This morning of the 26th of October, in the stunning Church of the Gesu at Ateneo de Manila University (Philippines), our brother Victor Otieno Owino was ordained to the order of deacon for the Diocese of Lodwar. Victor is a member of the MCSPA and has been pursuing his Theological studies at Loyola School of Theology which is affiliated to the Society of Jesus while continuing to receive his formation at the MCSPA’s St Joseph and St Francis Xavier Formation House in Cubao.

The ordaining prelate was the Most Rev. Sofronio Bancud of the Diocese of Cabanatuan (Philippines). Victor was ordained together with 8 other candidates from the Society of Jesus. In his homily, the bishop expounded on the roles of the deacon in the life of the Church.

There were representatives of the MCSPA as well as family and friends from Kenya, Malaysia, Spain, Singapore and the Philippines. For the MCSPA, it is the first time that we have had an ordination to the diaconate of one of our members from the community in the Philippines.

We thank all who have accompanied Victor in this journey for their unfailing support for him and the fledgling MCSPA Community here in Manila.

Brian Werunga, MCSPA

I want to briefly share the testimony of my vocation in this Extraordinary Missionary Month, especially with so many young people in the world who have had the good fortune of growing up in countries and families that have given us so much. I am Colombian, and I grew up with wonderful parents and brothers with whom I joyfully lived my Catholic faith since I was a child. In addition, I grew up in one of the many parishes of the Archdiocese of Bogota, where the example of good priests attracts many to follow Christ unconditionally.
However, in spite of having so much love from people close to me, a strange dissatisfaction filled my life during the years I lived at the university. The pain of so many people in my country in permanent war and the suffering of so many people in the world, made me feel grateful for everything I had, but at the same time left my heart thirsty, hungry. Nothing satisfied me. My psychology studies did not quench my thirst for justice, my thirst to wanting to be part of God’s plan of goodness for all. Many books, much theory, but little practice, little love. Those were difficult moments: intense longings to want to change the world and not knowing how. Amidst so much confusion and dissatisfaction of a young woman from Bogota who had had everything, God put my happiness on my path, and in the most unexpected way.
A woman, a nurse and missionary in Africa for many years, invited me to be part of an exceptional family: the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle. With Cecilia’s enthusiasm, and that of many other missionaries in the group, my life found a living Jesus: transformer of a world that cries out for justice and love. I cannot forget Father Francisco Andreo – Paco-, who revolutionized all my schemes since I met him. With him, the Gospel began to be for me something alive, active, concrete, thanks to his exceptional love for those in most need and especially for Africa. The way he committed himself, from beginning to end, to those who suffer marked my vocation forever. His trust in God was amazing, and his faith in the transformation of people and places oppressed by despair continues, even today, to impel my life.
There are no words to say thanks for those moments (17 years ago) when God filled me with strength to say, “Yes, I follow you, unconditionally and for life to go where you need me”. And here I am, in a corner of Africa called Turkana, full of amazing people in the midst of extreme poverty, hunger, lack of water and scarcity of opportunities, who are slowly building a more dignified present and future, despite the countless challenges.
What a blessing to have received the mission of turning this remote place of the Turkana desert into a garden! What a joy to be part of a missionary family that wants to commit itself completely to the most underprivileged, accompanying them in a permanent way to announce to them a Christ who loves them here and now. And what a joy to find on this journey, so many generous people who help us to build the Kingdom of God.
I recognize that the faith in God of the people from Turkana and maturing together our faith in Christ, has been my great joy and an enormous responsibility that I share with my companions on the road in the mission of Kokuselei. Lay missionaries like me, with whom we are building a living and young Church in the midst of numerous people full of enthusiasm for making God present in their lives. People who need to be accompanied, shepherded, towards paths of hope, faith and love.
Here in Africa, hundreds of people are in need of good shepherds who will take them where there is life, where Jesus is. But we lack hands, missionary priests and missionary women who want to leave their own land to reach so many who are waiting for the concrete message of God’s love. Young people who want to leave everything to follow Christ and who are willing to be sent where they are needed. Young people who want to overcome ties and who are ready to walk against the direction of a world that often closes the doors to true love.
I am happy and I know that whoever follows Christ one hundred percent is happy. As a missionary, I hope that this Extraordinary Missionary Month will sow in the hearts of so many young Catholics around the world the seed of a fearless love and a love committed to the proclamation of Jesus among those in most need. I pray for vocations that will cross borders and join the universal mission of the Church.

Diana Trompetero, MCSPA

On Sunday 8th of September the community of Naturomoe gathered together to celebrate the blessing of the first buildings and the first stone of the new Church at the Prince of Peace Catholic Mission.

The celebration was attended by many people and it was very colorful. Those in attendance were South Sudanese rebels and refugees, representatives from Kakuta community, regional authorities, MCSPA members and mission staff.

The occasion started with the celebration of the Holy Mass presided by Bishop Dominic Kimengich, accompanied by Bishop Markos Gebremedhin. During his homily, Bishop Dominic expressed his happiness of seing that, what started as a dream during his first visit to the area 6 years ago was now becoming a reality.

He also stressed that it was very important that people from three different countries were present, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya. And that if not brought together by God, we could have been fighting and calling each other enemies. However, thanks to the realisation of the mission, we can now stay together as brothers and sisters.

At the end of the Mass Lourdes Larruy explained the pre-history of how the mission started: 20 years ago it began as a suggestion of Mons. Silvano Tomasi, the then Apostolic Nuntio to Ethiopia, to Fr. Paco and the MCSPA members. The Nuntio said that if our community had missions in the north of Kenya, and in Wolega, Ethiopia, we could easily open a mission half way. Then this became also the dream of Fr. Paco, our founder, as he envisioned having missions as centres of life, in the style of our missions in Turkana, from Turkana to Alexandria.

After the mass the community proceeded in procession to the site where the future church will be built. The first stone was blessed and the church was dedicated to Mary Mother of the Church. Afterwards, we proceeded to the blessing of the technical buildings and staff houses.

We hope that these buildings will give the necessary logistic support to the missionaries and staff of the mission, to carry out apostolic work from Naturomoe, aimed at spreading the Good News through practical help.

We give thanks to all the friends and benefactors especially to Misso Aachen and the Nazareth Trust for supporting this project, and for all those who in one way or another have been part of this dream with your help and prayers.

Fr. Angel Valdivia MCSPA

Fr Alex, Parish priest of Ss. Joachim and Anne, one of the youngest parish in the Dioceses of Lodwar, has been encouraging the Small Christian Communities so that they can support the parish in all its development.

This week through the contributions of the Christians in every out-station, they managed to make altar clothes in all four liturgical colours for all their out-stations and the main parish church.

In this particular outstation those responsible; the catechist, youth chairman, the outstation chairperson and the Catholic Women Association representative received the gifts on behalf of all the Christians of Napeikar outstation.

We hope through this small acts, the Christians continue to feel part of the development that takes place in their Church.

Ambrose Wanyonyi
Apprentice MCSPA

In the tradition of the Oromo tribe in Ethiopia horses are adorned for the great celebrations of life: a wedding, a birth, a funeral… And now, the farmers of Abo Kaso wanted to celebrate by adorning their horses that they´ve got water thanks to the drilling of a well, as a sign of how important water is for life!

Last Friday, June 14, a hundred people waited on the main stone road for the vehicle of the members of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle who live in Muketuri. From there several kilometers across the field to the place of the well a score of peasants on horseback surrounded the car and singing they started their typical dances that are done on the horse back. All of them with the coloured saddle with the motive of the Lion of Judah, a sign of Ethiopian culture.

These were sublime minutes! A vast landscape of the Ethiopian plateau, 3,000 meters above sea level, people hardened by poverty and cold, today, wrapped up in celebration: having a water tap has changed the lives of 68 families, more than 500 people!

When arriving at the place of the well the construction of a 4 meters high structure of reinforced concrete is glimpsed. A deposit of 10.000 liters is going to be placed there from where the gardens will be irrigated with a system of drip irrigation… When approaching to the place a group of women dancing and singing to the rhythm of their clapping hands receive us, next to the deposit they are already taking water from every morning and afternoon; an event that this community celebrates like a milestone…

The Community of Abo Kaso has waited for 4 years, since they made the petition to the MCSPA to get water. Many of the children in Muketuri’s malnourished children’s care programme come from this village, which until now only disposed of water from small streams and puddles, a murky, scarce water that forced women and girls to walk miles to fill their 25-litre jerrycans.

Now, they have a well with a flow of 4 litres per second, for domestic use and to plant gardens in the dry season and add vegetables to their diet.

As part of the programme, they have received training in home gardening, composting, crop rotation, nutrition and hygiene.

It was a great experience to celebrate with these men, women and children the importance of water, an event comparable to the celebrations of the mystery of life, birth, death … and now, to have water!

At the celebration, for which they put up an overhang, benches, and cooked a sheep, the speeches followed a prayer of thanks from the local elders and poems from several young people.

The MCSPA missionaries thanked God for the occasion, and proposed a prayer for the common dream of a more just world, as God wants it, and for which people leave their homes and families and share their lives with people so far away.

The applause followed the request to cooperate all from our possibilities so that the children of this community could have a dignified future.

Lourdes Larruy, MCSPA.

20 farmers from the villages of Arkiso and Gore Ketema visit the agricultural project at Jebene, Ethiopia.

On 30th May – the feast day of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary to Elizabeth – a group of farmers from the villages of Arkiso and Jebene from the Ethiopian plateau visited Jebene, where the MCSPA is present since 2014.

With great expectations, the farmers trekked to St. Joseph’s Mother and Child Centre in Muketuri where two vehicles were waiting to ferry them to Jebene, 20 km from Muketuri on a gravel and dirt road. In Jebene, the MCSPA started in 2014 excavating hand-dug wells and organizing agricultural courses to start family vegetable gardens. This was following the request of the women and men after seeing the vegetable garden of the Mother and Child Centre at Muketuri. They demonstrated their interest by producing in the dry season. From then, 70 men and women have undertaken the course, and in 2016 a well was drilled and a drip-irrigation system was set up in a 1,000 sq. m. plot. The Emalaikat Foundation, Arcadi Motion Picutres, the Autonomous University of Madrid and the Foundation Harena participated in this project.

The secret to this community’s proper functioning is due to the presence of an extraordinary man: Tibabew (a word which means “wisdom”) who is the owner of the land where the project is being carried out. Tibabew is a man recognized by all as a “good man”. In 2018, he offered more land to enable more farmers to use the drip-irrigation system to produce onions, zucchini, cabbage, spinach, carrots, beetroot etc. during the whole year. This is a big change in a society where only some cereals are produced in the rainy season. Now they have 3 harvests in a year which the families share for the own consumption and they have also started to sell vegetables in the local markets nearby.

Furthermore, in 2018 a feeding programme for children under 7 years and pregnant women was started; this was to ensure growth through an appropriate nutrition.

Tibebew was proud to explain how they shared the vegetables produced and how he goes to the vegetable garden every morning to collect vegetables for the feeding programme.

It was an encounter full of optimism and hope, but it was also a challenge for the visitors. All were happy to see the fruits of their effort and they shared their fight to improve their situation and that of their children, very much like Mary and Elizabeth in the Gospel!

The women of Jebene prepared food for all: they slaughtered a sheep and shared the bread that the visitors brought from their villages. At the coffee ceremony, the leaders form each place gave thanks for the encounter.

The met each other, they shared experiences … they visited each other.
Many expressed their wish to repeat this experience and in the future the farmers would visit the different communities.

If it has been possible at Jebene, it will also be possible in Arkiso and in Gore Ketema! And, we hope in many more villages!!

Lourdes Larruy. MCSPA

When life is so low and down, it is difficult to be thankful for anything. So it was for Mr. Alemayehu when his wife and two of his children passed away. Alamayehu was left with only one son. He himself suffered from severe elephantiasis. Alamayehu lost all hope of living and all he sought was to be in a place where he could rest in peace.

While working at his “kebele” or village, MCSPA members were informed of Alamayehu’s case. We immediately took him to Aman Hospital where he was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his left leg. The doctors advised that his leg be amputated. Alamayehu did not hesitate: he chose amputation because he wanted the pain to be taken away and to smile again.
 
After the surgery, we visited him at the hospital everyday. The smile on his face revealed the deep joy in his heart. Alamayehu’s gratitude only proved that it is not how much one gives, rather how much love is put into that giving that matters.

Alamayehu has since returned to his “kebele” in Bench Maji Zone. He is very grateful for being able to return home free of physical pain. He is conscious of the many graces that God has given him, the most important of which is that he is able to be with his only surviving son.

We thank all those who supported Mr. Alamayehu, for a helping hand is a great gift that brings a smile and joy to others.

Esther Kerubo MCSPA

The 6th Inter-diocesan Conference on Cross-Border Peace and Evangelization took place in Lodwar with about 80 participants in attendance coming from Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. The theme was on “Reflections on Peaceful Disarmament”. The facilitators insisted on the reality of disarmament saying that it is a process which is tedious and with many challenges. For example, it took 18 years to disarm the Karamoja region of Uganda. Peaceful disarmament should begin with disarming the hearts and minds of the people. We are all called to advocate for a peaceful disarmament in our various regions and countries. The Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle works in conflict prone border areas where most of the people are illegally armed. This conference was therefore relevant to the members, from Todonyang, Kibish and Nyangatom who attended. The Bishop of Lodwar, Rt. Rev. Dominic Kimengich and the Bishop of Maralal, Rt. Rev. Virgilio Pante signed a declaration in the presence of all the delegates in order to disseminate the findings of the conference. They also thanked all participants and organizers of the event.

Wycliffe Ochieng MCSPA

From 8th-10th May 2019, the directors and heads of all Catholic schools under the Diocese of Lodwar underwent training on leadership skills at St. Teresa’s Center in Lodwar. The workshop was organized by the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle in collaboration with Strathmore University, on behalf of the Diocese of Lodwar. The sessions were conducted by a group of facilitators from Strathmore University in Nairobi. The key area that were looked at were:

a) Leadership and what it entails.
b) Catholic schools identity.
c) Mission and Vision in our schools.
d) Teaching, learning and assessment.

These key areas were looked into for the three days of the training by different facilitators, Fr. Steven Ochieng being one of them.

The last day of the workshop was graced by His Lordship Bishop Dominic Kimengich, who urged the directors and teachers to focus on the mission and vision of the Catholic private schools in the diocese for the betterment of the Diocese and Turkana county at large.

Fr. Andrew Yakulula MCSPA

On 11th May 2019, our standard 8 candidate class of 2019 were privileged to attend this year’s education day held in Lodwar. They were accompanied by the school director Fr. Andrew Yakulula and four teachers. All the Catholic sponsored schools were present. The function started with the Holy Mass, presided by His Lordship Bishop Dominic Kimengich, the Bishop of the Diocese of Lodwar. Thereafter, our school was awarded a trophy and two certificates for being the best Catholic run private school in the Diocese of Lodwar for our exemplary performance in the last year’s KCPE examinations.

The function was crowned by speeches from different invited guests. Our beloved bishop urged all the students to put all their efforts in their studies because it’s through education that those who are less fortunate in the society can be able to in the same class as the rich. We were motivated to work extra hard and thus we believe that through prayer and hardwork, we will always achieve the best.

Fr. Andrew Yakulula MCSPA