It’s been two weeks since I’ve had an opportunity to post an update. There has been a lot going on as I try to settle into my new home in Mombasa, learn how to get around, and at times struggle with doing the simplest things that I previously took for granted.
My first Easter and Easter Triduum in Kenya was spent here in Mombasa. It was quite an experience. As I mentioned, when I first got here to Mombasa, I stayed with Mike for a few days. Mike lives in the Mbungoni section of Mombasa. His apartment is short walk to his parish church and the school at which he teaches, which are right next to each other. Mike’s parish is St. Martins De Pores, which is a fairly large church located in Mbungoni. St. Martins was our center of worship for the Triduum services.
The Mass on Holy Thursday was pretty much the typical Holy Thursday Mass that I am accustomed to at home, but with the now familiar differences in celebration of the Mass here in Kenya – more singing and dancing, larger offertory procession, … Coralis met Mike and I at the church. The Mass lasted about two hours, which is pretty standard for the Masses here. After Mass, we processed out of the church with the Eucharist to a hall located on the second floor of a building next to the church, where the Blessed Sacrament was exposed. I have no idea how we all packed into this hall, where everyone was on their knees with barely any room between us.
On Good Friday, Mike and I did the Way of the Cross with the parish. The stations started at the church at noon, we then proceeded to walk around the area, mostly through dirt roads in the hot sun in over 90 degree weather, stopping at various points to pray each station. There were hundreds of people who participated. We ended up back at the church at just after 3 PM. When we got back to the church, there were already many people there. With all the people who returned from the Way of the Cross, the church was overflowing. The Good Friday service was supposed to start at 3 PM, but we didn’t even get back to the church until after 3 PM. Once we were all in the church, where Coralis met us, they announced that there would be a short break before the start of the Good Friday service. After about a 20 – 30 minute break, the Good Friday services started and lasted for three hours. Honestly I don’t know how the priests, and the congregation for that matter, have so much stamina! During the service, after the reading of the Passion account, the youth group of the parish acted out a passion play, which I’ve never seen done during Mass before, but really enjoyed.
The culmination of the Triduum, the Easter Vigil, brought things to yet another level. Mike, Kathy, Coralis and I attended the Vigil together. Before Mass, there was a huge Easter Fire outside the church, and then a procession into the church in the dark and the lighting of candles held by the congregation. In addition to all seven Old Testament readings, with the singing of a Responsorial Psalm between each one, the Epistle, and the Gospel, the Vigil Mass included 100 Baptisms and First Communions. The Mass was very solemn up until the Gospel, but after that, the joy could not be contained. There was an almost never ending succession of singing and dancing throughout the remainder of the Mass. Just the Litany of the Saints lasted well over twenty minutes. I one point, I suspected that they were maybe making up saint names to elongate the litany. 😁 I think the people would have stayed and celebrated in the church all night if the Fathers would have let them. The priests had to get up early the next morning (Easter Sunday) to celebrate three Masses, including the first Mass at 7 AM. The Easter Vigil Mass didn’t end until just after 1 AM.
Kathy, Mike and I, along with a few other guests, had Easter dinner at Coralis’ place. Coralis prepared a wonderful dinner for us. Coralis’ apartment is on Jomo Kenyatta Beach, otherwise known as Pirates Beach, which is a large public beach in Mombasa. After dinner, a few of us took a walk on the beach. At that time in the afternoon, it was very crowded. People here love to use inner tubes in the water and the beach was full of them. There are also camel rides available on the beach, but I have not tried one yet!
On Easter Monday, which is an official holiday here in Kenya, we all went back to Coralis’. The Veryzers – Steve, Loyce, along with their children, Justin, Abigail and Claire – joined us as they stopped in Mombasa on their way back home from the Kenyan coast where they visited during school break.
The following day, on Tuesday morning, I left Mike’s place and moved in with a Kenyan family, who has generously agreed to host me for a month. I am now currently living with Richard and Ann Mwando, their two children, Joel who is 9 years old and Hope who is less than a year old, and their live-in help, Dorothy. Richard and Ann have opened up their home to me and have made me part of their family. I live, eat and share much of my life with them. I can’t thank them enough for how welcome they have made me feel in their home. As Coralis likes to tell me, they baby me too much! While I am living with them, I’m learning a lot about life in Kenya and get to practice my Kiswahili with them. While some days, I meet with Coralis or Mike, I also do things with Richard and Ann. They not only teach me how things work in Kenya and help me with things I struggle with, but I also get to see and participate in their lives. They are also beginning to teach me how to cook Kenyan food. It is 15 – 20 minute walk from Richard and Ann’s to Mike’s. Mike makes his place available to me anytime I want to visit or use it.
As it was school break, the week I moved in with Richard and Ann, Pascal, who is Ann’s sister Flora’s son, was also staying at the house. Shortly after I got there, Pascal, Joel and I grabbed a matatu into town with Ann, who was going into work. After leaving Ann, with Pascal now in the lead, we headed to Fort Jesus, which is a short distance away from where the matatu dropped us off. Fort Jesus is a fort on Mombasa Island that was built in the 1500s by the Portuguese to guard the port. I believe the name Fort Jesus originated from the fact that the layout of the fort represents the rough outline of a man lying on his back with his head towards the sea The fort is Mombasa’s most visited tourist attraction. Next to Fort Jesus is Old Town, where there are many shops, connected by narrow streets, that sell antiques, arts and crafts. Old Town incorporates African, Arabic and European architectures and features a number of ornamental balconies and ornate doors. Pascal, Joel and I enjoyed a guided tour of both Fort Jesus as well as Old Town.
In addition to meeting Coralis one on one a few times during the week, she took me to meet with Archbishop of Mombasa, Archbishop Martin Kivuva Musonde, as well as visit the Cathedral (Holy Ghost Cathedral), and the archdiocesan Pastoral Center. The Archbishop is the person who sponsored my coming to Kenya. He is very approachable person and gave me a warm welcome. I was so pleased that he took such an interest in my presence in Mombasa and the work I will be doing. I have had the pleasure to subsequently run into the Archbishop on a few other occasions as he has a small retreat house next to where Mike lives.
Coralis has also begun to take me around and introduce me to different ministry possibilities. During the course of the past week, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with a number of different people to discuss where I may be able to help. During the course of the next month, I will be discerning a ministry position with Coralis’ help. Please pray for me as I take this important step. This is why I came to Kenya.
Last Sunday, we celebrated Kathy’s birthday with tea and sandwiches at a restaurant on the water. Of course, we also had birthday cake – a red velvet. That morning, Kathy, Mike, Coralis and I all went to Mass at Kathy’s church in Tudor, which is a block away from where Kathy lives. I also got to see Kathy’s apartment for the first time.
This past week we had several people from the Maryknoll Lay Missioners headquarters staff in New York visiting Kenya including Marj Humphrey, who is the Director of Missions, and Meinrad Scherer-Emunds, who is Director of Communications. They spent a few days here in Mombasa. It was great to see Marj and Meinrad again as I hadn’t see them since I was in the Orientation Program last fall and Kenya was still some far off place. On Friday, Mike’s Catering class at the Marianist Technical Institute, where he is an instructor, prepared and served a special lunch for Maryknoll that the entire school staff and a number of students also attended. Its was a great time. Mike did a lot of work preparing for and hosting the lunch and it showed.
As if he didn’t have enough going on, on Sunday, Mike hosted a Cinco de Mayo lunch at his house for the Maryknoll visitors from New York and those of us here in the Kenya region. With everyone together, we had a half day of strategy sessions and a regional meeting. Dee and Gabe traveled here from Nairobi and South Sudan respectively. Many of us attended Mass together at St. Martins De Pores Church in the morning where after Mass Fr. Dan called up the group to introduce ourselves and tell the congregation what we were doing in Kenya.
I wanted to close with a short reflection on something which I read during the week. It centers around the idea that God is so close to us, in actuality, closer than we are to ourselves, that He is too close to see. I’ve been trying to use this idea to help myself better see God in the world around me and in others whom I encounter.
In times of difficulty, suffering, and looking at the state of the world in which we live, I sometimes lose sight of God in the midst of all that is happening. Yet I know that He is there, experiencing everything with me, walking with me, and perhaps even carrying me when needed. Many people ask where God is, when He is in fact everywhere. God is not out there somewhere, but rather right in our midst, unimaginably close to us. God knows everything about us, but in many respects, I’m still trying to figure out me. I sometimes don’t know why I think the way I do or do the things that I do. However, I know and trust that God knows all of this and for some inexplicable reason, loves me just the same.
I’ve always liked the way St. Paul states a similar thought.
1 Chorinthians 13:12
God is good.
