As a young boy, I admired our parish priest, Fr. Raphael Ochanda, of St Michael’s Parish at Sigomere in Western Kenya. He was a simple man and believed in practical things. What made me admire him most was when I saw how he would be covered in dust while repairing his car. This struck me very much because of the idea I had before of a priest as someone “holy” and above all the grime and dirt. Thus, a light ignited in me and I told myself that I must be a priest one day. I started organizing games in which we would pretend that we were celebrating “mass” and I was the “presider”. Although I harboured this secret desire, I never managed to get near the altar as an altar server. However, this interest continued inside me throughout my primary school days. This feeling all but diminished when I entered the teen phase in secondary school. I lost interest in the priesthood and in the Church as a whole. I stopped going to church and instead kept myself busy doing odd jobs that could bring in some income for my private needs.
After secondary school, I moved to Kisumu city with my cousin. It is often said that God calls us in different ways and when He hooks us, we cannot escape. One day, while I was helping at the farm of our neighbour, Mama Quinter, who was sick at that time, I saw her daughter, Quinter, who had gone away from home for some time, entering the house with a visitor. Curiously, I went to ask Quinter who the visitor was and where had she been all this time. She told me that she was with a group of missionaries based in Turkana, northern Kenya. After narrating to me all that the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) was doing in Turkana, I became interested in the work of the MCSPA although I was quite uncertain of how I could help. When I told her of my interest to go and visit, Quinter introduced me to Josephine Amuma, a member of the community, who arranged for me to go to Turkana. I was thus introduced to Fr. Paco who was later to become my guide and mentor.
To this day, I am convinced that the first week in Turkana was the worst thing that I had ever experienced! I still thank God that there was no means of public transportation from the mission which I could have taken to return to Kisumu! The heat was too much for me to bear and I did not understand the language of the people. These factors made me feel that I could not fit in with the people.
However, when I gradually came to unveil the hidden beauty and happiness that lay in this dry part of Kenya, and among the local nomadic Turkana tribe and the members of the MCSPA, that light that had been extinguished during my teenage days rekindled with a new vigour. Working in the vegetable garden and attending the Eucharistic celebrations were my best moments. Masses in Turkana were marvellously long! Where the missionary community was concerned, it was amazing to see people from different backgrounds living together with love and understanding. I was very moved and decided that this was the life that I wanted to live.
I stayed with Fr. Paco during his last two and a half years and I learnt a lot from him. Being a practical man, I learnt how to do many things starting from unclogging blocked sinks to praying the rosary. He stressed vocation promotion and caring for the vocations that God sent us. According to him, one should not live alone like an island. Instead one has to go out and call people to share the joy that one is experiencing. He made me realise the importance of vocation promotion. His departure left a void in my heart and the hearts of many who knew him. Paco’s fraternal correction, which was tough for me at that time, helped and shaped me to be who I am today. He was to me a true shepherd who was ready to leave the ninety-nine sheep in the wilderness and go for the one lost sheep and being him or her back to the flock safe and sound. After his death, Fr. Antonio became my mentor and guide, and thanks to him I have reached where I am today. Antonio tried his best in helping me continue with my vocation. He helped me and continue to help smoothen the sharp edges in my life so as to bring me back on the better path.
It has been a difficult journey for me with all its ups and down. I have had to prune away many things in my life and that has not been easy for me! And still, I find more joy in being there for the people and helping out as best I can. I have never felt like giving up because I find joy here. It is through dying to ourselves and living for others that we acquire this internal and satisfying happiness. Now that I have started theology, I pray that I will not lose focus during these four years and that one day I may be ordained a priest, the kind who finds joy in serving others rather than in being served!
Zacchaeus Okoth Oduor
Senior Apprentice of MCSPA
For more information get in touch via email on – admin@mcspa.org
