The situation that the whole world is going through right now can bring the best or the worst out of each one of us. It all depends on the path that we take.

It’s almost two weeks since we attended the last celebration of the mass at El Paraíso, the neighbourhood where the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle has been working for over three years at the request of the Bishop of Xochimilco, Rt. Rev. Andrés Vargas. El Paraíso lies inside a cultivated area called Chinampas in the district of Xochimilco. Since the contagion rate has apparently been slower here, Mexicans are still carrying on with their normal lives. Some of the families that live in El Paraíso told us that there is no way that they can stop going out of their homes to work because they would not be able to get their basic necessities. Most of them are street peddlers who cannot stay home and have to go out into the streets because “there is no other way”.

How can you ask a population that lives from hand-to-mouth to stay indoors? How can you ask them to wear a mask when there are none left although the government says that there is no scarcity?

Being aware of this latent need and with the support of Bishop Andrés and Caritas Diocesana from the Xochimilco Diocese, we have started a campaign to help those in need. We are giving to each family of the poorest communities in the cultivation area of Xochimilco, food and cleaning products that could last for a month.

We have been able to do this with 70 families thanks to donations from many friends and acquaintances. The beneficiaries were very thankful for the help since many of them did not have any more food to eat. It is important to understand that a lot of these families survive on temporary jobs: cleaning houses, selling things in the streets etc. and many of them have family members with chronic diseases or who are disabled in various ways.

We have seen that donors have answered with a great amount of generosity, sharing what they have even if they do not know how long this whole situation may last, and letting faith guide their actions with the hope that there will be enough for everybody. Pope Francis said that “we are all in the same boat”. We can honestly say that, now more than ever, this quote make so much sense: what affects one person affects all of us.

This Holy Week will be about us all walking alongside a suffering Christ, recognizing that our humanity is what brings us together, rather than our place of origin. It is our time to decide whether we want to come together, making sure that everybody has what is necessary to stay home and safe, or if we wish to be carried away by fear, protecting only what is ours because the world outside apparently does not affect us.

We will keep trying to provide more and more families with food, gloves, mouth covers and workshops to prevent the spread of the virus. It is our mission to be able to say “stay home and leave only for the essentials, with a face mask and gloves” but for that, we are in need of generous hearts.

In Ethiopia, many millions of people eke out a living for the bare necessities of life. They do this by harvesting their fields, looking after their herds, selling their products, doing some work for which they are paid on a daily basis.

The possibility of staying at home and surviving on what one has in storage simply does not exist for most people. Firstly, it is because there is not much to store, and added to that are the tiny spaces that make up their homes, which are clearly unsuitable for storing anything. In addition, the requirement of confinement is a near impossibility because many homes comprise of just one room or, at most, two tiny spaces separated by a wall!

Yesterday, we went to the market at Muketuri, the village where we live in the Ethiopian Highlands. It is a traditional market where little grain, fruit and vegetables are sold and bought; there are also clothes, accessories, household items but not much else. Despite insistent calls from the government for social distancing, the market was very crowded with people buying and selling. Really, what other choice do they have?

If only those who live in the rural areas could have water and vegetable plots where they could grow their own vegetables instead of relying on the trucks that supply the area which sometimes do not arrive. Again, that is not the case either. In many villages, water is still a very scarce commodity or one that can only be obtained by walking long distances. Opening the tap at home and seeing this element coming out is literally a chimera for many people here.

The only thing we can do, therefore, is to continue digging wells and distributing seeds to farmers so that the harvest season is not restricted to just three months per year.

And, above all, we need to REFLECT… so that, when normalcy returns and the imminent danger is over, we can think together about how to avoid the situation where so many human beings lie at the brink between life and death in a permanent and normative way. Maybe we can make that day come so that, when faced with a threat such as the Covid-19, we may all be able to isolate ourselves for a while so as to amortise the damage, and come out, as they say, stronger and not more impoverished, vulnerable or helpless.

The strength and comfort of Faith will be important to continue working for a more equitable world.

Lourdes Larruy, MCSPA.

MCSPA members of the Prince of Peace Catholic Mission, have joined representatives from the Nyangatom local government on Sunday, in order to show solidarity to the people of Kibish, who lost their homes in the recent fire this week.

This initiative is a real sign of love and peace between communities that are still in conflict due to cattle raid and excess of small-fire-arms.

We pray that such kind of signs will be the beginning of a real peace based on a mutual respect for the dignity of every member of the community across the divide.

Fr. Angel Valdivia

During the days 28-30th January, the MCSPA, present in the area of Muketuri, together with a Spanish foundation, called “Fundación Harena”, distributed 120 solar light sets to illuminate the homes in 3 villages, Abo Kaso, Gore Ketema and Jebene. These villages are 21 km, 7 km and 17 km away from Muketuri.

The solar sets have 3 points of fixed lights and one mobile, plus a telephone charger point. The families received a training to install the lights and showed their gratitude y happiness for what will change their lives: to have light in their homes, for cooking, living together and with a great impact in their children´s lives who will be able to study when there is no sun light.

At the 3 villages the people organized a party to celebrate the event with a meal, dances and speeches.
In one of the villages an old women expressed her joy saying:
“we don’t know how to thank all this: first the missionaries brought us the water, a well and after this agriculture with the drop system and then a dining room for children under 7 and pregnant women, and today, with these lights they have given us eyes to see all that we have achieved together!”

Many more families have registered to receive solar light for their homes. We hope to get the funds to extend the program to more people.

Lourdes Larruy MCSPA

During the days 28-30th January, the MCSPA, present in the area of Muketuri, together with a Spanish foundation, called “Fundación Harena”, distributed 120 solar light sets to illuminate the homes in 3 villages, Abo Kaso, Gore Ketema and Jebene. These villages are 21 km, 7 km and 17 km away from Muketuri.

The solar sets have 3 points of fixed lights and one mobile, plus a telephone charger point. The families received a training to install the lights and showed their gratitude y happiness for what will change their lives: to have light in their homes, for cooking, living together and with a great impact in their children´s lives who will be able to study when there is no sun light.

At the 3 villages the people organized a party to celebrate the event with a meal, dances and speeches.
In one of the villages an old women expressed her joy saying:
“we don’t know how to thank all this: first the missionaries brought us the water, a well and after this agriculture with the drop system and then a dining room for children under 7 and pregnant women, and today, with these lights they have given us eyes to see all that we have achieved together!”

Many more families have registered to receive solar light for their homes. We hope to get the funds to extend the program to more people.

Lourdes Larruy MCSPA

One of the best things about being in Turkana after the rains is that all the trees blossom and produce. Since October we have been having rains at least once a month, one of the visible signs of climatic change in the area.

As a result we have been eating mangoes at Nariokotome mission for the last three months.

Let’s join hand and plant more fruit trees in our homes, thus contribute actively to save the environment and at the same time have more food to eat.

Lillian Omari- MCSPA

The Source Yubu area in western South Sudan is an immense tropical forest. The annual rainy season lasts for about 8 months, approximately from March to November. And yet the inhabitants of the region endure a number of water-related diseases because many of them depend on open and contaminated water sources.

Following on Fr. Joseph Githinji’s footsteps who drilled several wells in this territory, Fr. Avelino has managed to secure funding for a second borehole at Ave Maria Mission. Today (February 20th), the water aquifer was struck at 92 metres, and the final depth of the well reached 135 metres. We expect a yield between 3,000 to 4,000 litres per hour. 

With the help of a submersible solar-operated pump, clean and sweet water will be brought to the surface for the nursery school, primary school, secondary school, vocational training centre, dispensary and several community supply points at Ngboko village. We thank our heavenly friend, Saint Scholastica, for regularly keeping an eye on our water needs down here!

Fr. Albert Salvans MCSPA

It has been seven years since Father Paco ( the founder of MCSPA) left us and crossed to the other side of life. Yes, it is seven years ago when we were mourning him! but today the Church in Nariokotome was celebrating life. The church was full, with christians from Nariokotome parish, Todonyang, Kibish. Some Christians came from as far as Lodwar, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

We all danced and sang to celebrate Paco’s life because he brought all of us from different cultures, but all with one common goal: #DoGoodAlways.

Mt 25:35-36: “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’”

This is what Paco preached and lived.

We are all called to follow the same. Let the legacy that Fr. Paco started in 1987 in Turkana continue becoming a reality. Let’s join hand to provide water, education, food, health and holistic pastoral care to our people, doing all this with LOVE

Lillian Omari – MCSPA

Today we were privileged to have had the visit of Mons. Marvyn Maceda, DD, the Bishop of San Jose de Antique (of the Philippines) at Nariokotome Mission.

Bishop Marvyn has supported the Diocese of Lodwar by sending priests from his diocese to Lodwar as fidei donum (Gift of Faith) priests.

Bishop Marvyn has a missionary vision and says that when one is blessed we must not keep the blessing to ourselves but share it out with others.

At present, there are 3 sisters from the filipino congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Lord’s Table working at Kaaleng Mission and 4 fidei donum priests: 2 at Kaikor from Bishop Marvyn’s diocese and 2 others from the Archdiocese of Jaro for Kaaleng.

The Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle will continue in its efforts to act as bridges between Asia, America and Africa, to bring in different congregations and missionaries to work in the different African dioceses where we are present.

“Go to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to the whole of creation”
[Mark 16:15]

Lillian Omari MCSPA

Today the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle and Mary Mother of the Church (MCSPA) are celebrating their feast day in their different missions around the world.

One of the most important parts of our charism is to be missionaries in the style of St. Paul.

Paul was a very versatile Apostle. He was advanced for his time. We could also say that he was a radical man, since he went from doing bad to being a herald if Christ spreading the good news.

He had so much Apostolic zeal moving from place to place, empty or full stomach, free or imprisoned, happy or beaten up. He was encountering and inspiring communities as well as men, women, and also couples, to leave everything behind and transform their lives for Christ. He was a totally committed man and he persevered until the end.

Our lives are so short and there is so much to do, that we need not to waste time and energy in useless things, but to live our lives for Christ as St. Paul did.

There is much we need to learn about Paul and reflect upon. On his feast we invite everyone to read his letters, deepen our knowledge about him and pray for the grace of God to transform our hearts for Christ, in the style of St. Paul.

Fr. Angel Valdivia