Parishes with Slums in Makadara Deanery

• Nairobi Makadara Deanery - Parishes with Slums St. Mary - Mukuru
• St. Teresa of Avila - Makadara
• Our lady of the Visitation - Makadara
• Sts. Joseph and Mary - Shauri Moyo
• Other parishes in the Deanery: Holy Trinity - Buru-Buru
• Blessed Sacrament - Buru-Buru
• St. Joseph - Jericho
• St. Theresa Eastleigh
• Shauri Moyo
• Nairobi Eastlands Deanery - Parishes with Slums
• Nairobi Western Deanery - Parishes with Slums
• Nairobi Central Deanery - Parishes with Slums
• Nairobi Ruaraka Deanery - Parishes with Slums

St. Mary's Mukuru kwa Njenga
The parish is run by the Holy Ghost Fathers.
Parish priest: Fr. Pat O'Toole - Holy Ghost Fathers
Resident priests: Fr. Alfred Mattei - Holy Ghost Fathers and Fr. Dida - Holy Ghost Fathers
and Fr. John Lange, MaryKnoll Father.

The Parish Church is St. Mary's at Mukuru kwa Njenga.
There are 4 centres or Outstations, each one with a Church: St. Jude at Mukuru kwa Reuben; St. Bakita at Mukuru kwa Njenga; St. Joseph at Mukuru kwa Sinai; St. Monica at Mukuru Lunga-Lunga)
There is a new small center at Changombe (accross the Mombasa Road in Masailand with one small christian community.
Each Center is organized as a parish with the same structures as the parish has. The five Church committees come together in the Parish committee with the Pastoral Team.

Number of Small Christian Communities: 55

The Little Sisters of St. Joseph do Pastoral work in the Mukuru kwa Njenga. Other religious men and women help in different tasks in the parish.

Situation of the parish

St. Mary's parish is situated in the industrial area between the Lunga Lunga Road; Enterprise Road; Airport North Road; Mombasa Road. There are a number of slums in the parish: Mukuru kwa Lunga-Lunga; Mukuru kwa Sinai; Mukuru kwa Reuben; Mukuru kwa Njenga and Mukuru North. There are also a number of states for middle class people and flats for more modest people. The slums have grown during in the last 10 years. As an example Mukuru kwa Njenga has doubled its population, calculated actually at 80,000 people. Reuben has about 30,000 and Lunga Lunga about 50,000. The total population of the parish is nearly half a million persons.

The slums in these area provide most of the workers in this part of the Industrial area.

As all the other Nairobi slums, there are no municipal services: no collection of garbage; lack of infrastructures: roads, water, sanitation... As a result garbage is deposited on streets and when it rains there is stagnant water. The rivers are also pulluted.
The four main roads surrounding the parish that most people have to cross to go to work, cause a number of accidents.

There is a lot of poverty and many abortions among women and girls.

In 1995 the actual parish priest Fr. Pat O'Toole arrived at the place to start a new parish, which started officially in 1996.

The small christian communities (scc) are the strength of the parish. They meet once or twice a week to pray together, read the Word of God, share together their christian life and their problems. They identify the needs of the poor, the sick and those who need assistance. There are different services in each scc: liturgy (preparation of the Parish or Center Liturgies); choirs; care of the sick; catechism; orphans, etc. Regularly the Eucharist is celebrated in the scc (jumuiyas) in the slums.

Every three years the leaders of the scc and of the Centers are chosen. Among the leaders of the scc there are quite a number of women. Each scc sends a representative to the different committees of the Centre or outstation.

The Centres
Each Center has the same structures as the parish does. There is a Justice and Peace Committee that looks after issues of injustices; one or more choirs; catechists and Christian formation for the sacraments; youth groups; women and men's groups; Liturgy committees; and care of the sick and a Development committee and a Church Committee.

In order to create a better knowledge of the different centers, the meetings rotate, and take place in all the Centres. For instance this year the Confirmation for the whole parish took place at Lunga Lunga. The choirs and youth groups also move and go from one to the other Centres.

The Development Committee of the developmental needs of the Church and of the neighbourhood. The Church committee takes care of the finances, the maintenance and the expansion of the buildings, when necessary.

Social Ministry
The parish has a Social worker that collaborates with Fr. John Lange (Maryknoll). They visit the sick and the needy in the different sectors of the parish. The sick receive help for their diet. Each day of the week they visit a different sector, and on Mondays and Tuesdays they remain at the office to serve those who come looking for help. They also help some needy families with school fees for their children.

There us aksi a counselling service for those who need it.

There is a program for the protection of single mothers who are very vulnerable.

Health services
There is a Health Centre at Mukuru. The Loretto Sisters (BVMA) are incharge of the medical, where a doctor comes daily.

The Medical Missionary of Mary has a good clinic in Mukuru kwa Njenga, dealing with preventive medicine and HIV and AIDs. The aim is to educate the people to prevent sickness and to care for a good health.

The Mercy Sisters have a mobile clinic in Reuben.

A "Voluntary Counselling and Testing" (VCT) center and a Health clinic is to be open soon at Mukuru North (St. Bakhita) in containers.

The youth
There are very active groups of youth in all the Centers. Two students from the Salesians come every week-end to each center to take care of the youth. They organize retreat, prayer, adoration, discussion, games, etc.

The deanery has a youth chaplain who organizes formation for the youth. They have their own fund for this formation.

There are also groups of Junior youth and of children. One of the sisters takes care of them and of the groups of girls.

There is also the group of Altar boys (about 60) while the girls have the groups of Children of Mary.

Education and Schools
There are 6 primary schools recognized in the parish, with approximately 1,200 children per school. Each Parish Centre has one school and kwa Njenga has two.

• Nursery Schools
• Each Parish Primary School has a nursery section with two or three classes: pre-unit and nursery. Reuben has 4 classes.

• Primary Schools

• Our Lady of Nazareth in Mukuru kwa Njenga is sponsored by the Marianists.
• Kwa Njenga Primary School with 1,600 students.
• Reuben Primary is run by the Christian Brothers.
• MCC Community School near St. Bakhita Church.
• Gatoto Primary School
• Lunga-lunga St. Elizabeth Primary School

The Mercy sisters are in charge of some of these schools and they run the Mukuru Promotion Centre in South B.

• Vocational Schools
• Chaminade Polytech run by the Marianists
• Training Centre for girls (about 250 students): catering; hair dressing; dress-making; needle work.
• Training Centre for boys: electricity; masonry; iron works; woodcraft and carpentry.

• Skills training for girls: dress-making; uniforms.

• Training Social Center at Lunga-Lunga
• for street children (girls and boys) and unemployed. It is run by the Sisters of the Incarnate Word
• Secondary Schools
• Mbakasi Girls Secondary School.

The Catholic Teachers Association takes care of the on-going formation of the teachers. The REAP trains them.

Water and Sanitation
There are very few toilets in most of the slums. Fr. John Lange has helped to build a number of them. They charge a very small fee, so as to maintain them cleam.

Saturdays is "cleaning the village" day. They cut the grass, and try to maintain the slum a bit clean. On the main streets, often the merchants are the ones to clean the street in front of their kiosks.

Development Committee
They buy houses with the money they collect and rent them as an income generating project to have funds for the running of the centers and the parish.

Human Formation
Seminars and pastoral training is organized regularly. The LUMKO teaching is used for the training of the leaders and of the scc.