Today we had an early Christmas celebration with some children that are involved in our outreach programme from Daan Tubo. We held the Christmas party here at the MCSPA Formation House at Quezon City, Manila. A total of 50 kids and 5 mothers were able to attend the party which was facilitated by friends from Singapore and Philippines.

The children are part of a group that we give remedial classes to, for Math, English and Science, while the younger ones are encouraged to improve their communication skills in english through drawing and coloring and conversation.

By Timothy Kaburu
MCSPA Apprentice
Manila

Today we distributed over 200 mosquito nets to families at Ronas Gardens a depressed area (slum) within the parish where we have our Formation House.

The 200-odd families were very happy and were all smiles on receiving the large nets which were donated by friends.

The proper organisation of all the families and the distribution of the mosquito nets was made possible with the help of Ma’am Yeng, who is the “Secretary” of Ronas Gardens settlement.

Rev. Victor Otieno, MCSPA

I left my parents’ home in Malaysia when I was 14 years in order to go to study in Singapore. I got a scholarship from the government of Singapore and I eagerly left to live on my own in another country. One might say that I tried to live intensely … wanting to do as many things as possible, to try out and experience all things possible, to fall in and out of love, to question my religious beliefs and to test my relationship with God.

After Hwa Chong Junior College (senior high school for A-Levels), which was – and still is – one of the more prestigious educational institutions in Singapore, like several of my fellow classmates, I went on to read law at the National University of Singapore (N.U.S.). Again, I lived life intensely in the positive and negative senses! It was the two years at NUS that I entered into spiritual and emotional turmoil. It was a time of “disenchantment” with everything. In my first year holidays, I travelled to Turkey and spent a great deal of time there and hitch-hiked across Europe – times were so different then – from Diyarbakir in Eastern Turkey to Dingle in Ireland. Then the second year, I went alone to trek in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. I was opened to the world and its peoples. I found it hard to return to a life enclosed by four walls. The routine and the mundane killed my spirit. I questioned many things that I had taken for granted all my life – relationships, goals in life, God. I longed for the freedom and open spaces. I felt a great and deep emptiness in my life, and yet I could not put my finger as to what exactly it was. It depressed me, and made me lose interest in my studies and in the prospects of a life as a lawyer. I was 21 years old.

Then came the great famine in East Africa with Ethiopia being especially hit. Bob Geldof was mobilizing food relief with “Feed The World”. Even at the N.U.S. we did our part to raise funds to send to Ethiopia. Some of us from Law Faculty actually danced at a concert! While it was good to be doing something for a cause, I felt that it was insufficient … I had to do something more. What hit me most was the famous photo of the emaciated child with a vulture standing nearby. 

It was then that I decided that I would travel to Africa. That second year of Law School was especially turbulent for me. I had almost lost all interest in studies. Instead I became more and more interested in Africa. I would spend hours in the libraries of the university, looking up books on Africa – its geography, politics, history, anthropology etc. I read widely and took notes of the countries on the continent. And I began to plan for a trip there.

Naturally, when the final exams for 2^ndYear came, I failed impressively. All my friends extended their condolences, and my parents were devastated. But I lost just one night’s sleep because the next day, I decided with all clarity of mind and unity of purpose, that I would leave the university and go to Africa to discover something … what, I still did not know!

Then the movie The Mission hit the screens, and this moved me even more to question what I was doing with my life. How could I be content with what I had around me without doing anything for the many who had less. After I happily dropped out of the university, I went to help at the camp for the Vietnamese “Boat People” at Sembawang that existed then. I found deep satisfaction in that. 

I realised that I had to earn money to sustain me if I were ever to make it to Africa. My father would not support me financially for obvious reasons. I had to give private tuition for many hours each day to earn and save the money I needed. I began to work out a plan: I would spend two years travelling across Africa and enter Europe through Spain and end up in Belgium to study journalism. And along the way, I would work as a volunteer at a mission for some months. It all sounded fantastic!

A close friend of mine was studying at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland at the time. At my request, she sent me a list of 23 missions in Africa that had some kind of health facility. Little did I know then that there were thousands of missions all over Africa! I wrote to all 23 and I was sure that they would be so keen to welcome a young man from Singapore to volunteer work there … but no one replied except one. It was the Bishop of Lodwar Diocese in Turkana in Kenya. I looked up the Collins Atlas that I had at home and “Lodwar” didn’t appear on the map of East Africa, and I thought, “This must be the place!” I still have this first letter from Bishop John Mahon, and I treasure it. He invited me over to visit Lodwar and to work at a mission called Lowarengak Catholic Mission in the north of the diocese on the border with Ethiopia. With that, I gave away everything I had; the few things that I thought were absolutely dear to me, I stashed away in a carton box. Thirty two years later, that box is still in the store of my parent’s home … 

My parents were concerned about me – where was I heading to, existentially and professionally? What future was I carving out from all this? They tried to advice and guide; they never pushed. They weren’t happy with my decision to leave the N.U.S. and go to Africa. There were so many reasons for objecting: a dismal prospect for the future; the dangers of traveling to and in Africa; all that wasted time etc. But when they saw that I was adamant, I think they realised that I needed the time to seek. 

I bought a large map of Africa, framed it and hung it up on the wall at their home so that they would be able to follow my movement across Africa, so I figured. I left Malaysia and Singapore in 1987 and went Europe, then to Cairo and finally into Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. 

Throughout this initial part of the trip, I was alone but I never felt lonely. I missed my family but not my former life. I looked forward to the unknown in Africa with my whole heart and embraced each day and the surprises that it brought. I kept my parents updated about my movements. Phone calls were expensive. I had to write long letters and send it to them by snail mail! In those days, I could only receive mail from them by “post restante” at local post offices of cities where I passed by. My dad, I learnt many years later, looked forward to news from me, and he studied every word and every sentence carefully so as to glean a clearer picture of the circumstances that were shaping his son’s life. And my mother, I knew, kept praying for me throughout.

From Nairobi, I went up to the Turkana region about 1,000 km away to the north. Turkana land is a semi-desert into which I first entered hitching a ride on a lorry that was filled to the top with sacks of maize and beans. I was perched above those sacks together with a traditional Turkana man (dressed only with a blanket and a headgear with feathers) and his family – they were the first Turkanas I met. I still recall, as the lorry made its way across the yellow plains of Turkana dotted with scrub and thorn trees towards Lodwar town, the freedom and happiness in my heart because at last I was moving along in my dream to be in Africa.

I have never for a single moment regretted my decision to go to Africa, to chose a different path, to make that total change in my life. I could not and still cannot imagine how my life would have been if I had not dared take those steps. 

When I reached Lodwar, I made my way to “the Diocese” which was the hill where the bishop lived and the diocesan offices were located. It was the center of much activity as the Church was a key player in the relief effort and development work in Turkana ever since the 1960s. Bishop John Mahon, an Irish missonary, was a pioneer missionary to Turkana. He was surprised to see me standing in front of his door that day in December of 1987 – never in his wildest dreams did he envisage a young man from Malaysia actually making his way there. 

I was even more surprised at our first meeting: the good bishop was in shorts and boots, and constantly surrounded by children and workers. He was a canon lawyer by training and also a builder. All over Turkana, Bishop Mahon personally built schools, dispensaries, a hospital, churches, convents … In him, I learnt that Christ was to be found in the person, and not in all the laws and regulations and restrictions. We have so many of those in the Catholic Church that even a Pharisee would be proud!

Bishop Mahon’s favourite verse from Scripture was Luke 4, the part when Jesus reads quoting Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

He did this literally: feeding the hungry, educating the downtrodden, giving work to those bowed down, building a hospital to cure the sick and a school for the blind … I learnt that the gospels were not just mere words! Action was needed too!

After our first meeting in Lodwar, in December 1987, Bishop Mahon asked me to go to the mission of Lowarengak in the north. There was no public transport there – these were extremely remote places then and still are to this day. So I got a lift on a diocesan lorry bringing relief food to Lowarengak village. There, I met for the first time a Spanish woman who turned out to be a nurse belonging to a group of missionaries from Spain. Cecilia Puig and other members of the lay community were very welcoming, and I felt at home with them instantly. It was my first contact with persons who would eventually become known as the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle. 

I accompanied them on their mobile clinics around and talked extensively about many things. Those conversations planted the seed of a vocation in me. A few months later, I met the priest who started this community, Fr. Francisco Andreo. People called him Fr. Paco or simply, Paco, as he prefered to be called. 

Paco was never indifferent to the needs and suffering of others. He moved those around him to find solutions to situations of need that other persons were in, to solve problems. And Paco constantly called others to leave everything behind and to follow a life of service. And I was included in that invitation which he made so passionately and intensely such that I couldn’t say no! But it was an acceptance that matured and grew more profound with time. It was through Paco that I began to understand the gospels, life in a community and as a family. I began to get a glimpse of what being a priest and a missionary was all about, but this understanding had to be deepened and widened with time. I was 24 years old then and already I had been drawn into a life of caring for others – the children, the hungry, the sick, the elderly, the youth – and looking after them from head to toe. 

And thus I began to live my life as a missionary with the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle. Paco couldn’t stand to see a hungry child, and so all the day’s events and life in the mission was to see how there would be food – how to produce, to cultivate, to rear and grow … fruit, crops, animals. We needed water in that semi-arid land, and so we worked to drill boreholes, build dams … All this taught us to work to provide for the people who were thirsty and hungry. And thus our missions developed into centres of agricultural production, and water resource development.

Life was not easy, certainly. Conditions were harsh, back-breaking almost. Those were the early days when we were just establishing the missions, setting things up. Everything was a challenge … even making a phone call! But I took it all in and enjoyed life – the people, the work, the challenges, community life, the discovery of the gospels in relation to my daily life. It was like “a revelation to the Gentiles”!

I realised much later that my parents would object and oppose certain decisions of mine, but when they saw that I was certain of my decision, then they would relent. That I wanted to live in Africa already meant too many uncertainties for my parents, especially my late father. Now, their son wanted to be a priest IN AFRICA … goodness, that was too much! 

I remember my father pleading with me, “Be a priest here!” But I argued that my roots were in Turkana; that I discovered my vocation there with this Community, in the milieu of the Turkana landscape and people, and under the Bishop of Lodwar. I could not cut off my roots and be transplanted elsewhere!

When I was ordained a priest, my dad was with a full-blown cancer of the bone, and my mother had to remain at home to look after him. They could not attend my ordination which was on August 15^th, 1997, at Nairobi, Kenya. I was ordained together with Antonio and Manolo. A month before my dad passed away, my sister called me to say that his condition was worsening. But I still did not think it was necessary to return. However Paco insisted that I leave immediately and go to take care of my father. I did so and spent a couple of weeks in the hospital with my dad. One night, I noticed that he got out of bed slowly and with great difficulty and shuffled towards the mirror. He looked at himself in the mirror and then shuffled slowly back to the bed. I asked him if he was alright. But he ignored my question and delved into something more profound. Seated on the edge of the hospital bed, he said, “Son, if I had to live my life all over again, I would be a priest like you …” I was moved and tears welled up in my eyes. I muttered, “If you did so, then I wouldn’t exist”! And he went on to say that now that he was at the end of his life, he could look back and see that all that one has done has been in vain … except the good that one does. To me, that was a confirmation that my father was truly happy and accepted my decision to be a priest in Africa. When he died in August 1999, my father’s funeral was the first I ever officiated as a priest. 

Since 2012, I have been in Manila, Philippines, where we have set up our formation house. We have our seminarians and priests studying there in preparation for work in Africa. As they follow their study programmes in philosophy and theology and other civil studies, they also help out with livelihood programmes at the Parola and Payatas slums, and with children and families from a nearby slum area. 

I am very grateful to God for many, many things in my life. If I had to live it all over again, I would go through the same thing with the same people! If I love this life of mine, then I have to be grateful to my parents, who gave me life. I am thankful for this wider family that is the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle that Paco began and which God placed before me. I am totally grateful for His gift of the priesthood to me – there has not been a single moment in these last 22 years as a priest when I regreted this important decision in my life. There have been difficult and trying moments, but never any doubt at all that this has been and is the way and the life for me. I thank God for the younger men and women whom I had invited to follow in this life as a missionary … Lillian, Brian, Ambrose, Timothy, Stephen and others; they have been a source of anxiety but also great joy in their journey of being formed into women and men to serve those on the fringe of society. I am thankful for the many persons and events that God placed in my path and which have helped mould me. 

The greatest lesson which I have learnt from this life with the poor and marginalised, I think, must be the indomitable human spirit to survive, to improve and to push on despite all the odds. They teach me not to take life – and all that comes with it – for granted. It made – and continues to make – me question why some people have it all and others nothing at all. What is clear also is the amount of good that can be achieved when there is goodwill and hardwork, when each of us brings his or her 5 loaves and 2 fish. And there is no doubt about the deep and existential joy that we find in doing good for others.

Francis Teo Kian Seng, MCSPA

I am John Amadi Obila and I was born and raised in an Anglican family. When I was about 10 years old, I remember my parents used to take me for Sunday School and that was when Christian teachings and values began taking shape in me. However, during the upper primary school days until throughout high school, I was not much of a church-goer; even my parents did not go to church regularly. We would march to church only during Christmas, and, unfortunately, I did not find much meaning in attending the services and Sunday School at all.

After high school, when I was about 20 years old, I struggled very much so as to support my family especially since I was the first born in the family. I worked as an untrained teacher at a private primary school for 1 year. Thereafter I moved to a larger town at the invitation of a friend; there I worked as a waiter in a restaurant. Thereafter, I moved to Kisumu city to join my cousin in a small business to try to eke out a living. In Kisumu city, I was exposed to another kind of life, so different from the village; there, I experienced much in terms of social life. I used to commute very early everyday to town and return very late in the night. I was not content and certainly disillusioned with much in life. I wanted something more fulfilling. Many critical questions began surfacing in my mind – How would my future be like? What was my purpose and calling in this world? Why certain things happen to certain people? And so on … It was all so disturbing!

It was during those days of so many questions about the world and my existence, that a relative of my family came into the picture – Fr. Steven Ochieng. It was one evening in December 2010 when I my mother suggested to me about going to a mission called Todonyang in Turkana; that was where Fr. Steven, my mother’s cousin, was parish priest at the time. Fr. Steven happened to be in Kisumu then and the following day I went to Kibuye Catholic Church where Fr. Steven was to celebrate mass, and we met there after mass. We immediately made arrangements to travel to Turkana. As I did not know Turkana, I was accompanied by a young man from the mission called Robert who was very willing to travel with me to Lodwar town and then on to Nariokotome Mission. 

The journey from Lodwar to Nariokotome was one of those that I will never forget as it was really challenging and still an amazing experience for a first-timer like me. We arrived at Nariokotome Mission in the evening, totally caked in dust all over our bodies. Despite the bumpy roads and dust, I thanked God for granting us a safe journey. It is all still fresh in my mind. It was a Sunday and the usual weekly session of catechesis was on going. We attended the catechesis session, although we were very exhausted from the long journey all the way from Kisumu. Finding myself in the midst of a gathering of people from different backgrounds who were sharing their thoughts on Scripture, surprised me. I was happy with this and I really liked the idea that people could share and comment on the readings, and describe how the scriptures influenced their lives. That kind of sharing eventually gave impetus to my desire to be a missionary. I had not had an opportunity to be in such a gathering where people talk about God.  In my previous life back home, at no time did I experience such a kind of sharing; it was just attending church on Sundays and that was all. 

Todonyang Mission is where the foundation of my discernment and formation was laid, and it began with Fr. Steven as my mentor. I cannot afford not to state there that I encountered beautiful moments living with Fr. Steven; he was not only a father to me but also an educator and a formator, from whom I have learnt a great deal especially from the spiritual engagements that we had during meals, evening prayer and mass that I attended everyday. All this galvanized my aspiration to follow in his footsteps. My idea of God was transformed from the prior belief that I had, and this was as a result of communal living and the sharing during catechesis. Through all this, I encountered Christ in the people I shared my life with. The communal life has been amazingly beautiful to me especially since I come from a society that is centred on the individual. 

I am therefore grateful to Fr. Steven for having invited me and for the love he showed me, and how he continues to journey with me to towards becoming a better missionary. I finished my degree in philosophy and development studies last year with the University of South Africa and am looking forward to pursuing theology. Currently, I am studying an accountancy program at the Technological Institute of the Philippines; I hope that the knowledge and skills learnt can be of service in helping with the accounts of the houses and missions and also for teaching Mathematics at the Payatas livelihood centre in Metro Manila where I am presently residing. 

At Todonyang Mission, I used to accompany Fr. Steven to the out-stations for masses, to bring good news to people living in harsh conditions. We were going to the schools there that provided food and education to the children; we even went with the mission nurse. I was involved in helping the nurse give medication to the sick of those areas. The organization of educational workshops and peace talks for purpose of establishing peace between the Turkana and the Dassanech tribes people along the border areas were a constant activity since they was always conflict between the two communities as a result of inadequate pasture and water. Living and witnessing all this in the flesh at Todonyang Mission, made me want to be on the side of the vulnerable, the poor and the underprivileged. I felt for them and was motivated by the desire to do the same as Fr. Steven did. At the same time, I was under pressure from my family who wanting to pull me back to the village as I was the first born. I have remained adamant and insistent over the years, trying to make my parents understand my decision to be a missionary, and that I really want to help others and to bring some light to those in darkness. It has not been easy with my parents because of their expectations of their first-born to support the family especially the younger siblings. 

My spiritual journey has always been premised on my keen observation and listening to people, and through that I obtained some inspiration. I am also grateful for the privilege of meeting the founder of MCSPA, the late Fr. Paco … may his soul rest in eternal peace. Fr. Steven introduced me to him and I stayed with him for about 2 months until the time he passed on. I had edifying moments of discussions with him, and I remember so well how he enjoyed reflections from the divine office. We would read paragraph by paragraph and reflected on them through discussions and I was really moved by that. I cannot forget the practical activities that we were involved in such as the building of gabbions, giving food and clothes to the children, etc. Thus a sense of humanity and generosity was inculcated in me through these encounters.

Paco would occasionally let me know how he saw me, how I might have changed for the better in the way that I understood things and led my life; those words of Paco are always imprinted on my mind. He showed me that we had to be fruitful by doing good.

I am currently in Manila, Philippines, where I am involved in our outreach programs such as teaching at the Payatas Livelihood Center, doing home visitations, visiting the prisoners and doing vocation promotion in other parts of the Philippines, with Fr. Francis guiding us. I find joy in reaching out to the needy and responding practically to their needs through the development projects that we have drafted.

John Amadi

Senior Apprentice, MCSPA.

Growing up it never occurred to me that one day I would be a missionary, my understanding of being missionary was shaped by what I learned in school, to me a missionary was someone who had come from Europe to spread the good news of Christ’s salvation in Africa. 

This totally changed when I met Fr. Alex Campon a Spanish missionary priest of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle (MCSPA), most notable thing I remember in those early days when I began my missionary vocation in Turkana was waking up early in the morning preparing land for growing crops and planting trees with the local nomadic Turkana people in the almost barren land of Turkana which I thought was “madness” at that time little did I know that God was calling me in that way, now I trust that God writes straight in crooked lines. Going for “round masses” as we used to call them helped me hear the life stories of struggle of the local poor nomadic people and I came embrace the invitation that Christ was calling me to follow him through Fr. Alex Campon. It was not only to follow and remain dormant rather it was an invitation to share my life, capacities, and talents consequently from these experiences the Lord planted in me a great desire for missionary vocation.  

Even though at times the work, traveling around in an unforgiving terrain felt like a “punishment” and exhausting, at the end of each day I felt more refreshed and full of life than ever before. In Turkana I became aware of the adventure and the difficulties inherent in following Christ and in the midst of this spiritual transformation of sorts, I was learning and observing first-hand the ministry of long-term development being guided Fr. Alex Campon and the wider community of the MCSPA.

As a missionary in my own country among the poor nomadic people of Turkana, I have come to learn that direct service to the poor requires serious, consistent self-examination, deep prayer, and willingness to be converted and unlearn many things. No one serves perfectly, gives completely or works flawlessly. What is important is that a person knows and experiences the call to missionary vocation as a call from Christ, I don’t serve because it is good to do so, but I serve because I have been called in love and my response is to choose to return love.God created me in love, and has called me to life in service of others. In the poor, in those I work amongst, I see and know the Lord. I see the crucified, suffering Christ more often in the person broken by hunger and struggling to feed themselves, in that elderly person who has no one to take care of him or her, in that abandoned child and in many cases of desperation.

Through these experiences I have developed a burning desire to be more than just a participant in life, but to understand a spiritual calling to serve the Church. The strong presence of God actively working in my life has led me to seek a deep understanding of my personal spiritual growth. I am filled with joy to have responded to the call of Christ to become a missionary and now that I am in my final year of theological studies at Loyola School of Theology (LST) in Manila, almost being ordained deacon it gives me pleasure that I will further my life rooted in Christ and at the same time understand God’s intention for God’s creation and human potential, proclaiming and becoming an authentic witness to the Word of God in an intelligible manner as a future priest to the People of God, in the blessed land of Turkana where my missionary vocation was born.

Victor Otieno, MCSPA.

For more info get in touch with us via email on : admin@mcspa.org

Looking back, I think my journey towards the missionary life could be traced back to when I was 8 years old and an active altar server. I used to accompany and help our parish priest (who was an elderly Irish missionary priest at Kainuk Mission, in southern Turkana, Kenya) for outstation masses on Sundays. This was a routine that I always looked forward to and Sunday became my best day of the week!

At first I thought it was the mere excitement that a little boy would have in enjoying car rides and going to places with the priest. Little did I know that there was something more in me that needed to be ignited. During my days at Lodwar High School at Lodwar town, I met Fr. Francis Teo who was the chaplain of our school then. As an altar server, I was able to interact with him a bit more and we became friends. Fr. Francis is a member of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle (MCSPA). It was on my final year that Fr. Francis asked me if I felt attracted to the priesthood. I did not exactly understand what he saw in me that made him ask such a direct question. My first response was a smile followed by silence until he asked again and I hesitantly uttered a faint “Yes”!

From then on, I realised that some thing in me had been aroused because from that day onwards that question kept lingering in my mind. I visited him from time to time at the Cathedral in Lodwar, until one Sunday afternoon he invited to travel with the group to the remote northern part of Turkana County, to the Mother House of the MCSPA at Nariokotome Mission. I had never been to the place despite being born in Turkana. 

On my first day at Nariokotome mission, I was mesmerized by the lushness of such a place in the middle of nowhere. It is simply “a garden in the desert”. I later learnt that this “garden” grew as a result of the effort of several dedicated individuals who had come together to live the gospel and to make it alive in a place where one would quickly deem to be harsh and impossible at supporting any growth or life. This caught my attention and, perhaps more than being attracted, I was inspired to know more and so I chose to stay. I got involved with the usual rigorous routine of mission life, always on the move to the mountain regions and across the dry plains for masses, mobile clinics and visitation of projects. Sometimes I would go to take care of the vegetable garden. Throughout these journeys and with the kind of poverty that I encountered, I began to understand the meaning of suffering from thirst and hunger, and the lack of other needs. Seeing what the MCSPA has been doing throughout this time, compelled me to help the community carry out this mission because I realized that true service goes beyond mere words and it makes more sense when action is involved. I could see the seriousness and consistency in everyone I got to know at Nariokotome. The meaning of “love for others”, especially the needy, sunk deeply into my mind and touched my heart especially when I realised that the majority of the members of the MCSPA come from distant countries and chose to live this life. I felt challenged and called to share my life and to give love to others as well.

Where my family’s reaction towards my decision was concerned, it was not an easy thing for me. Everyone in my family objected to my joining the missionary life … everyone except for my mother. They were most unhappy and thought that I was insane. This is because as I am the only boy child in the family, I was expected to continue the family name with a family of my own. So, to my family, it was an unthinkable choice on my part! Only after 4 years of my being in the community, they slowly began to understand and to accept this decision. I guess it was because they saw a strong conviction and a great desire in me to follow this life which I had chosen.

Being a priest sounded simple to me before. However, since I joined the MCSPA I came to realise that it involves so much more and I felt a strong desire to serve God as a missionary priest with the help and guidance of Fr. Francis and the MCSPA family. I am glad to have responded to this call and I pray that the grace of God may fill and propel me to actualize this potential to serve in a manner worthy for His people, wherever it may be. I am now beginning my first year of theology studies at Loyola School of Theology in Metro Manila, Philippines. I pray that I may continue to be guided by God always within the MCSPA family and to render praise to Him through the service of others.

Stephen Ekaal Iyerio, MCSPA Senior Apprentice

With joy and gladness we would like to thank God for Victor Otieno who was installed as Lector and Acolyte by Bishop Dominic Kimegich, Bishop of Lodwar, yesterday at the MCSPA House of Formation at Cubao, Metro Manila (Philippines). It was a joyful moment to see our friends in Manila joining in to witness this occasion. In his homily, the Bishop urged us to be holy servants of God and true witnesses to the Gospel of Christ wherever we are sent, just like the apostles did. We are all baptised and therefore are sent to bring the Good News.

Bishop Dominic, who was in the Philippines briefly to attend other key events, also blessed the House of Formation which is under the patronage of St. Joseph, patron of vocations, and St. Francis Xavier, patron of the missions.

Congratulations Victor for this step made in your journey to the priesthood!

Lillian Omari -MCSPA

Apart from pursuing studies in Manila (Philippines), the members and apprentices of the MCSPA also carry out various apostolates at Payatas II and Parola (Gate 54). These are among the largest depressed neighbourhoods around Metro Manila (pop. 12.8 million in 2015). We do family visitations weekly at Payatas and also teach basic English and Math to the youth attending classes at centres initiated by the Salvatorian Fathers at Payatas and to young children at Gate 54 of Parola at a Livelihood Centre owned by the Salvatorian Fathers as well.

We also do have our own milk program in which supplementary powder milk is provided to malnourished, lactating children whose young mothers may not produce enough breast milk for their babies.

These weekly visitations have created a bond between us and several of these families, a bond that has endeared them to us and vice versa. We have become part of their lives and they take us as their own family. They share with us their joys and struggles of living in such squalid conditions.

This is why when Aries Aquino, a teenaged boy from one of the families at Payatas, fell sick of leptospirosis, a bacterial infection due to contact with contaminated water containing the urine from rodents, his mother called us in the middle of the night to go help her son who was admitted at the hospital. His kidney was almost failing. We did whatever we could to help alleviate the pain of the boy; he had to undergo dialysis in order for his kidneys to recover. Aries has now been discharged from the hospital and is recovering at home.

These trying days for Aries and his family and for us too have taught me that no one can serve perfectly. But what is important is that one has to experience his or her ministry as a call from Christ. We are loved by Christ and called to live a life of service; we do not serve simply because it is good to do so. Rather, we serve because in love we have been called and our response is to choose to return love.

Victor Otieno, MCSPA

The children from Daan Tubo, a poor neighbourhood near our house in Manila, and who usually come to us for tuitions in English and Math, came to celebrate a Christmas party with us last night. There were 35 children and 23 parents in total.

We had much food and gifts to distribute and joy to share!

Thanks to the financial help and donated bags and clothes which we received from Singapore, we were able to organise this first of three Christmas parties for child beneficiaries of the MCSPA outreach programmes in Metro Manila.  

Next weekend, we shall gather the children and parents for a party at Parola and another at Payatas slums.

Timothy