Month: January 2019

Last Saturday I was sitting at breakfast with two of the Consolata Fathers – Fr. Samuel and Fr. Josephat. A number Fathers and students sleep in on Saturdays and so there weren’t many of us at breakfast at that time. I mentioned the snow storm that was forecasted for the northeastern US and was commenting on how beautiful the weather in Nairobi is. I understand I missed a lot of rain, which occurred before I arrived, but the weather here has been almost perfect since my arrival. It is sunny and in the high 70s F every day. It does get down below 60 F some nights, but I have as yet had to have to shut the windows in my room, which are always open. I know most people just think of Kenya as uniformity hot, but Nairobi sits at almost 6000 ft. above sea level, making the weather here much cooler than other parts of the country. This will not be the case when I move to Mombasa at the end of April.

The conversation about the impending snow storm somehow morphed into a conversation of resources in Kenya and from there into a discussion about how God provides for us. Fr. Samuel stated something to which I also subscribe, that is that God provides all that we need to meet our physical and spiritual needs, but that he disperses these gifts among all the people of the world in such a way that we all only have enough if we all work together. God does not leave us here on earth without the means to sustain ourselves both physically and spiritually, however, he doesn’t distribute gifts to each person in a way that makes each person self sustaining, but rather in a way that  everyone will have their fill only if we share of ourselves with others.

Maybe Fr. Samuel had in mind a passage from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, which would be the second reading at Sunday Mass the next day. In that reading St. Paul says “To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another, the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another, mighty deeds; to another, prophecy; to another, discernment of spirits; to another, varieties of tongues; to another, interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.”  As I heard this read at Mass on Sunday I was struck at how this tied back to what we were talking about at breakfast on Saturday. We always say that God provides, which is certainly true – remember “God is good all the time, all the time God is good”. However, also contained in this passage from St. Paul is the fact that God does not bestow all these gifts on each and every person, but rather He distributes them individually to each person as He wishes.  He gives each of us gifts for some benefit, gifts that when combined with the gifts of our fellow brothers and sisters, provide all that we need to not only survive but flourish spiritually, as well as physically, using the resources God has bestowed on us through the planet on which we live.

What made this yet more meaningful for me is what happened on Sunday. As part of my language studies at the Consolata Language Center, immersion experiences are incorporated into the program to give students an opportunity to practice speaking Swahili – which at this point comes with great difficulty for me. The immersion experience I chose was to do pastoral work in Kibera with one of the Consolata seminarians. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi and is considered by many to be the largest slum in all of Africa. The residents of Kibera live in extreme poverty. People there don’t have the means to earn a living and great majority of the people living in Kibera lack access to basic human services.

The seminarian that I’m assigned to work with in Kibera is named Francis. I will be joining Francis each Sunday afternoon to do pastoral work with small Christian communities in Kibera for approximately 3 – 4 hours. The stated objective is for me to have the opportunity to practice Swahili, but after my first trip there, I know that what will be even more meaningful to me is my experience of being there with the people who live and live out their faith life in the midst of so much need.

I’ll leave the details of my experiences at Kibera for future posts when I have more than one visit on which to base things. However, what I can say at this point is that I was welcomed warmly and allowed to participated as part of the community. Of course, everything was in Swahili and I could only pick out so many words that I understood, but I was at least able to get the general gist of what was going on. I had to introduce myself and say a few sentences about myself in Swahili. I messed up a little and the people that were there laughed, but I knew they understood what I was trying to say.

What I experienced at Kibera last Sunday was people coming together to pray and worship our God deep in the heart of this large slum which appears to be forgotten and hopeless. What I saw was people bringing their gifts and talents together in the service of the community as a whole in order to move the community together to grow in faith and love of God. I continue to have a lot to learn.

As I write this blog post, I’ve completed my second week at language school and have settled into a daily routine here. Mass is at 6:45 AM, followed by breakfast. Class is from 9 AM to 1 PM, followed by lunch. By the time class is finished my brain hurts and I am kind of worn down. Most of the class is now taught in Swahili and it takes a lot of energy to just keep up with what the instructor is saying. The language itself is not conceptually difficult and Swahili is easy to pronounce and write. The problem for me is learning the vocabulary. We get a lot of new vocabulary each day and the instructor will start using the new words as soon as they are introduced. I was never good at brute memorization and as is the case with most people, my ability to memorize things has degraded with age. I have to make sure I learn the new words by the next class so I will understand them when they are used. Being able to recall the words on the spot so I can use them when speaking is another issue. I know it takes time and that the more I immerse myself in the language the better it will be.

The Consolada campus, of which the Language Center is part, is pretty self contained. In addition to taking classes at the Language Center, the campus is where I currently live, eat meals, and go to Mass. There are people from all over the world taking language classes here – in addition to the seminarians who are studying Philosophy at the seminary. As Dee is taking a class outside Consolada and is just living here, I think I am the only American currently taking classes at the Language Center. While most of the students come from African countries, there are also students here from places like Italy, India, and Brazil learning English, Swahili, Italian, and Spanish among other languages. Luckily all the students at the school speak at least a little English and the Consolata Fathers speak English fluently, otherwise, I would have a very hard time communicating.

Last Sunday I went to an English Mass with Dee at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is within walking distance from Consolata. Dee goes to Mass there on Sundays and it gave me an opportunity to leave the campus, which I haven’t done much of with the exception of trips to the nearby Galleria shopping mall to buy toiletries and put more money in my M-PESA account, the mobile money service that is used so extensively in Kenya. During Mass, I heard the now familiar saying “God is good all the time, all the time God is good.” However, something was added at the end of the saying, which I wasn’t quite sure if I was hearing correctly. After Mass, I asked Dee and it turned out that I did heard what I thought I had heard, that is “God is good all the time. All the time God is good. That is His Nature. Wow!” When I got back to Consolada I asked some of the Fathers and they confirmed that they’ve also heard the phrase “That is His Nature. Wow!” used. I now have a whole new dimension of the saying on which to reflect. How profound in its utter simplicity!

It saddened me that during the week there was a terrorist attack on a hotel and entertainment complex in the Westlands area of Nairobi in which 21 innocent people were killed – including one American. The location of the attack is about 8 miles from the school and there was no direct impact here. However, it is a reminder that you always need to be vigilant here. Although security checkpoints, walls and barbed wire are ubiquitous in Nairobi, these measures can only do so much to protect people. The sad thing is that besides the lives that were senselessly lost, the attack will most likely have an impact on tourism here, which is so important to the local economy.

Fr. Lance invited Dee and me over to the Maryknoll Father’s house for dinner on Wednesday night. It was the last night of a regional meeting and there were a number of Fathers there from Tanzania. I also got to meet the Maryknoll seminarians, who were still away on Christmas break the first time I had dinner at the Nairobi Maryknoll Father’s House when I first arrived over two weeks ago. At the end of the meal, the seminarians treated us to some entertainment. How inspiring it was to witness the joy in these seminarians.

I look forward to starting pastoral work tomorrow with one of the seminarians. This will not only give me the opportunity to do some meaningful work, but also give me the chance to venture out and practice some Swahili. “That is His Nature. Wow!”

Kathy Flatoff and Mike Garr checked me in at language school yesterday. They then proceeded to head back to Mombasa where they have to return to their mission jobs on Monday after spending a few days with me in Nairobi getting me settled in. Dee Dungy remains with me in Nairobi where she will be taking a second level Swahili course while I start my first level class.

I will be doing my Swahili language studies at the Consolata Language Center, which is run by the Consolata Missionaries – an Italian Catholic missionary congregation that includes Priests, Brothers and Sisters.  A number of other languages are also taught at the school including English, Spanish, German and Arabic. The language center shares the campus with a seminary and a philosophy school.

Two immediate surprises about the school and my class work here. The first is that the second level Swahili class, which I’m scheduled to take, starts right after the first class ends with only the weekend in between. The original plan was for me to spend a break between classes in Mombasa to get acquainted with the city, see where everyone lives, practice my Swahili and get a general lay of the land there. With the two Swahili classes back to back, I’ll now be in Nairobi at the school until the middle of April and then head to Mombasa after that.

The more important surprise was the sense of community here. I was aware of the existence of the seminary and philosophy school before I arrived, but didn’t really understand how things worked. Not only will I be learning Swahili, but I’ll also have the opportunity to get to know the Fathers, Sisters and Seminarians who are here and interact with them. The way things are set up, I share meals with the Fathers and other male students attending the language school.

Fr. Denis is the director of the language school. He is a graduate of the Consolata Seminary here, did his theology studies in Bogota, Colombia and served in mission in Brazil. He has been at the school for less than a year. I went to Sunday Mass this morning in the main chapel where Fr. Denis was the main celebrant for the Mass. The Mass was attended by about sixty of the seminarians, who are primarily  from Kenya and Uganda. The seminarians were very vocal and energetic in their praise of God during the hymns at Mass. Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, the Catholic feast that commemorates the visit of the magi (wise men) to the Baby Jesus. Fr. Denis wove the story of the Epiphany into a call to mission in his homily, which he used to encourage the seminarians as they begin a new semester of study after having been home on Christmas break for the past month. As I’m beginning my own mission journey, I used Fr. Denis’ words to reflect on my own situation. The call and response “God is good/all the time. All the time/God is good.”, which we had used a several times during Orientation at Maryknoll was also used by Fr. Denis during the Mass. It was such joy to celebrate Mass with the seminarians and experience such a profound expression of our Catholic faith – albeit a little different from what I’m typically used to. 

At the end of Mass before the final blessing, Fr. Denis proceeded to call me up to the altar and have me introduce myself. After my introduction, Fr. Denis said that from this point forward the seminarians are to speak to me in Swahili only – no English. Given that my Swahili vocabulary at this point consists of maybe a few dozen words, it’s going to be a struggle, but a good one.

“God is good all the time. All the timeGod is good.”

I’ve arrived in Nairobi – the first step in my journey into Kenya. It was hard saying goodby to everyone at home. The most difficult part for me is the realization that I won’t be there for many of the life events of my family and friends. I’ll do my best to stay in touch with everyone, but I know it’s not the same as being there. I also realize that there is the possibility that some of my relatives, who are advanced in age, may not be there when I return home.

I am so appreciative of the beautiful sendoffs I was given by family, friends and my parish communities. You are all part of what makes up me and so part of what I’m doing here in Kenya. Your thought and prayers are so important to me.

My first few days here in Nairobi have focused on getting to know the Maryknoll family here, my fellow lay missioners along with some of the Sisters and Fathers, as well as a basic introduction to Kenya. Kathy Flatoff and Mike Garr, the two Maryknoll lay missioners who came to Kenya last year, took the train up from Mombasa, where they are living and doing mission work, to meet me at the Nairobi airport. Kathy is a nurse and administrator in a dispensary serving the needs of those living in a slum in Mombasa. Mike is teaching culinary arts and catering at a vocational school in Mombasa. Joining them is Dee Dungy, a lay missioner who spent six years in Cambodia, but has now transferred to Kenya. Dee is between Swahili language school sessions and will be starting the second level class when I start the first level class that she just completed on Monday. I am so grateful to the welcome that Kathy, Mike and Dee have given me. Kathy and Mike are facilitating my orientation into Kenya. Having just gone through what I’m going through now a year ago, their guidance and support have been invaluable. They are also helping me get settled logistically before they head back to Mombasa on Saturday and I check into language school where I will be living for the next seven weeks for the first level Swahili class. For the past few days, we have been living together in the Maryknoll Sisters house in Nairobi covering things I need to know about living in Kenya and exploring the city of Nairobi.

There is no doubt that living here in Kenya is a big change for me and presents a number of personal challenges in terms of how I live my daily life. So many things that I took for granted living in the US are either non existent here or are much more difficult. I have so much to learn. I’m blessed to have Kathy, Mike and Dee here with me in Kenya, as well as the other lay missioners living in the region that I will meet later on, for friendship and support.

I’ll end this post with a quote from Mother Teresa that I’m doing my best to integrate into the way I live my life. “Give Jesus not only your hands to serve, but your heart to love. Pray with absolute trust in God’s loving care for you. Let Him use you without consulting you. Let Jesus fill you with joy that you may preach without preaching.”