During the first half of this year, Turkana mission workers involved in child care (especially in our Mother and Child Centers) have participated in several training activities on Child Protection.

With the support of the MCSPA Safeguarding Committee, we have invited them to create child-friendly environments, to reflect on their role and responsibility in the prevention of child abuse in the communities where we are present.

These have been very fruitful and important meetings for the formation of the whole team, with excellent facilitators who have helped us to improve our mission that the children of our missions grow up in a safe environment, free from abuse of any kind: physical, sexual or psychological.

We thank all those who make this series of meetings possible. We will continue to train, follow-up and promote awareness of this issue in each of our missions. We know that fathers, mothers, entire families, friends, teachers, missionaries, priests, medical personnel, workers and social leaders must work together to prevent child abuse wherever we are present.

Diana Trompetero, MCSPA

In mid-April 2020 we began a food collection campaign to face the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic contingency, to help the neediest families in El Paraiso and nearby villages in Xochimilco south of Mexico City, where the MCSPA has been working for more than three years.

We launched the campaign among friends, family and collaborators emphasizing what Pope Francis mentioned in St. Peter’s Basilica on March 27: “Like the disciples in the Gospel, we were surprised by unexpected and furious storm. We realized that we were in the same boat, all fragile and disoriented; but at the same time, important and necessary, all called to row together, all in need of mutual comfort”.

The response did not take long, those months we felt wrapped by so many generous hearts, full of hope that we wanted to bring to these families along with a bag of food and hygiene items. Then we became aware that the necessary information about Covid-19 that could have saved several lives had not reached these places.

Sadly this did not surprise us, in El Paraiso, live more than 3,000 migrant families from regions that have been devastated by poverty, insecurity or drug trafficking. Most of these families found nothing more than a piece of land “hidden from the authorities” where they live in wooden, plastic and cardboard rooms without the basic services to live with dignity, the rest is unaffordable for them.

These settlements are called “The invisibles”, they are families that do not appear in the statistics, that are not counted in the urban development plans, is social programs, etc. Officially they do not exist. Here we saw a clear manifestation of what Pope Francis talks about in the apostolic exhortation Evangelli Gaudium and which was already mentioned since 2007 in the V General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate:

“Today everything enters into the game of competitiveness and the law of the strongest. As a consequence of this situation, great masses of the population are excluded and marginalized: without work, without horizons, without a way out. The human being is considered in itself as a consumer good, to be used and then thrown away”.

Faced with this, in addition to the bags of food and hygiene items, we took on the task of bringing workshops about Covid-19, in addition to giving them masks and antibacterial gel necessary to follow the prevention protocols.

With this activities and by inviting people to help us to help these vulnerable families, they become less invisible. We are becoming the “voice of the voiceless” and we are turning the good news of the Gospel into concrete actions, not only the members of the MCSPA who are in charge of the activities, but all the people who have wanted to listen to the cry of these families and who want to be co-responsible with Christ in the construction of the Kingdom of God on earth.

Blanca Beltrán

MCSPA

Yesterday, 11th June, in Lobur Mission, we celebrated the 15th graduation of Furrows in the Desert.

Every graduation confirms the success of this program as a way of making a difference in Turkana. Today there are 13 new farmers ready to be self-reliant, producing food and generating income for their own families from agriculture.

We want to thank all the support from the guests, especially from CEC Agriculture Philip Ebei, CEO Agriculture Dr. Jacob Loleia, Director Veterinary Services Dr. Benson Long’or, Ekwakai Lobek Sub-county Administrator, David Lonoko patron Kokuro elites, chief area Ezra, MCSPA Kokuselei Alexy, and Fridah, and the representatives of World Relief and Concern.

Also, to the ones that they were not able to be present, however, they are giving so much support to the graduates through TIPA project from Rotary International. Thanks to them the graduates will be able to start their own farms in their original place.

Thanks to all other partners, Turkana County Government, Arava Institute Israel, Emalaikat Spain, DKA Germany, New Ways UK and others at the local level that support furrows in the desert programme since the beginning, 9 years ago.

Congratulations to the new farmers, and wishing you a good future.

Maque Falgás

As part of MCSPA safeguarding efforts, Fr. Wycliffe Ochieng is implementing a girls’ empowerment programme along the lake deanery (Lake zone of Turkana County).

This programme is meant to create awareness and prevent sexual abuse among teenage and adolescent girls from poor backgrounds.

Girls get trained on various topics and also receive dignity kits (pads, soap, lotion, mosquito nets, sandals among other items).

If you would like to support this programme you can do it through our website link.

Today on the feast of Corpus Christi, Fr. Avelino Bassols celebrated the Mass and did a solemn procession at Ave Maria Parish, South Sudan.

He was accompanied by many the parishioners and the children from the parish schools. The Holy Sacrament was adorned with beautiful traditional ornaments made from palms and branches from the surrounding forest. The community of South Sudan always keeps their faith as the most important thing in their lifes, in spite of being affected by so many hardships.

In this important feast of the Body and the Blood of Christ, let us celebrate Christ who gives himself really and truly to us every time we receive him in the Eucharist. What a great gift and opportunity to become better human beings and better Christians!

In the recent days the community of Ebur Angataruk, one of the places under the care of Kokuselei Mission, has been saying goodbye to Paulina Lokaale. She was a Catholic Turkana woman who always served her community with joy, as the in-charge of St. Moses Mother and Child Centre.

The missionaries of Kokuselei thank God for the gift of finding people like Paulina in Turkana, ready to serve generously every day the persons who need it the most. Her decision to dedicate her life to others without expecting anything in return, has made a dignified life possible for hundreds of children in Ebur for the last 14 years.

We rejoice for having had this great friend in our midst; she shared our mission and always welcomed us with great affection. We celebrate our friendship with a person who has been shining among all due to her faith, hospitality and generosity.

Paulina, you have left an unforgettable mark on those who knew you. You decided to follow Christ and you have planted a seed of love in your community. Your life has left a message in our hearts: Serve, smile and sing to God!

Diana Trompetero MCSPA

What Africa do you want to know? Ancestral Africa, the one that hides the history of the origin of life? Or modern Africa? Which awakens the world of technology, glass and steel buildings, and high-end cars.
In the day of Africa, I am left with beautiful Africa, the Human and that of the great fauna, the one with the colors terracotta, orange, blue and green, the immense, majestic, spectacular, and soft Africa. The Africa that everything envelops and excites us and makes us fall in love and tears our souls to shreds. That Africa of its people, its nature, its landscape made of greens, reds, blacks, and yellows, like the colors of its flags, its clothes, it is their patient and abrupt lives.
When you open your mind and let Africa envelop you with all its strength, you will never forget it, and you will always return. It will always go with you wherever you go.
In the day of Africa, I find myself in this land that slips through my fingers like a handful of warm and moving sand.
All of Africa is the spectacle of life, survival, beauty, penetrating music, intense smells, sour flavors, bitter beer, and life on the street, among the people. African so punished by some and so loved by others.
What does Africa have that subjugates us and makes us fall in love until we understand that we are insignificant?
I am left with young Africa, which will save the world from ending up dying of old and stubbornness. The one that will renew its history and will be the Africa of the African men and women, the Africa that will return to its origin, will wake up one day and say that life grows in it!
From Ethiopia, Africa, with respect to this great continent and especially its people.

Marí Olcina

05/25/2021

From MOSSolidaria NGO, we thank the MCSPA for the opportunity to participate in their projects MAY 25, INTERNATIONAL AFRICA DAY.

Despite the heavy rains that we received yesterday in Turkana and more so in Todonyang Mission, huge numbers turned out to witness the baptism of 36 young adults at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church, Todonyang. The best gift mothers received.

“For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink”. 1 Corinthians

Lillian Omari MCSPA

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing to a better life to the bosom of our heavenly Father, of Peter Chege, a student of theology of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle.

Our brother Peter, has passed on this morning in Nairobi Hospital after battling with a long illness. He is gone with the angels!

He was a loving, cheerful person, he will be dearly missed.

Let’s join hands praying for his eternal repose.

May his soul rest in peace.

Kindermissionswerk, Aachen, Germany, in collaboration with the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) in Malawi, organized a two-week training in project management concept in order to equip members of various religious and non-religious organizations with essential skills required in project development, implementation and reporting.

Development projects are a necessity in uplifting the lives of the most deprived and marginalized. In this regard, Kindermissionwerk and the MCSPA deemed it an imperative to train various members of religious and non-religious communities who are engaged in different development projects.

The training was convened at Nkhotakota Safari Lodge, situated along Lake Malawi. The breeze from the lake and the tranquility of the site provided an ideal condition for the training. Fr. Manuel Hernandez of the MCSPA facilitated the training. His proficiency and wide experience in running projects were put at the disposal of everyone. Among those who attended the training were members of the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle, the Society of Montfort Missionaries, priests from the dioceses of Lilongwe and Karonga, Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux, Carmelite Sisters and a representative of Tikondane Organization. These are people running various projects in Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Zimbabwe and Malawi irrespectively. The training was divided into two phases of one week each. The first phase was conducted in December 2019 and the second phase in April 2021.

Speaking after the training, Fr. Bernard Maganga said, “This training has helped me know what matters most in writing a project, implementing and giving a reporting. The sessions have been very informative and inspiring. I am very grateful to Kindermissionswerk and the MCSPA in Malawi for considering Montfort Missionaries in this training. What I have learned about project management shall be of immense benefit to the whole Montfortian family and the people of God at large. Zikomo Kwambiri!!” In addition, Fr. Angel Valdivia said that the training will help in preparing sound projects, matching with the requirements of various donors.

Lastly, the training ended with a beautiful ceremony in which every participant was awarded with a certificate of participation.

By Innocent Letasi Phiri.