As well as being Holy Week, this was a big week for me in several other respects. The beginning of this week saw my last few days at Consolata, the end of my formal language classes, along with saying goodbye to the Fathers, seminarians, my fellow students, my teachers, and the staff at the language center. I am now in Mombasa, joining three other Maryknoll Lay Missioners – Mike, Kathy and Coralis, and am about to start the next phase of my life’s journey here.
The week started with Palm Sunday Mass at Holy Mary Mother of God Church, which is a Consolata parish in the Githurai section of Nairobi. Fr. Jude invited me to join him for Mass at the parish. The parish is a 30 – 40 minute drive from the Consolata seminary. On the way we picked up Fr. Jude’s brother Domenic, who is a software developer and was in Nairobi for work. Domenic and I talked about the projects he is working on and I told him a bit about what I was doing at IBM before I left to come to join Maryknoll. It has been about six and a half months since I left IBM. On the one hand it seems that time has flown by so quickly since then. On the other hand, it seems like such a distant memory at this point. Before the Mass, everyone gathered in a large lot next to the church for the blessing of the palms. This was followed by a procession into the church and then the Mass. The church is very big and it was packed, with people having to stand around the sides of the church as there weren’t enough seats. Fr. Jude had to stick to a pretty tight schedule as there were four Masses scheduled at the church with not a lot of time between Masses. In fact, our Mass had to start a little late because the prior Mass was still being celebrated when we got there.
On Monday I had my final exam for my Kiswahili class. My teacher, Jacken, had told me that the test would be easy, but given his past track record with statements like that, I took it with a grain of salt. True to form, the exam was long and I thought pretty challenging. The exam took me about four hours to complete, at which point I called it quits so that Jacken could go home and so that I could make it to lunch before they took the food away. My last class with Jacken was on Tuesday morning. He proceeded to compliment me on how well I did on the exam. He especially called out the essay part of the exam where I had to write about why I wanted to be a missionary – all in Kiswahili, of course. However, he then went on to temper his nice remarks by reminding me that I still need to learn to speak the way I write on exams. Yes, I know, but when I write or take an exam, I have time to think about things and formulate what I’m going to write. However with speech, everything needs to be done in real time. Hopefully with lots of practice …
On Monday after lunch, I met with Brian, who teaches IT classes at the language center. Although I was somewhat familiar with the IT classes there, I was interested in speaking with Brian to learn a little more about what he teaches in the classes. I’m not sure what ministry is in store for me in Mombasa, and I have a little time to figure that out, but helping people learn computer skills would be of interest to me.
On Tuesday morning, Jacken and I went out for burgers, fries and a beer at the mall, which is a short walk from Consolata. It was a little early for burgers and beer, but I’m so glad we went. It gave us a chance to say goodbye and for me to thank him for putting up with me for four and a half months. I probably drove Jacken crazy with all my questions. It is never good enough for someone to tell me how to do something. I always need to know the underlying reason behind how it works. So it is with me and languages.
When Jacken and returned to Consolata from our goodbye meal, we discovered there was an assembly going on in the amphitheater style hall at the school. An assembly is held for all the students at the beginning of a new session of classes which began the day before. My class from the previous session was just concluding as we have a few days to make up from the last session. Fr. Denis, the Director of the Consolata Language Center, was nice enough to interrupt the assembly that was in progress this morning and have everyone go outside to take a group photo with me. I had told him that I had to leave in a few minutes and wanted something to remember my time at the school with my fellow classmates, teachers and school staff. It was a very nice way to say goodbye.
On Tuesday afternoon, a few of the Maryknoll seminarians picked me up at Consolata to take me to the Maryknoll Fathers’ house for dinner and to stay the night. I would then leave for the train station directly from there on Wednesday morning. It felt strange leaving Consolata, my home for the past four and a half months. I can’t thank the Fathers and seminarians enough for making me feel welcome and part of their community while going to school there. I had the opportunity to live, eat, pray, celebrate Mass and do pastoral work together with them. I also learned a lot from them by watching the way they approach being a missionary. The Fathers and seminarians referred to me as Brother, even though they know I’m a lay missioner. The Fathers also jokingly called me “tajiri” which means “rich” in Kiswahili – that is, rich as in wealthy, not short for Richard.
I was so happy that I got to spend some time with the Maryknoll Fathers and seminarians before I left for Mombasa. I’m not sure when the next time I’ll be able to visit them. We ate dinner together on Tuesday night. Early on Wednesday morning, I joined Fr. Lance and the seminarians for morning prayers and Mass. During Mass they prayed for me and then gave me a final blessing at the end of the Mass. I was a wonderful sendoff. On Wednesday morning, before I left for the train station, I got an opportunity to talk for a bit with Fr. Joe Healey. As I mentioned in a previous post, I got to meet Fr. Joe when he came to New York to teach a session on small Christian communities during my Maryknoll orientation program. I also referenced some of his research in that previous post. Fr. Joe was kind enough to give me copies of two of his published books on small Christian communities as he knows that I’m an interested in them and had the opportunity to do some work with the small Christian communities in Kibera with the Consolata seminarians. I’m not sure how or if small Christian communities will fit into my ministry in Mombasa, but I pray that the Lord will both guide me along the path he desires me to follow and ensure that I truly listen to what he is telling me.
Steve and Loyce Veryzer, along with their children, Justin, Abigail and Claire, who live and work in Tanzania and were in my Maryknoll orientation class in New York last fall, happened to be staying with Maryknoll Fathers while on break and on their way to the coast of Kenya. Steve is American, but has been working in Tanzania for a number of years with Peace Corp and other NGOs. Loyce is Tanzanian and teaches math in a secondary school. The Veryzers live in Mwanza, Tanzania. By pure confidence, we were all on the same train to Mombasa. So we shared two taxis to the train station and ate lunch together there. It was great to see them again and reconnect. On their way back home from the coast, they are going to stop in Mombasa, so I’ll get to see them again on Monday.
Kathy and Mike were nice enough to meet me at the train station and welcome me to Mombasa – even though my train got in at night and Kathy had to get up early for work the next morning. They spoil me! I went home with Mike and am staying with him in his apartment for a few days. Mike is showing me around the area of Mombasa where he lives. It is all very different for me I’ll reflect on this at a later time as I’m still trying to get my head around things. This is quite a different experience for me.
Good luck in Mombasa!