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

I am James Mangeni and I was born in Busia County (in Kenya) but I grew up in the bustling city of Nairobi. I am the 5^thborn of a family of 6 siblings brought up in a Catholic family. My parents instilled Christian values in us ever since we were young. 

I have been with the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle for the past 7 years, working at our missions in Kenya and Malawi. It took me time to confirm if I had the vocation to follow Christ or not, as I felt that I was not good enough to be a missionary, leave alone daring to dream that one day I would be serving the people of God somewhere in Turkana or Malawi.

Immediately after my secondary school education, I opted to look for employment, which, by God’s grace, I did find – cooking at one of the busy small restaurants in Nairobi’s Central Business District. While I was working at the restaurant, I met a seminarian from Uganda, who encouraged me to discern carefully if I had a vocation or not. He was very concerned and checked on me every day asking if I had made phone calls to religious congregations which he had recommended to me. Despite this seminarian’s insistence, I still did not show much perseverance! However with time, my heart became restless and a certain desire got the better of me: I felt a strong urge to give missionary life a try. I began sending out application letters to different congregations. 

I could have approached my parish priest to express my desire but I did not. One thing became clear to me: I wished for something different, other than being a diocesan priest or a Comboni priest. The booklet on congregations and institutes that I got from my Ugandan friend, gave me an idea and a summary of various missionary communities in Kenya. Thus I first came to know of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle (MCSPA), whose way of life and apostolate caught my attention. I also had an opportunity to attend the Yarumal Missionaries’ “Come and See” Programme which lasted a few days. 

Soon after the experience with the Yarumal Missionaries, I received a reply from my earlier application letter to the MCSPA. It was from Fr. Fernando Aguirre and Andrew Yakulula, both members of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle. At this juncture, I was confused as to which path I should take. However, through constant and regular interaction with Andrew (who was then still a seminarian in theology studies at Tangaza College, Nairobi), I began to know more about the work and life of the MCSPA, and I was touched by the missionary work which its members were doing in Turkana. I visited the mission for 2 weeks and then, later on, I met Fr. Fernando for the first time. We exchanged contacts and I began to visit and help them with different activities at their Nairobi residence. 

After 3 months, my mind was made up; I resigned from my work, and left Nairobi to start my formation with the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) in Turkana, particularly at Todonyang Mission. It is now 7 years filled with joy and happiness, and I have never doubted my decision.

I feel God’s grace showering on me throughout my time in Malawi. I thank God for the opportunity to be part of the initial team that started to set up Benga Mission in Malawi; we started the mission from scratch!

One of the beautiful things of Benga is the smile and kindness shown by the people, despite their difficult socio-economic situation, and this makes one feel accepted and loved. The people do their part in sustaining the parish activities through their annual contribution of tithes, grain from their harvests, and in building up the Small Christian Communities in the area. 

Although I encountered serious challenges in starting the philosophy course with the University of South Africa, I was able to overcome these challenges, thanks to the support and trust from Frs. Fernando and Manuel, and other members of the MCSPA family. At present, I completed the philosophy course and am currently doing pastoral work at Benga Mission. I spend most of my time at the farm with the different communities of Benga area, imparting to them animal management, aquaculture and solar lighting technology. I am also assisting with our program to assist albinos in the area.

What motivates me to be a missionary  – and this is the message that I would like to give especially during this Extraordinary Month of Missions – is the support and encouragement that I receive every day from the people in the MCSPA family, especially during difficult moments. It is not an easy journey but together, as a family, and with the grace of God, we will be able to keep moving forward. We journey with one another despite our cultural and racial differences but through these differences we are able to build up the communal spirit and confidence. This is what motivates me, and it is what fills me.

James Mangeni, Senior Apprentice MCSPA

When I finished my Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in 2008, I joined my family business. My family runs a small hotel and restaurant business. I worked for a while at the hotel and that helped me develop business skills that have helped me to be aware of expenditures and how it is important to take care of small things in order to cut costs. However in 2010, my life changed drastically when I met Fr. Antonio Aguirre of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) through a family friend.

My vocation as a missionary was born in Turkana where the MCSPA carries out much of its apostolates. I was deeply touched by the dedication and care that the missionaries gave especially to the sick, hungry and needy nomadic people of Turkana. As I accompanied Fr. Antonio Aguirre with whom I lived and worked in the Community, my life was immensely changed. I began to attend daily mass, and this helped shape my faith, the homilies and conversations that we had were like food for my soul which ignited a spark for the missionary life.

My experience in the Community enhanced my spirituality and my human formation to the point where I began to consider the priesthood. These thoughts burned in my mind and in my heart. When I gave a helping hand to the needy, I always felt so fulfilled. I also admired how the priests of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle touched concrete lives in their work, all of which had its inspiration and strength in values of the gospel. I saw how these values are translated into concrete and tangible realities. 

After 4 years in Turkana, I enrolled for philosophy studies at the Spiritan Seminary at Arusha, Tanzania. I was enriched with a wide philosophical spectrum of ideas that encouraged me to question many things that I had taken for granted. I was very much challenged not to take things at face value. This led to inquisitive moments of my life that also helped to reaffirm a commitment to my vocation. 

After the philosophy studies, I went for missionary experience out of my country, Kenya, to Malawi, a country in the southern part Africa, where MCSPA is running a mission. In Malawi, I was also struck by a couple of experiences that left a deep mark in me. I accompanied Fr. Fernando of the MCSPA as he carried out his pastoral duties. I saw how, despite their poverty, the local villagers offer the little they have to the priest. It was beautiful to see this spirit of generosity coming especially from people who have little. Fr. Fernando also impressed me; he addressed the community’s challenges and problems by checking the wellbeing of their domestic herds, their spiritual needs and their physical needs by drilling boreholes for the local communities. 

Thus many persons and experiences helped developed my deep desire to journey towards the priesthood. Through the concrete examples that I have seen from other priests, they have demonstrated to me the true meaning of a shepherd of the flock of Christ. It is in the encounter with the people in concrete ways that we touch their very lives and become true witnesses of Christ.

I have just enrolled at Loyola School of Theology in Manila, Philippines, to pursue theology studies with the intention of ordination. I continue the practical formation in this missionary charism of the MCSPA at our Formation House in Manila. 

Taking all the above into account, I am fully convinced that I may obtain a quality formation and develop a better understanding of my faith. I am certain that the theology program, practical formation and personal experiences will provide a better and deeper understanding of the Gospel values, so that I may be competent to transmit my faith effectively, in theory and practice, to the societies to which I may be called to mission in the future.

Sammy Gitau Muchiri, MCSPA

Note: For more information contact us 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

Our MCSPA house in the Philippines serves several purposes: on the one hand is a study house for our priests who seek further studies, and our philosophers and theologians, as well. And on the other hand it is also a spring board from where we can reach many places in the South East Asia in order to carry out missionary animation and vocational promotion, as well as bridging between Asia and Africa. This apostolate has already borne fruits as the Diocese of Antique in the Philippines, has sent two priests to take care of the parish of St. James in Kaikor, Turkana, and a congregation of sisters to take care of outstation Kaleng.

Fr. Francis Teo and Ambrose Wanyonyi went to Panay Island, recently. They went particularly to San Jose Antique, which is the home of the Philipino priests and sisters mentioned above. At San Jose, they gave talks at two universities: St Anthony’s College and the University of Antique for vocation promotion, establishing new relations with the clergy and some families and strengthening our bonds with the people that have always been there to assist us.

They then proceeded to Iloilo City, about a 3-hour ride away, to establish contacts with colleges and also some priests there and to see Archbishop Lazo who is now the Archbishop of Jaro. He had been to Turkana in Kenya.

They also visited the Judicial Vicar of Jaro who also responded positively on our mission campaign. He has invited us, in the later part of this year, to give talks to the lay leaders there on mission, so as to create more awareness of missionary work, especially since this is the Extraordinary Year of the Missions.

They then went on to Cebu for vocation promotion activities, and Victor Otieno and John Amadi joined our team from there. On Sunday morning Fr. Francis con-celebrated the 8 am mass in Cebuano the local dialect and presided over the 10 am mass at Sibonga Parish, outside of Cebu City. There, the local parish priest had invited us to his rural parish on many occasions. After the 10 am mass, we met with some youth of the parish at the parish hall, where we held a talk and showed videos on the missions in Turkana. The youth were very excited and asked lots of questions about our missionary life in Africa. We were also invited to present another talk at the San Carlos Major Seminary in Cebu, where we met Msgr Rey, the Rector, and also the Vocations Promoter and other priests. They were very interested and welcoming. There were about 80 seminarians.

The Vocation Promoter invited us for the Archdiocesan Vocations Jamboree which will be held in Cebu from the 23rd to 24th of February. The MCSPA will be invited to do vocations campaign.

It is our hope that with these talks we have planted a missionary spirit in the youth that we met. Especially as we prepare for the coming month of October when the Church will celebrate the extraordinary month of Missions. We continue praying that, God willing, some Philipino vocations may join our community in the years to come. We entrust this endeavour to the patron saints of our house in Manila: St Joseph and St Francis Xavier.

By Victor Otieno and Ambrose Wanyonyi