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

As in most of the rainy seasons, South Sudan’s roads become full of mud. This time the rains have badly affected the roads and streets of Yambio, capital of former Western Equatoria state.

The Bishop of a Tombura-Yambio, Msgr. Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, has decided with the Catholic youth of Yambio to repair the streets in this town.

He went personally into the mud and gave a personal witness on how a bishop can do manual work and in this way contribute to the reconstruction of his country.

Let us pray for him and for many to follow his example.

Fr. Avelino Bassols MCSPA

Missio Aachen, the Pontifical Missionary Society of Germany has chosen Ethiopia this year as their focus country. A delegation of the Ethiopian Church has been invited to Germany to encourage Catholic donors to link up the money they donate with the reality of people, projects and the country.

Among the delegates are His Emminence Cardinal Berhaneyesus from Addis Ababa, and Bishops Markos from Jimma-Bonga, and Bishop Seyoum from Hossaina. Frs. David Escrich and Angel Valdivia from Nyangatom are representing our MCSPA missions in Ethiopia. Missio supports many social and pastoral projects around Africa and Asia every year.

This year’s Mission Sunday campaign opening has been launched in Erfurt Diocese and the celebration has been full of joy and entertainment. Activities such as a race competition to collect money were organised after the mass. Even those who wanted to have their shoes cleaned could do it as a donation because the Bishop of Erfurt was one of the cleaners! We are all called to serve.

Fr. Angel Valdivia MCSPA

These past 2 weeks, 55 youth are attending a Summer Camp at the St. Joseph’s Mother and Child Centre, that the MCSPA is running at Muketuri.

We started this Centre in 2008 and, in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its founding, we organised a summer camp for former students and youth from the area. Our aim was to encourage them to create the “St. Joseph Youth Group”.
This activity was organised by some members of the Catholic Scout Movement from Spain together with members of MCSPA present at Muketuri.

The main idea is to create awareness among Ethiopian youth about their potential in volunteer work as promoters of change among children, youth and families of the area.

Different activities have been organised: sports, drama, fabrication of musical instruments with recycled material etc.

The topics of the drama plays have been chosen by the participants themselves with the idea to present them at the different villages and schools: How to fight gender discrimination; Importance of hygiene; Causes and consequences of child malnourishment; Peace and conflict resolution; Inclusion of people with disabilities and Taking care of the environment.

The drama groups are presenting the topics in 5 villages and at Muketuri town to create awareness on these social realities and how the community can improve the situation.

It is the first time that an activity like this is being organised in the area and this has been an extraordinary opportunity for building up the local community.

Lourdes Larruy 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

Two years ago we met Bilise, a 5-year-old girl. Her mother, Workinesh, brought her to Andode Health Post because the child had a fever. She was severely malnourished and with bone deformation in all her body due to rickets and pneumonia. Then, she was very fragile and it was almost a miracle that she was still alive. She was crying, because of the pain and the difficulty in breathing.

When Workinesh was pregnant, her partner left her and since then, she worked as a day labourer carrying Bilise on her back while working. She had totally lost hope and thought that her daughter’s only destiny would be death.

But Bilise resisted the enormous malnutrition and pneumonia. They began to live in one of the rooms that the MCSPA built in the compound of Andode Health Post to monitor severely malnourished children and their mothers, women with complications of pregnancy who need rest and good nutrition and the chronically ill who need daily medical control and who live far from the health post.

When Bilise improved and began to smile and talk (by the way, she speaks a lot these days!), Workinesh completely changed her attitude to the care of her daughter. Previously, she did not follow the medical instructions for the treatment of Bilise.

In this way, they started to live again, both Bilise and her mother. Our little one is now 7 years old and goes to the MCSPA nursery at Andode, very close to the health post. She is one of the best students, because of her interest in learning and her desire to play and live.

For me, it has been a precious gift from God, to have been able to continue caring for both Bilise and Workinesh, who now helps in the agricultural work of Andode Mission and has discovered her dignity as a woman and mother.

THANK YOU BILISE, WORKINESH AND ALL THOSE WHO COLLABORATED AND WHO CONTINUE TO HELP IN THEIR CARE AND MEDICAL TREATMENT!

Maria Josefa Nuñez (Pepi) MCSPA

It was a big celebration yesterday at Nariokotome Mission, when friends of Fr. Avelino along the lake deanery and beyond, came to send him off on mission to South Sudan after working for more than 30 years in Turkana.

Representants from the 17 outstations of Nariokotome were present at the celebration. The church was packed and there was festive moods in the air. Many people came as far a 20 km walking and singing to reach the mission on time for the fairwell mass of Father Avelino, who after 30 years of living and working in Turkana will be going to South Sudan to work there.

Avelino is a real missionary, he has been working with the nomadic families as well as among the fishermen along lake turkana and especially in the Choro Island. He is someone who is always ready to help whoever knocks at his door and will find a solution to everyone who has come to him for help.

We would like to thank him for the great work he has done in Turkana, with the nomads, the fishermen, sponsoring students, building churches, doing pastoral work, visiting the sick, being with the people and the list goes on. “You are a priest forever, a priest like Melchizedek of old”.

We will pray for you wherever you go especially in the mission of South Sudan. Remember that this is not a farewell but rather we are sending you on mission to our bothers and sisters in South Sudan as the mission of Christ has to go on just as you did in Nariokotome Mission.

Lillian Omari
MCSPA

The blessing today of the church at Kokuselei – dedicated to Mary, Mother of the Church – was a wonderful celebration. Bishop Dominic opened and blessed the church. This year Pope Francis declared this invocation to the Mother of God a Solemnity in the liturgical calendar of the Church.

Cecilia Puig of the MCSPA gave a brief introduction on the mission of Kokuselei and mentioned all the priests who had passed through Nariokome Mission and served Kokuselei as an outstation of the mission. There came visitors from all over the parish and beyond, religious and priests from other parts of the diocese, the local MP and local political leaders. Many of the faithful had walked for hours to attend and see the big and beautiful church built on a hill in the mountains, with a breathtaking view of a dam and the Morueris mountain range.

The celebration took 4 hours with a lot of singing and dancing. This church will be the center point for all the normads in the Kokuselei valley where catechesis and Christian formation will take place. We would like to thank all who have supported and helped both financially and spiritually for this church to be built.

Thank you all who made this day a success: the MCSPA women community living in Kokuselei, the priests of the mission, the benefactors from around the world, the Church Committee, the catechist and all the parishioners.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!

Lillian Omari

MCSPA

Yesterday during the celebration of Palm Sunday, several Christian Communities came together to celebrate it. The celebrations were done in style in the different missions run by the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle. There were processions with palm branches and the singing and proclamation of Hossana was echoed all over the communities. After the celebrations, many children and adults made crosses out of the twigs and palms they were carrying and went home in a festive mood. Happy Palm Sunday to all!

Lillian Omari

MCSPA