The last ten days have been quite busy for us between our Mission duties and also because we had wageni wawili kutoka Amerika (two visitors from America)!  Last week on Friday, Fr. John Guthrie and his friend, Fr. Paul Maina arrived at the Mission, along with Fr. Maina’s nephew, Simon.  As many know, Fr. John was the pastor at St. Joseph’s in Williston for about nine years.  Both, he and Fr. Maina, teach at Mundelein Seminary outside of Chicago where Fr. John is the Director of Worship and a formation advisor while Fr. Maina is the Dean of Formation and Director of the Tolton Teaching Parish Program.  Fr. Maina is from Nyeri which is located in the Central Highlands of Kenya, approximately a six-to-seven-hour drive from the Mission house.  While we were at language school, we had two priests who came from the Nyeri area and from their descriptions of the area, it made one want to visit.  Nyeri is less than fifty miles from Mount Kenya and from pictures Fr. John had shown us, it is definitely a place we hope to travel to and take in its unique beauty.  What is really moving about this story is that when Fr. Maina was a young boy growing up in the Nyeri area, he came to know of Jim and Henrietta Nistler and the Bismarck Mission.  In July of 1990, the first Bismarck missionaries to arrive in Kenya were Fr. Bruce Krebs, Deacon Jim and Henrietta Nistler and Cathy King with the mission located in Bura in southeastern Kenya.  After violence in the Bura area escalated and because of safety concerns, the mission relocated to the Kisii area in 1994 and has been here at Gekano Parish since.  Fr. John and Fr. Maina had not known each other nor met until Fr. John began his job at the seminary in Mundelein in 2021 and as they compared notes, realized the connections they had with the Bismarck African Mission.  Fr. John had traveled to the Mission in Bura shortly after he was ordained in 1990 when Fr. Maina was a young boy, and now, thirty-two years later he has made his way again to the Mission here in Kisii with his friend, Fr. Maina.  We had a great time with them and Simon.  While they were here, they were able to experience some of the programs including Mission Saturday and a Water with Blessing’s training.  Both, Fr. John and Fr. Maina were able to celebrate Mass last Sunday – Fr. John was here at St. Teresa’s Girls Secondary School in the cafeteria while Fr. Maina was at the main church with the regular Sunday crowd and the boys from St. Paul’s High School.  After celebrating Mass with the Sisters and the girls, Fr. John was able to go into each of the classrooms and visit with them answering any questions they had and yes, the girls do attend class on some Sundays!  Fr. John and Fr. Maina were our first visitors from America since we arrived last December and Fr. David’s first American visitors since we, along with Liz Bustad, traveled here in December of 2019.  Our time with them was too short and were sad to see them go but we are most grateful for the opportunity to have spent time with Fr. John as well as meeting and getting to know Fr. Maina and his nephew Simon.

As mentioned above, we did have a Water with Blessings training for fifteen women this past Wednesday which Fr. John, Fr. Maina, and Simon attended.  They were impressed with the filter system and what it means for the women to have clean water for cooking and drinking.  Fr. Maina, coming from Nyeri where clean water can also be a challenge, truly understood the term Maji ni Baraka (Water is a blessing). The previous Wednesday, we along with Lilian were able to deliver water barrels to seventeen women who had attended five of the six follow-up sessions.  The women were most grateful for the barrels and it was quite fun to watch them express their joy and gratitude for the barrels as they lifted them high above their heads and danced.  These barrels, which hold 210 liters, will catch rain water from the roofs of their houses.  For these women, having this barrel means ten less trips to the river with their five-gallon buckets to carry water back to their homes. 

We also had Mission Saturday at Manga Parish and here at Gekano while our visitors were here.  Fr. Maina, being able to speak Kiswahili fluently, spoke to the orphans giving them a short synopsis of his life in America and words of encouragement as did Fr. John with the help of his translator, Fr. Maina!  They both spent a considerable amount of time visiting with the orphans and following them through the different stations to get a better understanding of exactly what Mission Saturday entails from the orphans visiting with Fr. David and showing their report cards to obtaining their stipend and finally their monthly allotment of maize. 

We have previously stated that we would give more information on the various programs the Mission administers as we encounter them.  Two of the programs that are currently in progress are the Heifer and Housing Programs with a brief description of the Heifer Program below.  Rogers, Robert, and Wes have been making visits to those who applied for either of these programs.  Robert is a product of the mission's orphan education program and is now employed with the Mission helping where needed.  

The Heifer Program:  Each year the mission budgets money for several heifers to be awarded to the neediest of our orphans or to widows of Gekano, Ichuni or Manga parishes.  The program is designed to assist orphans and widows of these parishes to become economically independent through the raising of heifer cows.  Those who are awarded a heifer are required to raise their own napier grass and care for the heifer and its first-born heifer calf until it is weaned.  Once the first heifer-calf is ready to be weaned, the Mission will reclaim the cow or the heifer calf to benefit future applicants.  If a male calf is born, it remains the property of the applicant. In the past couple of years, there have been more bull calves born than heifers though we would like that to be the other way around but we have no control over that!  There are several benefits from this program:  a cow offers a family a small income from the sale of milk while also allowing them to not have to purchase milk for their own consumption. Once the application process for this program has been closed, the applicant’s homes and fields are inspected to determine the level of need and the ability of the applicant to raise the napier grass that is required to feed a cow.  The family’s shamba (field/garden) needs to be 200’ x 100’ square feet to accommodate raising the napier grass without interfering with the family’s ability to raise foods for their own consumption.  If the family does not have a large enough shamba to raise this grass, they cannot be considered which is unfortunate because the need is there but they cannot support an animal.  Once a family is chosen, they must plant napier grass within six months and the grass must grow to be shoulder high before a heifer can be awarded to the applicant.  Once the grass is fully grown, the applicant notifies the Mission to make a final inspection and if the final inspection is approved, a heifer that is already inseminated is given to the applicant.  Periodically, until the cow gives birth, the Mission makes visits to the applicant’s shamba to see that the animal has been properly cared for and fed.  Sometimes, when visits are made, there is evidence of banana leaves being fed to the animal – banana leaves are not nutritious and they will be given a warning.  Often times, if this is happening, one will see that the condition of the cow is not good.  If the animal if not being properly cared for, the Mission will repossess the cow which unfortunately does happen.  Once the cow gives birth, the family contacts the Mission.  If the calf born is a bull, the family keeps the animal.  If a heifer is born, the Mission will reclaim the heifer and it will be awarded to another family. 

Finally, we are busy with our final preparations before we leave for America on Monday, July 25.  We are excited and can’t wait to see our sons, Aaron and Nathan, as well as other family members and friends.  We will travel to Nairobi tomorrow (Sunday) once Fr. David has finished celebrating his last Mass which starts at 11 am.  We will be ready and waiting at the door as soon as he makes his way back to the Mission house!  We fly out late Monday night and eight hours later will arrive in Paris with a three-hour layover.  After another eight hours in the air, we will be in Minneapolis finally arriving in Minot on Tuesday evening.  Flying into Minot gets us home six hours sooner and again, we cannot wait to come home!  We are reading and seeing all the stories about delayed or cancelled flights and lost luggage and we hope none of that is a part of our travels but even if they are, we have been given the opportunity to come home and that is all that matters.  Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and we will continue to keep you in ours.  Mungu Akubariki!

See photos from this week in the album section: 

https://stjparish.com/photoalbums/kenya-7-23-22