Members of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle and Mary Mother of the Church, have recently started a presence in the Eparchy of Endibir. Located 4 hours southwest of Addis Ababa, a place inhabited by people from the Gurage community, and where there is a big number of Ethiopian Catholics, who follow the Ethiopian eastern rite.

On 16th April 2023, hundreds of catholics, young and old, gathered at Holy Trinity Church, in the village of Dakuna, to celebrate Easter Sunday. During the feast, people celebrated the resurrection of the Lord as well as breaking from the 55 days fasting from animal and dairy products.

Apart from its unique mix of fascinating history, deep-rooted identity, incredible natural wonders and rare wildlife, Ethiopia is well known of maintaining the use of its own calendar which is very similar to the Julian calendar. Most of the Christians in the world celebrated Easter Sunday a week earlier, following the Gregorian calendar.  However, things were different in Ethiopia. Their Easter followed one week later.

Prior to Easter, many Christians commit themselves to extended periods of both personal and communal prayers. This is done with the sole purpose of growing closer to God and to remember Jesus’ life and death.

On Easter Vigil, all Christians of Dakuna had their candles lit to express their faith. Then drums came. And then, the joy of the Risen Lord illuminated the face of all the faithful who were gathered at Holy Trinity Church.

Following the Ethiopian tradition, most people invite their family and friends for a common meal on Easter Sunday. And of course they cannot miss the presence of traditional dishes like injera, dorowot, kitfo and kocho, which altogether give a sweet fragrance to the celebration.

By Lydiah Obok.

Yesterday we started a procession with Mother Mary in preparations for our centenary celebrations of Ave Maria Parish, in South Sudan, on the 1st of May. The image of Our Lady will visit all our outstations in the two parishes, Ave Maria in Ngboko and St. Thomas in Source Yubu.

Enjoy some photos of our 3 hour rosary procession at Ave Maria.

Let’s Join our hands in prayer and ask God to grant us peace in South Sudan.

Lillian Omari MCSPA

It has been ten years since Paco left us yet as we have seen, his memories and life are still very much imprinted in ours. That means that he truly lives for ever! To talk of Paco, is not easy since he influenced and changed the lives of so many people, as Fernando said yesterday, there are very many versions of the Man! These versions of Paco also changed with the passing of years, and nobody can do justice to his persona since we all experienced him in different shades. That is why allow me to give my version and my understanding of my experience having lived with Paco for 20 years! Though somehow some aspects do stand out!!

It was in 1993, when I was only 20 years old when Paco met me in the streets of Nairobi, near Jamuhuri Estate. This encounter started a relationship that would change my life; it’s a journey that has been repeated in this house. It involved eggs from Othaya house, and it would lead to my visit of Turkana in that same year. It was then that I was attracted to this missionary community; then followed a call to leave everything and follow Christ.

In these years, I experienced 4 kinds of love in him that have been in turn infectious towards us.

Tender love
It was Paco’s tender love that revealed to me the love of Christ at first-hand. It was his tenderness that marked my soul and changed me. It was not only to me but mostly to the poor, to the elderly and to the downtrodden. He did not see people as trees, (as in the story of Mark 8:22-26) or a landscape. He saw people as they were, people.

In many ways he was like the Samaritan man in the story of the good Samaritan: He cared and patched the wounds of those whom he met and were broken. Many times, he was also the father in the story of the prodigal son, who received us with open arms when we had wasted love. How many times did that happen to me?

He loved everybody and paid attention to all, either you were the excavator driver, or a waiter, Paco would pay attention to you. He did that to me and that is why I am here; he saw in me that which I didn’t see in myself, and being from different cultures and race, I was for him his sheep as was the rest. He treated people as Christ treated us, selflessly.

Tough love
Paco combined and sewed together the tender love with tough love. He was tough, no doubt since he insisted on truth and honesty from us. He did not entertain mediocrity. This made us be aware of our weaknesses. He did not sugar-coat it, he said it as it was; he called a spade a spade, in this way he did not allow us to shipwreck our lives, since for him truth telling was more important than peace keeping. By peace keeping I mean being politically correct. His tough love stood out and this for those who were with him did help us to bring the best version of ourselves!

Sacrificial love
In this fusing of tender and tough love, Paco also portrayed the sacrificial love to us in many ways. He always put us first before himself. I remember once we were visiting the Nuncio in Spain and Paco immediately mentioned that we didn’t have a good reputation, but the Nuncio was quick to respond that we do not need a good reputation here on earth but rather in heaven. He didn’t mind sacrificing his reputation for what was right. Paco dedicated his life for us so that we might live, he dedicated his energies so that the world might become a garden. Until his last breath he was out there working making manure and gabions even when he was very sick, there was no self-gratification, but rather to build a community of Christ, a community that is to do good, as in the words of evangelist Mark (Mark 8:34-35), “whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it” this sacrificial love was not just a feeling but an action. And that is why MCSPA members we are ready to go out to the most challenging missions, to places where few would rather venture, since this sacrificial love has been infused in us by Paco. As Paco found his strength in the Lord, so shall we.

Radical love
Lastly Paco combined the tender love, tough love, and sacrificial love with radical love. In the tempest of trouble, he would not defend himself. He would rather turn the other cheek than fight. Even when we suffered division, he was ready to give everything! For Paco there was no bare minimum, it was all or nothing. A dam had to be bigger. If we had to support someone, there was never halfway, it must be all the way! As in Matthew 22:37-40, Paco loved with all his heart, soul, and mind. And these lessons we have learnt well, we go beyond the call of duty. In living this radical love, we try to break the vicious cycle of hunger, war, and drought and not to be indifferent in the middle of people’s suffering.

Paco was tough with us, so that we can live and be a sign of this love in the world, in the places where we work. It’s been ten years since you left us, you showed us that this is the best way to imitate Christ; as written in your tombstone, “to be a good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep”. You too were the good shepherd who lied down your life for your sheep. Continue watching over us, continue resting in peace!

Fr. Steven Ochieng MCSPA

For Mechela Kindergarten, Under Muketuri mission in Ethiopia, 15th of January 2023 will remain a remarkable day as they inaugurated new kitchen and toilets within its fence. The whole village of Mechela, young and old, gathered at the compound of Mechela Kindergaten to celebrate the opening of its new facility. From the entrance of the kindergarten, one could clearly see the grass which was spread on the ground to mark a traditional fragrance of the celebration.

The Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) has always believed that integral education is a key to transform lives. With that intention, MCSPA has emphasized on quality education from the early stage of a child. It is equally important to note that poor health of children does not only compromise growth of the child but also result into educational setbacks and lowerperformance of the student. As a result, MCSPA rendered it an imperative to run centers which cater for the two principle needs of the students. Thus, education and nutrition. Mechela is an example of such centers which operate as an education unit and at the same time as a nutrition hub. The two-fold needs of the children are given a priority.

For some time, Mechela lacked proper facility like a kitchen and toilets to meet the required delivery of quality education to the children. This compromised the dream of MCSPA to always compliment education with pleasant nutrition and health of the student. Consequently, Josephine Amuma took an initiative to close this gap through a construction of a kitchen and toilets. Now the Kindergarten is also equipped with its own vegetable shamba (garden) and a wire fence to ensure its security.

Speaking during the inauguration ceremony, Fr. Fernando stresses that, ¨A child’s early years are the foundation for his or her future development, providing a strong base for lifelong learning and learning abilities, including cognitive and social development. ¨ He also explained in simple terms the importance of early childhood education as an essential building block of a child’s future success.

Josephine was delighted with the collaboration of the local community. In her speech, she urged them to continue with the same spirit of commitment. She also assured them that children are the stronghold of the future, therefore worthy investing in them.

The ceremony reached its climax when the representatives of MCSPA shared a common meal with the local community of Mechela. As per tradition, the community had prepared njera, typical Ethiopian food, for lunch. During the meal, different performances were done by the children and the scouts from Muketuri. The cerebration ended with a coffee ceremony to mark its significance.

By Innocent Letasi

Very recently we had the visit of the Asturian veterinarians David Iglesias, Esteban Iglesias and Carlos Iglesias to Nyangatom, Ethiopia. Their last visit was in 2019, since then they could not come due to the pandemic and local sociopolitical problems. Once again, they have resumed the annual deworming campaign for the Nyangatom animals.

The team has had the significant help of local veterinary assistants and the support of the mission team.

It has been about 10 days of intense work and more than 15,000 goats and sheep have been dewormed. Many more could have been done, but due to the severe drought that is currently hitting the Horn of Africa, many of the herds and their herdsmen have migrated to mountainous grazing areas located north of the Nyangatom region, within the Omo national park, where there is no accessibility.

Despite this, we are very happy with the result and with the good reception by many local herders. We have been able to successfully complete the areas of Kakuta, Lorau, Lomuria, Naturomoe and Kaderinyang, benefiting about 5,000 people.

In addition, the veterinarians were able to carry out castrations of dogs, which will help reduce diseases with a high incidence in the area transmitted by these animals to humans, such as tapeworms, hydatid cysts, rabies and others.

We have experienced a multitude of anecdotes in a short time, and we have had very direct contact in the daily life, both full of difficulties and joys, of this very authentic Nyangatom people.

We thank the veterinary team from Spain, and all those people and institutions that have supported this much-needed project, remembering that the health of human beings is closely linked to the health of animals.

Thank you very much!

Fr. Angel Valdivia. MCSPA

A day like today just 8 years ago, we blessed the Kakuta mission. It was the first Catholic mission in Ethiopia’s Nyangatom land.

From the year 2011 to 2013, Father David and I were often traveling to Nyangatom from Lokitaung, Turkana.

We usually came and went. Our stays were short and lasted as long as our drinking water and food lasted.

The year 2014 was when we would finally “burn our ships” and we would no longer turn back. After being camped for a few months in the compound of the government’s dispensary in Kakuta, and from where all our belongings were stolen in August, on November 24th we moved our large tents while they were set up, between 6 people, almost like a Holy Week processional image, from the dispensary to the mission.

After the blessing of the compound according to the Catholic rite, the elders blessed us in the Nyangatom style. We ate goat and drank the traditional epun (coffee husk infusion).

Today the Kakuta mission houses the St John XXIII – Ekisil mother and child center, where 50 preschool children learn hygiene habits, eat breakfast and lunch, in addition to receiving a quality education!

These last eight years have flown by. At the same time, it gives us the feeling of having already lived several lives here: both good and bad times! Always being grateful, with the firm hope that it was a mission from God, trusting in Jesus Christ, who from the first moment “guided our steps along the path of La Paz”.

Alakara lowoi!

Angel Valdivia 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