I was living in Malawi with the members of MCSPA for six months. These six months were one of the greatest times of my life.

I observed, that going to Africa, going to an economically poor country like Malawi changed myself more than I maybe changed the feeling of the people living in Benga.

The members of MCSPA tought me that to help and to serve people in need can open your heart, not only to their needs and problems but also to your own belief and spirituality. Being back in Germany I still feel the connection to the people in Benga.

Furthermore I am able to feel new connections to people more intensively here in Germany, because I have really learned that beside all our individual problems in daily life, at the end of the day we all want the same –  we all want to be loved, accepted and part of  a community. I am more than thankfull for this experience and life lesson.

Valentino Amian

(Germany)

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

Yesterday we inaugurated and blessed the new St. Lorenzo Ruiz Mother and Child Centre at Nakorukoru, an outstation of Nariokotome Mission.

The centre has 80 children at pre-school level who receive an education and a proper diet. The centre is close to a borehole that was already drilled by the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle for the people in the area. This will allow us to teach the mothers practical skills of agriculture and so would be able to feed their families better. In addition the centre will serve as a meeting point where families will be able to learn and share many inputs with the Mission.

We would like to thank all who have this dream a reality. Thanks to all who participated in the celebrations, Fr. Antonio, Fr. Francis, Patrizia, Escolastica, Lenny and all the visitors from Singapore.

Lenny Jillo

Today the church celebrates the 4th Sunday of Easter, also called Good Shepherd Sunday. In the Gospel of John we hear how Jesus, is the gate through which the shepherds go in to take care of the sheep. In the MCSPA we follow the spirituality of Christ the Good Shepherd in a double dimension calling others to leave everything behind and follow Christ, and feel compassion for those who suffer. Today also is vocation Sunday, let us pray for vocations for the Church and let us be active in promoting vocations to the priesthood and to consecrated life.

We would like to invite and encourage young people to follow the call of Christ in a generous and courageous way.

Don’t be afraid God is always faithful!

Fr. Angel Valdivia, MCSPA

“The earth shook with the news He’s not here. He is risen! And in that moment, joy replaced despair and life conquered death not just that day, but for eternity.”

Members of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle and Mary Mother of the Church celebrate Holy Week with the christian faithful around the different missions in Turkana, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Malawi, Philippines and Mexico.

As we celebrate the passion death and resurrection of Jesus, we join our hearts with all Christians and people of good around the world to pray together for peace.

Fr. Angel Valdivia MCSPA

Small Erus is one of the places where the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle is working. There, we have a Mother and Child Center and a Community garden.

Esther is a creative and very hard working woman who started her garden out of her own initiative. She was one of the women helping us everyday in St. Luke’s Mother and Child Center, cooking for the children, bathing them, etc. At the same time she started planting some small crops. As we saw her interest in gardening, we helped her to fence the plot that she was using and we installed a shade house and a drip irrigation system for her.

Nowadays, she produces different types of vegetables such as: spinach, onions, tomatoes, beetroot, Kale, local vegetables, water melon and sweet melon, etc. She already has a stable group of clients who are the teachers from St. Paul Primary School Riokomor, workers from Small Erus dam construction, the villagers from Small Erus,  Riokomor and the people from different organizations who normally pass by.

This garden made her to become a role model in her community and in her family. In addition, thanks to the harvest, she improves her family nutrition and she is also able to take some money home. This has influenced other mothers to start their own small garden in their houses.

The most important element is that she provides vegetables to the diet of the children in the Mother and Child Center and that has a great impact in their health, improves their eating habits and helps them to introduce new items in their daily meals.

All these changes in the life of Esther, her family and the community at large are possible thanks to the help of the benefactors that year after year support the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle in their work. THANK YOU!

Eleni Tsegaw, MCSPA