St. John the Evangelist Kare-Edome Early Childhood Development Centre (ECD) is one of our nurseries at Todonyang Mission. It has 100 children who receive education and meals (breakfast and lunch) from Monday to Saturday.

It is now 1 yearsince the children of Kare-Edome moved from studying under a tree to the present building, and now the ECD is blessed with a new building and a new look. We would like to thank the local community, the parish and the donors who brought St. John the Evangelist ECD to where it is now with a classroom, dining room, an office and a dispensary. It is from there that the children, mothers and the elders are able to receive services like medical attention and feeding programs to combat malnourishment.
The children have a teacher and a helper, and are helped to integrate into the education system at this stage.

The local community is being made aware of the importance of allowing their children to learn, aside from taking care of the family cattle. They are slowly giving in to this but much has to be done still as the customs and beliefs of the community are rather strong.

A borehole was drilled and water is now pumped using solar energy. The families are able to feed their animals as well as have water for their own use. It was possible to set up a garden where people are being taught on farming techniques to grow their own food, hence fighting starvation and malnutrition.
The availability of such facilities has enhanced hygiene and people have made more permanent homes.

This has made the work of evangelisation easier.

We pray that all these projects may forge ahead and that the local families may benefit more.

Josephine Amuma, MCSPA

Todonyang Mission is a reference of hope and peace at the border between the Turkana (from Kenya) and the Dassanech (from Ethiopia). The mission has always stood against conflict by promoting peace, development and education.

On the ocasion of World Peace Day, Todonyang Integrated Centre celebrated
in style with the slogan “Peace is All We Need”.

The day started with a procession, followed by the planting of a tree as a symbol of peace. The school children then put on different presentations of poems, songs and dances.

Around 250 people came for the occasion and they all received a meal.

In the afternoon we had various sports such as football and volleyball. These sports were played between 3 teams: the General Service Unit (special soldiers deployed at the border areas), Todonyang youth and students from Todonyang Integrated Centre.

Let us all continue to pray and work for peace.

Peace is all we need!!!

Fr. Andrew Yakulula, MCSPA.

When we started the Mission of Nariokotome way back in 1989, our founder, Fr. Francisco Andreo (Paco), had the idea of turning this place into a self-sufficient mission. This was to prove that through hard work, abundant water, fertile land, plenty of sunshine and above all trusting in God, we would be able to produce food despite the contrary opinion.

Hence, agriculture evolved into a crucial activity at Nariokotome Mission. Currently there are more than 4,000 fruit trees here, of which 1,500 are vines.

When I first came to Nariokotome in November 1998, I was very surprised to see and taste for the first time fruits such as grapes, olives, figs, custard apples, dates … just to mention but a few. I had only read about them in books at schools down at “civilised” Nairobi!

A land – hot and dry, apparently barren – could be made to produce food! This was mind-blowing for me, a young girl just out from school. This fact continues to surprise many visitors and locals who come to our missions and find available vegetables, fruit, poultry and other sources of food.

Just this week, we are blessed with a harvest of 510 kgs of grapes (Alicante, Sirach and Barbera) and 100 kgs of table grapes (Murcia, Lambrusco, Regina Italia) … this does not take into account the grapes which the birds have been feeding on for the past 2 months! The member in-charge of agriculture at Nariokotome, Patrizia Aniballi, pruned the vines 3 months ago and now we have harvested the grapes and are starting the process of making wine, as we have done for many years already. With each harvest, we are trying to improve on the quality.

The grapes are harvested bunch by bunch, and gently placed into the buckets. Then they are washed, separated from the stems, crushed and placed in a huge container for fermentation to take place. They will then be separated by squeezing and the liquid that will be collected with be placed in barrels to settle and after some months it will be bottled as “Nariokotome Vintage”.

Our aim is to produce twice the amount of grapes and be able to make altar wine and supply to the whole Diocese of Lodwar.

Lillian Omari MCSPA
Nariokotome Mission

Missio Aachen, the Pontifical Missionary Society of Germany has chosen Ethiopia this year as their focus country. A delegation of the Ethiopian Church has been invited to Germany to encourage Catholic donors to link up the money they donate with the reality of people, projects and the country.

Among the delegates are His Emminence Cardinal Berhaneyesus from Addis Ababa, and Bishops Markos from Jimma-Bonga, and Bishop Seyoum from Hossaina. Frs. David Escrich and Angel Valdivia from Nyangatom are representing our MCSPA missions in Ethiopia. Missio supports many social and pastoral projects around Africa and Asia every year.

This year’s Mission Sunday campaign opening has been launched in Erfurt Diocese and the celebration has been full of joy and entertainment. Activities such as a race competition to collect money were organised after the mass. Even those who wanted to have their shoes cleaned could do it as a donation because the Bishop of Erfurt was one of the cleaners! We are all called to serve.

Fr. Angel Valdivia MCSPA

The Pontifical Missionary Children (PMC) of the newly created parish of Sts. Joachim and Anne at Kibish (Diocese of Lodwar, Kenya) have promised to use their talents to make the parish more outstanding in the diocese at large. They participated for the first time in both the deanery and diocesan PMC festivals and stood out brilliantly.

Sr. Isabela (Diocesan PMC Coordinator) enrolled 47 of the children in a colourful celebration at the outstation of St. Patrick’s, Kokuro.

We pray for these children that God may protect and nurture the seed of faith planted in the hearts of these young boys and girls.

Fr. Wycliffe Ochieng MCSPA

These past 2 weeks, 55 youth are attending a Summer Camp at the St. Joseph’s Mother and Child Centre, that the MCSPA is running at Muketuri.

We started this Centre in 2008 and, in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its founding, we organised a summer camp for former students and youth from the area. Our aim was to encourage them to create the “St. Joseph Youth Group”.
This activity was organised by some members of the Catholic Scout Movement from Spain together with members of MCSPA present at Muketuri.

The main idea is to create awareness among Ethiopian youth about their potential in volunteer work as promoters of change among children, youth and families of the area.

Different activities have been organised: sports, drama, fabrication of musical instruments with recycled material etc.

The topics of the drama plays have been chosen by the participants themselves with the idea to present them at the different villages and schools: How to fight gender discrimination; Importance of hygiene; Causes and consequences of child malnourishment; Peace and conflict resolution; Inclusion of people with disabilities and Taking care of the environment.

The drama groups are presenting the topics in 5 villages and at Muketuri town to create awareness on these social realities and how the community can improve the situation.

It is the first time that an activity like this is being organised in the area and this has been an extraordinary opportunity for building up the local community.

Lourdes Larruy MCSPA

Apart from pursuing studies in Manila (Philippines), the members and apprentices of the MCSPA also carry out various apostolates at Payatas II and Parola (Gate 54). These are among the largest depressed neighbourhoods around Metro Manila (pop. 12.8 million in 2015). We do family visitations weekly at Payatas and also teach basic English and Math to the youth attending classes at centres initiated by the Salvatorian Fathers at Payatas and to young children at Gate 54 of Parola at a Livelihood Centre owned by the Salvatorian Fathers as well.

We also do have our own milk program in which supplementary powder milk is provided to malnourished, lactating children whose young mothers may not produce enough breast milk for their babies.

These weekly visitations have created a bond between us and several of these families, a bond that has endeared them to us and vice versa. We have become part of their lives and they take us as their own family. They share with us their joys and struggles of living in such squalid conditions.

This is why when Aries Aquino, a teenaged boy from one of the families at Payatas, fell sick of leptospirosis, a bacterial infection due to contact with contaminated water containing the urine from rodents, his mother called us in the middle of the night to go help her son who was admitted at the hospital. His kidney was almost failing. We did whatever we could to help alleviate the pain of the boy; he had to undergo dialysis in order for his kidneys to recover. Aries has now been discharged from the hospital and is recovering at home.

These trying days for Aries and his family and for us too have taught me that no one can serve perfectly. But what is important is that one has to experience his or her ministry as a call from Christ. We are loved by Christ and called to live a life of service; we do not serve simply because it is good to do so. Rather, we serve because in love we have been called and our response is to choose to return love.

Victor Otieno, MCSPA

A team of 25 young adults from Our Lady of the Rosary Parish of Kiambu (Kenya) visited Todonyang Mission where they stayed for 5 days. The group of young professionals accompanied Fr. Andrew and the MCSPA team at Todonyang to the outstations, animated devotional activities, gave talks on the dangers of alcoholism, helped at the primary school and dispensary etc.

It was good to have this enterprising group of young people around to share their deep faith.

Fr. Andrew Yakulula MCSPA

The Feast of St. Clare was a memorable and joyful day for 12 women and their children of a village at Mizan Teferi that is named after St. Clare.

MCSPA members have been supporting these women and their children who live together in a closed and isolated village. This is because these women had suffered from leprosy and after a long period of medication their leprosy was cured but people still shunned them because they continued to be considered as contagious. Their village was named after St. Clare in the hope that the saint might intercede for them and accompany them in their daily life. We have been supporting them with medical expenses and clothing, teaching them health and hygiene, and spending time with them by accompanying them to the hospital and doing different activities.

One of the women, named Dafaat, asked, “Who are you people that you care for me and even accompany me to the hospital, something which even my children cannot do most times?”

We answered that it is the love of God that is uniting us together so that we can help one another because we need each other to lean on. Jesus died for all of us because He loved us.

One doesn’t have to be a super-woman or man to help. All it takes is a generous heart that is ready to share the little that it possesses, and these are the talents.

Once we truly live out our experiences, we become aware that we cannot let things remain the way they are, forgetting what we have experienced and seen. Instead, we have to participate and share, even if it is just a minute of listening to the other person. It is empathy that brings us together and helps us to be united with each other.

Esther Kerubo