Kitui, Kenya, Africa -- October, 2014 -- Days 6 and 7

_{Day 6, Sunday, October 05, 2014 … Today is a day of Masses.  We woke up about 5:30 with the cock crowing and to a drizzle of rain.  Mass at St. Mary’s parish here in Miambani was at 7:30 (on time!) and the church was jam packed.  Their liturgies are so upbeat.  The sound of the bongo drums and tambourine leading the a Capella choir who sang a prayer that was echoed by the rest of the congregation with an occasional woman’s yodeling at just the right time … and with the congregation swaying their arms and body and/or clapping as they sang too … is so very joyful.  I could listen to them for hours.  Actually, Mass was two hours long … after which most stayed for a business meeting and Catechesis.  At the entrance to Mass, the priest is preceded by children in colorful outfits and some adults, dancing to the rhythm of the music down the aisle, and dancing procession takes place during the offertory as well.  There are a lot more songs than our typical US Masses, but since everything is in Swahili, we didn’t understand them. There are also two collections, and for each one, people get out of their pews and bring their gifts to a box placed at the foot of the alter.  All gifting is very public ... it's no secret who gives and how much!  That was especially obvious at yesterday's fundraiser.  After Mass, as is the custom here when they have guests, the Chairman of the parish council invited us to the front to say a few words to the congregation.  We thanked them for such a warm welcome, for the many greetings and highlighted our universal brotherhood in Christ as we all celebrate the same Mass.}

_{After a light breakfast, we went with Father Charles to the Inyuu outstation, about 9 miles over, you guessed it, extremely bad and bumpy dirt roads where Father dodged between the ruts, pot holes and wash outs!  It took about 40 minutes to get there.  That outstation is the furthest one from the Parish house; and because there are 23 outstations and only 2 priests, they have Mass there on average of only once a month.  They do, however, have prayer services the other Sundays.  This church, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, was a nice building with square holes along the top half of the side walls (no windows, no screens), allowing for a very nice breeze upon the very crowded 200+ parishioners in attendance. When we told Father it was not that uncomfortable or hot during Mass, he just looked at us in disbelief … I think he was very warm in all his vestments!  Again, an inspiring celebration … such joy rising up to God, even at the end of 2½ hours!.  In an area where making a living is so difficult, their dependence upon God was very evident.  At the end of Mass, people brought up bags of seed to be blessed … the rainy season is about to begin, after which they will plant their crops again. And they brought up bottles of water to be blessed, which they will take home to in turn bless their fields before planting.}

Women of the Christian Women's Association
St. Joseph's Catholic Church
Inyuu, Kitui, Kenya

_{At the end of Mass we were again asked to come to the front to greet the entire congregation, after which we were honored to receive two carved lions, a symbol of their country and the Lion of Juda as mentioned in the Bible! Very humbling.   Ann Kiilu again greeted us and ushered us outside the door first so the children and adults could shake our hands as they exited church … about 10 minutes of nonstop handshakes … so overwhelmingly beautiful and heart warming and again, humbling! We were brought back into the church by Ann to meet the choir … they have produced a CD, which was given to us yesterday and are in the process of creating a DVD of their music.  Bob was then taken to the “men’s side” where a few gentlemen who belonged to the men’s CMA were meeting, and I was guided to the other side, the CWA’s women’s side to briefly talk about the differences and similarities of the women’s role in our churches.  They also wanted to see our family pictures!}

On the way back to St. Mary’s parish house, we were fortunate to see a family of monkeys chase across the road in front of us. We stopped and they just jumped around the tree keeping a careful eye on their human visitors. Father stopped to greet some people (actually, he stopped often for a quick greeting with people) who wanted to give us some

Enjoying a leisurely Sunday afternoon with family,
friends and neighbors in
Mutukya, Kitui, Kenya

bananas.  So he pulled into the main street of Mutukya, a short, narrow street with buildings on each side and many, many people sitting and milling around.  It is the out station of Joseph Michael, who greeted us upon our arrival on Friday and whom we also saw yesterday at the festival.  He explained that every Sunday people of all denominations attend their services, then walk into town to talk, do business and relax for the day since they do not have any other commitments.  No one anywhere around here was anxious to get home to watch the football games!!!!!!  I found it a very wonderful way to maintain close relations with all one’s neighbors … to just spend time with them and enjoy each other.  I’m thinking our culture could learn a lot from these gregarious people!

_{The majority of people living in the Miambani parish area are subsistence farmers typically on 5 or less acres … they grow crops and hope to sell a portion.  Most do not have a water supply, electricity nor plumbing in their homes, very few own vehicles; but they do own many chickens, which run all over the place, and goats which must be tied up during the growing season so they don’t eat the gardens and, like now, run free to forage food when the crops are harvested and it is very dry. And they also generally have a donkey or two that are used to haul water during the dry season but are allowed to roam free when water is plentiful because they are not needed.  The only water source at this time of year is three feet under the dry river beds.  Some people also have a couple of cows. They seem to be very poor but not destitute, and with great joy and happiness they spend their lives in close knit communities.}

Getting the daily water supply from the dry river bed

_{We’re back at the parish house about 3:30, ate a light lunch … and then it just poured for about 10-15 minutes … the rainy season is beginning and everyone is ecstatic!  The electricity went out gain about 5:30, another candle light dinner and early to bed to the sound of the rain.  I don’t know when the electricity came back on.}

_{Day 7, Monday, October 06, 2014} … After breakfast, Fr. Charles took us to each of the classrooms to meet the children again.  Such basic cement rooms, high holes where

Classroom at St. Mary's school in Miambani

windows would be (no glass), a bench with a one-foot wide table for a desk, few thin paper-backed textbooks.  Upon coming into the room the children all rise and greet Father … “Good morning Father.” Father responds with a good morning and asks how they are.  They respond in unison, “Thank you Father. We are fine, Father.  How are you, Father” They are all so adorable. 

_{We drove back to Mutukya … they received over an inch of rain last night as there were puddles in the road … where we were greeted again by Joseph Michael and Ann Kiilu.  We climbed to the top of a very large, high rock called Kisande Rock where we got a beautiful 360-degree view of the valley … very interesting.  They say it is totally green once the rain comes.}  

The view from on top of Kisande Rock

This is a very productive valley since they have more access to water than elsewhere in the Diocese … even though they have to dig for it this time of year.  We received a lot of information on their farming practices as Joseph walked us through an orchard that was getting ready to plant new items when the rains come … bananas, avocados, papayas, mangos and many others.  The bigger plants like bananas are started in small containers

Banana tree planting

and transplanted into 3x3-foot holes dug 3-feet deep.  The deep holes around each plant helps to collect water when it rains and when watered by hand.  The native mango tree is very large and beautiful … it never loses its green leaves (the other deciduous trees lose their leaves this time of year and new ones grow with the rains), but it also bears a very small fruit.  So the farmers graft a small twig from the native mango tree to the stem of a papaya tree to produce a larger mango to eat.  In one small community we found people

Under the mango tree

sitting on the ground under a mango tree (it was cool there!) with a pile of dirt in front of them.  With their hands they were putting the dirt into small black plastic cylinders bags to be used for seedlings.  This co-op community comprised of a number of families working together to raise and sell crops.  Their little garden area had seedlings ready for planting.

_{We witnessed several people digging a hole about 4 feet deep into the dry, sandy river bed to get to the water.  They would then fill their water buckets and put them on the back of the}

donkeys … and the sun today is extremely hot.  This particular river is the Thua, the largest river in the valley.  When rain stops and some of the water has dissipated, farmers plant crops along the edge of the river bed where it can be watered for several more months.  We entered a little fenced garden area and dug up some sweet potatoes with our hands.  Ann, Joseph’s sister-in-law Elizabeth and his wife Josephine explained that is the normal way to dig sweet potatoes.  The potatoes were red and slightly elongated and about the size of a small red potato.  They said they eat sweet potatoes for breakfast.  Further up the bank were banana trees, sugar cane, tomatoes and greens … all of which the three women helped themselves to for dinner this evening!  The entire area will be replanted with corn once as the rains come.  We sat under the banana plant where it was cooler and breezy and drank our soda.  

Digging sweet potatoes

Bananas!
Joseph Michael and Marcie

Soda break under the banana tree

Afterwards we walked further to Joseph’s field where he and his wife have been getting ready for the rains by digging 6x4-inch square holes about 3-4 inches deep, the holes placed about 9-12 inches apart and the rows placed about 18 inches apart.  The “new” method of planting corn is to put 3 seeds into each hole, add manure, water and cover.  When the corn grows, herbicides will be used to weed instead of having to spend weeks weeding by hand.  Very interesting.  Besides water, the biggest issue these farmers have is monkeys and baboons … unless they watch their crops all the time, the monkeys can completely destroy them. We did a lot of walking in the sun today, so I did get a sunburn despite the sun tan lotion … but I feel okay … I just look like a beet!

After lunch back at the parish house, John came by.  He explained to us the custom of receiving their names.  His last name is his father’s first name (Ilandi).  His wife’s last name as well as that of his children  is his first Kamba name (Maithya).  One of the reasons names are so confusing is because of the different tribal  and Christian names.  John then took us to a small Christian community meeting located in a family compound about 2-3 miles away where they, too, gave us such a warm welcome.  The parish and each substation is divided down into smaller communities that meet once a week to pray and review the next week’s Gospel .  The community also helps those in need and evangelizes.  It is a great concept … one that could be a benefit if implemented in the US. At the end of the meeting a young boy came by to show us his pet monkey! Cute.  We met John’s wife, his brothers and his daughters-in-law and were taken to John’s house … actually, his “compound” as many of his family members live adjacent to each other.  After a short visit, we walked back to the road where Fr. Charles picked us up to come back to the parish house for dinner, gifts and farewells as we will be leaving after Mass tomorrow morning.  It’s been a very interesting and educational day … the lifestyle here is so very different, but our faith and dreams are the same!