten to see what they were doing and what they had there. I was very impressed by all that they were doing there: they had a dispensary and a mobile clinic.

Guten, at the time, was a small village that lacked electricity, water and many other things. Initially the Oromos and the Gumuz inhabited the Valley of Angar Guten, but with the famine of the 80s, the Ethiopian government brought in other tribes from northern Ethiopia, like the Amhara and the Tigray. This made the Valley a very special place to work in, as the needs of each tribe had to be catered for. I used to walk in the afternoons with Cecilia, and the children followed us all along the way. She suggested that I do something for these children as they could not go to any nursery as there was none around and so only a few of the children could go on to primary school.

In the beginning I saw clearly that something had to be done for those children. They were in need of many things. My intention was to stay for a short period of time and then return to Addis to continue with my studies and with my life. But God had other plans. It was for me to follow Him, not just for a short time but for the rest of my life. This was something I did not understand at that time.

That first trip was very special as I got to know regions of my own country for the first time. So I returned to Addis Ababa to study child-care. All that time I could not stop thinking about the children of Angar Guten. On finishing the course, I returned with Cecilia and we started there a nursery – the first one at Guten! In fact, it is more a Centre of Life than a nursery because there is a place for everyone: children, mothers, older siblings etc. There are even Muslim children; everyone has a place there.

We carried out different activities for the children and their mothers, and I eventually got more involved in it that, unknowingly, I even forgot the idea of returning home to Addis Ababa to go on with my life. My life was now at this place, with these people – Cecilia, Paco, all the members of MSCPA.

One of the many visits of Paco to Ethiopia marked my life until today. Then he said that it was necessary for me to leave my country, at least for twenty years. I thought he was joking! He also told me that no one is a prophet in his own country. Now I know it was a way of opening my eyes. He saw in me the possibility of flying, like an eagle and being free to do good.

At the time it was very hard for me to understand the depth of this message. Now I see that it was providence: the hand of God inviting me to be part of the universal Church, to a wider, more bountiful and complex plan.

Leaving my country gave me the opportunity to travel to Bolivia and to live there for more than a year, at Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba. There we worked at various development programmes. In Colombia I lived at La Calera, on the outskirts of Bogota, and worked in mother and child care. Afterwards I went to live in Germany with a group of young women from our community, all from Africa. In the beginning it was difficult because of the language, climate and culture. Eventually all that difficulty transformed into a gift for our lives. We learned how to move around the world, to find extraordinary friends who are still present in our lives and who keep supporting us.

During those years at Paderborn in Germany, we were never alone. Others from the community, such as Paco, would always come to visit us. They always encouraged us to push on. There we unrelentingly went about giving talks on Africa in parishes, schools and to different groups.

With each talk I realized how much I yearned to return to Kenya or Ethiopia, and how my vocation was becoming stronger. I also realized that when I gave another picture of Africa, people would fall in love with Africa and they would be ready to help. Not all in Africa is tragedy as is often portrayed in the media. It is a continent full of joy and with people who possess enormous potential, just waiting for someone to lend a hand.

Afterwards I went to live in Mexico and started from scratch once again – each new beginning was hard for me; now, I had to speak Spanish, make new friends … new house, new people. With the help of Lourdes, Rosa and the other women from the community, everything became easier and I gained a lot from those years. We worked in the neighbourhood of Ajusco, in the outskirts of Mexico City. There we worked with families who had migrated from other parts of Mexico without anything to find opportunities in the big capital.

We have always focused our interest on children because they are the most vulnerable. Hence we had a nursery, which later turned into St. Joseph’s Mother and Child Centre. I was impressed how each time we asked for help in the country, people would always respond positively and we never lacked support. Both, the Central de Abastosand private companies would donate their products for the smooth running of the Centre.

But the story does not end here. After getting used to Mexico and its people, I left once again but this time to Africa – to Kenya, to Turkana. And the story began again: new language, house, people …

When I look back, I can only say my life has been a blessing as it has been years of moving from one place to another, and it has brought me a lot of happiness. Today I want to thank everyone, especially Cecilia, because she stirred up my vocation and helped me to be strong and to follow Christ; Paco who pushed me to leave my country and showed me that I could move to anywhere, to be universal – to live anywhere with different peoples and feel that every place is home.

I now understand my vocation as a small seed that God placed in my heart, which even I did not know existed in me until I met Cecilia and she awakened it. Then others came: Paco, Lourdes, Scholastica and all the others who have helped me along this journey, who have made me strong, humble, patient, demanding … so many things that I would run out of ink in describing how much they have all contributed to my life. I would like to invite many other young persons who come to visit us in the missions to take that next step – that of staying here forever and living a fulfilled life of service for others. Because I discovered that this was the path to happiness.

Eleni Tsegaw MCSPA

I was 19 years old when I first met the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle. During a Eucharist celebration, that was when I began to understand God’s immense love for us. I then realized that I didn’t just know, but at the same time felt God’s immense love in my heart. I was filled with joy!!!  I immediately felt a compassion towards all those that were in need and wanted to let them know that God really loves and cares for all of us.

I knew that proclaiming Christ is a call for all who are baptised, but the question that kept nagging me was; how was I supposed to do this? This is something many people neglect. All this should come from the heart and I believe that it is a call from God. 

My journey began as I took a walk with Patrizia Aniballi and other members of the MCSPA 19 years ago. I came to know them through Mrs. Esther Mwarabu who was working with the missionaries in Turkana. She had come to my village in Hola, Tana River County to pick one of my cousins who had earlier agreed to join the missionaries but changed her mind and refused. Esther Mwarabu then decided to visit our house so that she could talk to my mother and I about the missionary life in Turkana.  My mother agreed that I visit Turkana to see whether I liked or not and together with Esther Mwarabu we travelled to Nairobi to meet Patrizia Aniballi and then to Turkana.  Turkana was a place I only heard of in my History classes but I never bother to even check its location geographically.

I decided to be adventurous and embarked on a long journey towards Turkana. Through the journey I beganto understand that adventure is not only travelling around the world, but travelling down the roads of the hearts of people I meet every day. To me adventure is an encounter; it is a kind of love I want to lead.  Adventure is a conversion that lasts a lifetime, so incredible that it surpasses our greatest expectations.  Adventure calls for courage, which leads to hope and joy.  

Be courageous!  As St. John Paul the Great says:

 “Do not be afraid!  Open wide the doors to Christ!  Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure!” 

I remember about Esther Mwarabu’s visit to my village, I think of God’s call to live a missionary life, and my response. God issued the invitation, and I had the choice, to take it or to leave it. I will be forever grateful that I chose to follow.

When I first began considering missionary life in the beginning, I certainly wasn’t thinking about sitting it out or how I would eventually feel about the choices I would make. My questions majorly centred on what will my family and friends thought since I was not educated as Catholic but in the Methodist Church, What would my life be like as a missionary? And, finally, how do I know that Missionary life was right for me?

Some years after when I became a full member of the Missionary Community of St Paul, I went to give a missionary animation talks in one of the schools. During the talk a student asked me this question, “so Lenny, why did you became a missionary?’’ No matter how many times I’m asked this question, and in how many different ways, I’m never prepared for it. I then realized that’s because the answer has to come from the heart, not the mind alone thus it’s not easy to put into words.

When I began considering missionary life, I didn’t know exactly why I wanted to become a lay missionary. All I know is that there was an attraction inside of me that I could only express vaguely. Perhaps the reason can be found in a song called, “I hope you dance.’’ By Lee Ann Womack. It’s a song about loving, making choices to live life fully, to respond to the calls that are deep inside of us and to risk looking like a dancing fool in order to follow our deepest yearnings.

As I struggled to get in touch with my feelings, I responded, I wanted to love God as much as I could, and I felt the best way for me to do this was to be a lay missionary. My reason then and now is still the same. Love. Although it wasn’t without twists and turns, and many questions along the way, I’ve found my identity in being in MCSPA; serving God, especially towards the children, women and the elderly. I encounter each an everyday in Nariokotome Mission.

Lenny Jillo MCSPA