(Bob and I are Blessed to have been chosen to be a part of the delegation from the Archdiocese of Minneapolis/St. Paul to travel to the county of Kitui, Kenya, Africa. The Archdiocese and the Diocese of Kitui have had a partnership relationship for 10 years. The difference between a partnership and a mission is that when going on a mission, you are going to help someone out. The partnership is relationship building ... we help those in Kitui if we can (water is the biggest issue they have in this arid region of Kenya and we have helped them build dams to collect water during the rainy season) and they help us. While we in the US have been Blessed with the ability to provide material help, we also learn so much from them, especially regarding the importance of relationships and hospitality, family and faith.
The partnership has set up a three-year cycle, where delegates from here visit Kitui one year, Kitui delegates come here the following year, and the third year is set aside for planning. In our involvement with the partnership over the past 6-7 years, we have developed great friendships with those from Kitui. This pilgrimage provided us the opportunity to visit with many of those friends as well as develop new friendships. It taught us a lot about the culture of the area as we became immersed in life "in the bush" for several days, and we exchanged ideas, shared stories, laughed, ate and prayed together.
The partnership has set up a three-year cycle, where delegates from here visit Kitui one year, Kitui delegates come here the following year, and the third year is set aside for planning. In our involvement with the partnership over the past 6-7 years, we have developed great friendships with those from Kitui. This pilgrimage provided us the opportunity to visit with many of those friends as well as develop new friendships. It taught us a lot about the culture of the area as we became immersed in life "in the bush" for several days, and we exchanged ideas, shared stories, laughed, ate and prayed together.
I hope you enjoy my daily journals of this pilgrimage. At the end I have linked the four blog posts I wrote for the Archdiocese about this trip.)
Day 1, Tuesday,
September 30, 2014 … Our
daughter, Elizabeth, and Jeremy, picked
us up, then Fr. Tim (from our parish) and finally, Jessica (also from our parish), getting us to the airport about
noon. Check-in and the 7 1/2-hour flight
to Amsterdam was very nice with roomy seats and two meals; however, I was
unable to sleep. Watched the Movie “Australia” and moved our watches ahead 7 hours to
Amsterdam time.
Day 2, Wednesday,
October 01, 2014 ... St.
Therese of Lesieux… We
arrived in Schipol, Amsterdam about 5:30 a.m. local time, Fr. Randal Kasel said
Mass (Feast of Little Flower, patron of
missionaries) at the Airport “Meditation Centre” while Muslims came in to pray to Mecca behind us. Very interesting experience. I
was very tired by time we boarded the KLM flight to Nairobi, Kenya, five hours
later. This plane, however, was a very
cramped, old 747 … not a place to
wiggle, not even enough elbow room to cut my
meat served at lunch! Though the service
was very good … 2 meals, drinks including complementary wine if you wanted,
numerous pass-throughs with hot towels, drinks and snacks. I spent most of the
time trying to sleep and did manage a few winks, but by time we landed 8 hours
later I’m beginning to feel bushed. At
the airport in Nairobi, it took better than an hour waiting in line in the hot
basement to get our Visas … but then we were greeted by Fr. Robert and Fr.
Peter, Monica and Anthony and several others from the Kitui Diocese … oh what a
great reunion. It’s so good to see them
again. All 16 of us piled into a
mini-bus with our luggage and were driven several miles to a Franciscan retreat
house in Muchakos where we are spending our first night. With the long waits
and putting our clocks ahead yet one more hour, it’s now after 11 o’clock in
the evening here … 3 o’clock in the
afternoon at home .. SLEEP!
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| Fr. Kasel, Peter Kimaeu, Marcie & Bob Walmart-type store outside of Niarobi |
Day 3, Thursday, October 02, 2014 … Guardian Angels. Overnight at the House of the Good Samaritan, we had
Mass about 9 o’clock, a light breakfast and an orientation by CRS (Catholic
Relief Services) on their role for Global Solidarity, health issues, water and
sanitation issues (only 30 percent of Kenyans have access to toilets!),
agricultural and food distribution issues, etc., here in Kenya and in over 100
countries around the world, plus a good explanation of our Partnership between
the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis and the Kitui, Kenya, Diocese. As we
are all one Catholic Church and one human family, the partnership brings people
together to learn and then share that information back home. CRS also addressed
safety and security issues … but we are not to worry, since Fr. Peter says
Kitui is the safest place to be in Kenya!
After lunch, the entire delegation (except us and Fr.
Kasel) piled back into the mini-bus for the three-hour ride to Kitui
town. Because we lost our camera … I know,
bonehead!!! … we rode back with Peter Kimaeu from CRS and stopped at the
equivalent of a Kenya Walmart to buy an expensive “cheap” camera! The trip to Kitui started out with a lot of
traffic, especially slow truck traffic, on the Nairobi-Mombassa road but
eventually tapered off when we turned onto the Kitui Road. It takes a little
getting used to driving on the left side of the road … and I still haven’t
figured out how they know what to do when making a turn! The countryside varies from flat with light
trees, to very hilly with terraced farming, red soil, back to plateau. The fields are all plowed, getting ready for
the rains that they expect to begin within couple weeks. The roadsides are
filled with people walking; some Brahman cows with hump backs, many goats and donkeys
generally carrying barrels for water or a cart filled with barrels. The towns are filled with open-air markets
along the road surrounded by dirt (the only asphalt pavement or cement is the
narrow road itself), people mingling around, many motor bikes … rather junky
looking and poor. We made a stop in
Muchakos to visit the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, Peter’s home diocese,
which was about the half-way mark to Kitui.
town. Because we lost our camera … I know,
bonehead!!! … we rode back with Peter Kimaeu from CRS and stopped at the
equivalent of a Kenya Walmart to buy an expensive “cheap” camera! The trip to Kitui started out with a lot of
traffic, especially slow truck traffic, on the Nairobi-Mombassa road but
eventually tapered off when we turned onto the Kitui Road. It takes a little
getting used to driving on the left side of the road … and I still haven’t
figured out how they know what to do when making a turn! The countryside varies from flat with light
trees, to very hilly with terraced farming, red soil, back to plateau. The fields are all plowed, getting ready for
the rains that they expect to begin within couple weeks. The roadsides are
filled with people walking; some Brahman cows with hump backs, many goats and donkeys
generally carrying barrels for water or a cart filled with barrels. The towns are filled with open-air markets
along the road surrounded by dirt (the only asphalt pavement or cement is the
narrow road itself), people mingling around, many motor bikes … rather junky
looking and poor. We made a stop in
Muchakos to visit the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, Peter’s home diocese,
which was about the half-way mark to Kitui.
We arrived at the Diocese compound close to 5 o’clock
… freshened up …tea and renewed old friendships with friends from Kitui, a very
good dinner, and another short meeting, this time getting acquainted with the
host of the village we will be going to for the next 4 days. Many of us delegates are going out two-by-two
(except for Fr. Tim and Fr. Kasel who are venturing out by themselves) to 8
different villages. Bob & I will be
going with Fr. Charles Matia to St. Mary’s parish in Miambani … about 10 miles north
of here. We had met him when he was a
delegate to MN in 2011. Fr. Benson is
also hosting two other delegates … he stayed with us when he too was a delegate
in 2011. And Fr. Mark, who stayed with
us this summer, called to welcome us to Kitui … we will be seeing him next week
… a very, very nice reunion!
Culturally, Fr. Peter told us about the custom in his
tribe, Kamba, which is the tribe throughout the Kitui region. It is the responsibility of the oldest son to
marry and bring his wife back home to help his mother with the cooking, cleaning,
etc. It is the family of the son that
pays the bride’s family a dowry. However, that custom is changing quite a bit
as children often go away to college and do not come back to the poorer home
region. He talked about the conflict he
had in deciding to become a priest because he is the oldest son … but his
decision was supported by his family and even resulted in his father coming
into the church! Peter Kimaeu also talked about the political situation in
Kenya and how CRS is working to bring about peaceful resolutions to conflicts,
especially between the different tribes.
There are 42 tribes in Kenya, and people generally are fiercely loyal to
their tribe. Our reception here has been
so, so welcoming … we are family!
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| Bob, Fr. Charles Matia, Marcie |
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