It is with great sorrow and pain in the heart that we inform you of a shocking incident at a well-attended Church function yesterday.  In the presence of several hundreds of people attending the event at Our Lady Queen Of Peace (Todonyang Mission), a Dassanech elder from this neighbouring community in Ethiopia was murdered in cold blood. There were children and adult faithful, the Bishop of Lodwar, Rt. Rev. Dominic Kimengich, and Ethiopian and Kenyan authorities present. Bishop Dominic was presiding over the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the parish, the confirmation of 50 Christians and the blessing of 4 new classrooms. The celebration of the mass had just ended and the fund-raising family day contributions was about to start. The killing of the elder occurred in front of the Pontifical Missionary Children of all the Deanery (over a 100 children) and the children from the Parish school (more than 150). Other persons present in the mission compound were the Orthodox priest and deacon from Koro (Ethiopia); Fr. Goesh Abraha, the Parish Priest of the Catholic Church in Omorate (Ethiopia) with some of his visitors; Fr. Imo Bassols, the parish priest of Lokori Parish, Turkana South, who had come with a delegation of Catholic Men’s Association of Lokori Parish; Fr. Albert Salvans from Lobur Mission and members of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle with visitors from their various missions of Nariokotome, Kokuselei and Todonyang; the Assumption Sisters from Lowarengak Parish, the local MCA and Turkana County authorities and elders of the area.

The motive for the murder is unknown, and it was carried out right before the Kenya Police, GSU and RDU units. Everybody present was shocked and the children of the school were very traumatised. The perpetrator escaped amidst a group of young turkana warriors who appeared to be backing him. The name of the deceased is Mzee Lobakate Lobolemai from Koro village in Ethiopia. Bishop Dominic, Fr. Alex Campón, the parish priest and Caritas Lodwar Director, Fr Goesh Abraha, Fr. Albert, and Scholastica Wamalwa and Patrizia Anniballi from Nariokotome Mission, together with the Ethiopian Orthodox priest and deacon and all the ethiopian delegation (the Deputy Chief Administrator from Omorate was among them) who came to the celebration escorted the body of the deceased back to Koro village where the rituals and prayers for burial where held, headed this time by the Orthodox priest.

Due to this despicable act, the school at Todonyang Mission has been closed and the children sent back home, and all development and pastoral activities of the Parish has been put on hold until security and confidence is restored. We await the security forces of Kenya to apprehend the culprit, dismantle this group of warriors, and return security to the area.

Let us pray from the bottom of our hearts for the end of violence and evil acts. May peace be restored.

Fr. Álex Campón, MCSPA.

La falta de alimentación adecuada es el principal enemigo de la salud de los habitantes del Valle de Angar Guten, especialmente los niños.

Por lo tanto además de la asistencia que se presta a los enfermos desde el proyecto de salud comunitaria, la Comunidad Misionera de San Pablo Apóstol tres guarderías en tres poblaciones diferentes de valle donde 400 niños de entre cuatro y seis años reciben cada día desayuno y comida, revisiones médicas básicas cada tres meses y educación preescolar.

Parte de las legumbres, verduras y frutas que comen los niños se producen en los huertos de las guarderías de esa manera las madres ven que es posible producir comida en sus casas para poder alimentar a toda la familia.

Blanca Beltrán

For the past 11 days a team of educational specialists from Israel, the Turkana County Government and the MCSPA education committee, went round through the different MCSPA missions to meet and discuss the best way to help and improve the education in Turkana north.
Thy visited several schools along the lake deaneary and especially the educational centers run by the MCSPA, especially the two schools at Todonyang and Nariokotome Missions, the ECD’s (early childhood development centres) and the MCC’s (mother and child centers) in the area.
The team will now work and come up with the best way forward to encourage the parents, the children and the teachers to improve our ways of teaching and learning.
Thanks a lot to the Israeli team, Milett and team, the county and government representatives and all the MCSPA’s education committee.

Lillian Omari, MCSPA

Esto es motivo de felicidad y optimismo. Hemos pasado por muchos retos durante estos 3 años y medio; pero curso a curso vemos como se va consolidando una nueva forma de vida para los turkanas en la que ven la posibilidad de producir alimentos tanto para sus familias como para las comunidades en las que viven y generar su propia economía. Estamos formando agricultores y lo están empezando a integrar en sus vidas. La mejor representación de esto es SITFA (Asociación San Isidro de agricultores en Turkana), creada en 2014. La semana pasada, durante dos días, se han reunido todos los miembros de la Asociación por tercera vez y con la ayuda de dos facilitadores se han dedicado a potenciar el concepto de asociación, a revisar las actividades realizadas durante todo el año e ir dandole forma para presentarse ante los diferentes ministerios y pedir ayudas; el comienzo de su propia independencia. Y como colofón tuvimos la graduación de los 13 alumnos del 6º curso que ahora son graduados y nuevos miembros de SITFA. Una celebración por todo lo alto con representantes del gobierno y otros visitantes que nos acompañaron en un día tan especial en Turkana.

Maque Falgás

Today MCSPA members invited family and friends to celebrate an open day and launch of New Ways For Africa Trust. The day started with the Eucharist and baptisms of two babies: Mildred and Tiffany. The celebration was presided by Rt. Rev. Dominic Kimengich, Bishop of Lodwar.

More than 250 family and friends attended.

New Ways for Africa Trust is an non-profitable, non-political organisation that we have set up in Kenya in order to encourage our friends and family to support our pastoral and development work with prayers, time and skills as well as material help. If you would like to join us in those efforts please write to newways.forafrica@mcspa.org

We thank all the people who attended the MCSPA Family Day and launch of New Ways for Africa Trust for their friendship, prayers and support.

Lillian Omari

Truly, “Education is the key to life”. A bright morning with bright students, with bright minds, in their super cool uniform of St. Joseph’s Mother and Child Educational Centre (SJMCEC), at Nariokotome mission, during their morning learning session. A whole generation of literate minds yuhuuu!!!.

Thank you all for supporting the MCSPA projects. Asanteni!!!!

Lillian Omari
MCSPA

The peace between Turkana and Nyangatom has finally been achieved after almost two years of conflict and tension at the Kibish corridor. This has been possible thanks to the efforts of the two local governments through a series of meetings at different levels. The border crossing at Kibish was opened recently and people of both groups are crossing freely to go and visit their relatives and friends.

Two weeks ago a delegation from Turkana county and representatives of the Kibish sub-county, came to Nyangatom for a three days meeting. During these three days they held meetings with representatives of the Nyangatom local government and the civil society in both Lokorilam and Kakuta.

We attended the meeting at Kakuta, and it was really nice to see Turkana mamas and old men, sitting alongside with Nyangatom women, children and elders.

This could have been something unthinkable a year ago when tension was at its highest, in spite of both communities having so much in common.

Now as christians we see the need to come together and boost these efforts with our prayers, actions and witness, so that peace can be sustained and the hearts of the people involved in the conflict can be transformed by the love of Christ. Please pray for us and so that we, at the incipient Nyangatom mission, may be worthy witnesses of that love to the people of both communities.

Fr. Angel Valdivia

Reaching out to the less fortunate and giving a smile on their faces has always been one of the closest things in our hearts as a community.

I recently experienced such joy when we went for our usual home visitation at Payatas 2, a huge slum area in Metro Manila.

That day we went with Fr. Francis and John, and since it is summer in the Philippines with soaring temperatures, we decided to take a whole extended family, numbering 22 persons, out to the park.

It is an experience worth sharing, because a simple gesture of giving a child a chance to ride in a car and seing his happiness, was enough to show me how unappreciative I am of the things that God has given me. These are some of the instances when my missionary zeal is put back on track.

The eldest among our group was the grandmother, or “Lola” in the Filipino language: she is 79 years old and can barely walk, and the youngest was a 4-month-old child. It is a family of 4 generations all living under the same roof of tiny house. It was a wonderful experience to see how the kids were just so happy to be with us. It was an experience that reminded the 3 of us of how a small intervention in a community can bring about such a significant impact.

These little sparks of joy can be the light that continues to guide us in our path of being good christians.

By Timothy M. Kaburu