Todonyang Mission, has received three new fishing boats courtesy of the friends of Todonyang. This is a great additional asset to the rising population of Turkana fishermen and women along the shores of Lake Turkana.
“Let’s go fishing”, a slogan used by the beneficiaries of the said boats and by those already having the fishing boats, has ensured steady increase in food production. Thriving fish business has attracted lots of people from various parts of this dry landscape. The pastoralists who were affected by the drought late last year are neither left behind. The lake has become a stable source of food and family income.

Cosmus Onyango

Miles and miles of dry riverbeds
Sparse and thorny trees abound
You look and look but cannot find
A single soul around.

But then a tyre punctures
We stop to check it out
Suddenly the goat herds come running
Shiny happy faces not even a little pout!

It is the smiles of these special people
I take home with me today
They who have so little
Yet they have so much to say

The old grandma with missing teeth
Whose grip is really strong
The schoolkids in hand-me-downs
Who sing their pitch perfect songs

The dancing congregation
Who jump with such energy
The little babe on her sister’s hip
Who is suddenly thrust at me.

The missionaries of MCSPA
Who give their very lives
To make sure that their charges here
Not just survive but thrive!

These amazing people fill my heart
And move me to the core
They teach me not to grumble
‘Cos life is so much more

They teach me about gratitude
For every blessing big and small
That I should not seek more, but less
To be able to hear His call.

They teach me that though life is hard
And they have nothing much
They find joy in the smallest things,
A smile, a hug, a touch

They teach me He’s not just in my friends
But in strangers everywhere
And in the desert I found His face
His passion, His cross, His care.

I find the missions inspiring
Each with a beauty of their own
Nariokotome, Kokuselei, Todonyang, Lobur
Each day my respect has grown

The fathers and their volunteers
Show it doesn’t matter
They can do a million things
Though they are few in number

Their actions show unconditional love
They make concrete Christ’s words and teaching
Thank you my friends for your great love
You are awesome and inspiring!

By Elayne Ho

Elayne and her husband Stephen visited the MCSPA missions in Turkana, Kenya, in June 2017, together with another couple Michael and Hun Ching; both couples are from Singapore. Their stay in Turkana was short but very intense, as the poem above, written from the heart, demonstrates.

Yesterday July 9th was a joyful day as members and apprentices of MCSPA celebrated the Family Day in Nairobi. This event brought together people from different walks of life. It began with Mass celebrated by Fr. Joseph Ekalimon, Vicar General of the Diocese of Lodwar, followed by presentations of videos and testimonies. The same event also marks 30 years of MCSPA’s presence in Turkana as well as the 25th priestly anniversary of Frs. Albert, Fernando and Avelino. We thank all our family members, relatives and friends for their presence and celebrating with us these auspicious milestones. Thank you all and may God bless you!

Fr. Wycliffe Ochieng

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