I was
born in Chekalini parish, where we have one of the oldest
communities of the Religious of the Sacred Heart in Kenya.
I am the sixth born in my very ecumenical family. My parents
are Quakers (Friends). I became a Catholic in January 1978.
I had a desire to be a nun even before I took this step,
but I had never seen any nuns, nor did I know where these
sisters were. I became aware of this desire when I was helping
my mother in the farm, and from nowhere, I told her that
I wanted to be a nun. She was very astonished. She told
me I could not be a nun because I was a Protestant. So I
knew that was the end. But when I became eighteen, I told
my mother again of my desire. This time, she told me that
those who become nuns are Catholics and not Protestants.
I was again put off by her remarks.
However,
as time went on, my desire to become a religious grew stronger.
This time, I told my mother that I was joining the Catholic
Church. I had already bought a rosary but I did not know
how to pray with it. When my mother saw me with the rosary,
she was not happy. She told me not to throw it away but
to give to a Catholic. I did what she told me. But in the
end my parents allowed me to go ahead and become a Catholic.
I had already started learning catechism secretly since
I was working in Bishop Njenga School as a secretary. When
the time came for my baptism, I had to tell my parents to
come and witness. My parents could not come. My mother told
me that she would be stopped from attending services in
her church for nine months. She told me not to worry and
prayed for me before I left for my baptism.
I entered
the Society of the Sacred Heart as a postulant on January
25th, 1982. I made my first vows on December 28th, 1984
and in April 1987; I went to Ireland in order to study Spirituality
in Miltown Park. When I returned to Africa, I worked with
Sr. Doreen Boland in the parish of St. Mathia Mulumba, in
a very poor neighborhood of Old Kampala, Uganda. I made
my final vows on January 12th. 1992 and from Rome, I went
straight to the United States to pursue my studies. I was
admitted to Maryville University, where I studied for two
years and then transferred to Creighton University in Omaha.
I graduated from Creighton in May 1998 with a BA in Theology
and a BSW in Social Work.
This
year I have been invited by the parish priest to work in
Christ the King Parish in the slums of Kibera, Nairobi.
The estimate is that 750,000 - 1,000,000 people live in
this slum making it the largest in the African continent.
The people of Kibera come from all parts of Kenya, and also
from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Somalia and Congo. My task
has been to work out a five-year plan for the parish through
Social Analysis. Together with a team of parishioners and
parish personnel, I had to look at what the parish is doing
with regards to pastoral care, liturgical life, and social
outreach, and evaluate the structures set up in order to
respond to the needs and conditions of the people of Kibera
as a whole and of the parishioners of Christ the King specifically.
We have followed the pastoral cycle or circle elaborated
by Fr. Peter Henriot, S.J., and it has worked very well
in our context. This social analysis will help the parish
to plan how to play better its role as a religious and social
actor, especially in the area of advocacy and lobbying for
transformation.
The
part of the Social and Cultural Analysis itself is now finished,
and we are at the stage of doing the Theological Reflection.
Many times people who do Social Analysis skip this step
and go directly to Action Planning. We do not want to make
that mistake. We are following the pastoral circle carefully
and I feel that this has been heavy but fruitful.
I am
aware in my ministry of how the documents of the General
Chapter 2000 speak to me. ?We are called ? to participate
in God?s work of transformation of persons and society.?
(pg.17). Again, ?the desire of peoples and cultures that
their identity and their right of belong to the global community
be recognized, and the longing of million people to have
access to the benefits of education? (pg. 21), are very
meaningful words that are directly relevant to the situation
of Kibera that we are trying to address. Yes, our Constitutions
also challenge me. ?We are sent by the Church to communicate
the love of the Heart of Jesus. In Him all find their true
growth as persons and the way towards reconciliation with
one another. This we believe; this we want to proclaim?
(Par. 10). Again, ?Saint Madeleine Sophie chose to express
this conviction through the service of education, especially
the young. Faithful to her inspiration, and, like her, open
to new situations, we make her desire our own.? (Par. 11)
I ask myself especially, ?How can we transform the education
of the young women who are underage and already mothers
and counted as single mothers? Can we do something to uplift
their lives before they fall again into the trap of hungry
lions?? My heart continues to break each day as I meet these
people.
Social
Analysis is something that I never dreamed of doing. Now
that we have done it in Kibera, people from other parishes
are asking if our team could do the same for their parish.
With time, everything is possible. I now feel very special
among the people of Kibera slum. This is because in the
beginning I was afraid to walk in the slum, but now I am
an ?expert ?of the slum. The people we work with are very
good and they feel so happy when we visit them in their
own small mud houses. At the moment, I am working with children
who are at school and who have been abused verbally and
physically. I would also like to work with their parents,
teachers and guardians. This is very important for me now
since I have just finished an intensive counseling course
run by AMECEA countries, and I want to put my learning into
practice. There are so many people in the slum who need
our help, and counseling will help them to know themselves
and to take positive steps in their lives. I hope to begin
this work next year 2004. Kibera needs our presence as RSCJ,
and I am happy that we (three other RSCJ work in the Primary
School in the parish) are there every day with the people
of Kibera.
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