Friday, October
25, 2013
Today we left Lodwar and our wonderful "oasis"
that the St. Teresa Diocesan Pastoral Center served for us over the past few
days. We also left Father John Peter
there. He was not able to come with us
on this final leg of our journey; he has decided to return to Nairobi early on
Sunday so that he can participate in a special celebration there with his
community members of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales. Msgr. Mike and I will not reconnect with him
until we return to Nairobi this coming Tuesday.
When we met with the Lodwar Diocesan Staff this past
Monday, and Bishop Dominic shared with them our itinerary for the next week/10
days, and mentioned that our destination on Friday was to Kainuk, Brother
Louie, the Director of the Finance Department, said: "Oh my, that's either the "road
from hell or the road to hell.” Well,
I'm not sure if it was "to" or "from", but after having
traveled it, I can assure you that of all the bad roads we have been on, this
one was the most "hellish.” Even
with such a wonderful driver as Bishop Dominic has in Lucas, we were not able
to go much faster than about 15 miles/hour.
On top of that, towards the end of the six-hour drive, it rained---which
is a good thing because everyone needed and wanted the rain; but it also turned
the dusty, rocky roads into muddy, slick roads all of a sudden. Along the way, we made a couple of stops for
pastoral visits.
Our first stop after about two hours of driving was at a
parish by the name of Christ the King, to visit the priests who provided us
with a wonderful lunch. These priests
are Comboni Priests and Brothers (also known as Verona Fathers). One of these priests is Father John Kennedy
Owambo, who visited Kalamazoo a little more than a year ago at Sr. Maureen's
invitation to give presentations about the desperate need for Water here in
this Diocese of Lodwar. I attended his
presentation at that time, so it was very nice to see him again. Of course, since he had stayed at St. Joseph
Rectory in Kalamazoo with Msgr. Hazard, they got a chance to renew their
friendship.
After Lunch, we walked across the compound to visit the
John Paul II School for Children with Disabilities. This beautiful institution is operated by a
group of Sisters, with the help of a very dedicated staff. There was a special department there that
specializes in making prosthetics for those with amputations or other such maladies. I could not help but think of my nephew Adam
who does this work as his profession. It
requires precision, artistic ability and great compassion, all qualities that
my nephew has, and that the young man in charge of this department clearly has
as well. While most of the children were
off attending schools (which is a sign, I'm assuming, of what we know as
"mainstreaming"), there were a group of children who were present,
and came gathering around us, giving hugs to Bishop Dominic, me and everyone of
us present. These children range in age
from very young---perhaps 5 or 6, all the way up to teenagers and young adults;
their disabilities range from mild/moderate to severe and profound. These children, dealing as they are with
their own limitations, were not in any way limited in their capacity to be
joyful, with beautiful smiles, and wonderful, angelic voices as they sang for
us several songs they had rehearsed. It
was heartbreaking, but at the same time, quite heartwarming. This is the only type of school for children
with disabilities in the entire County of Turkana, private or public; once
again, how good to see the Church providing for this most important human,
spiritual and pastoral need. After our
goodbyes and farewell hugs, we continued our journey to Kainuk.
We got back on the road and prepared for the second half
of our trip. The roads got even worse if that was possible. As I mentioned above, it started to rain,
which was quite unexpected, though in this southern part of Turkana County, I
am told, the drought is not as bad as in the northern part. That is clearly evident with the abundance of
additional vegetation of all kinds, and a wide variety of crops that are
growing. This rain was a drenching rain for the better part of an hour, which
made the journey that much more difficult due to the condition of the
roads.
Just before nightfall, we arrived at All Saints Parish,
staffed by a group of priests from Mexico known as the Guadalupe Fathers. There are three priests assigned here right
now, plus the regional superior also happens to be here for a visit. So we got
to meet all four of these dedicated men and enjoyed a delicious dinner,
wonderful conversation about the circumstances of the people living in this
area, and prayed evening prayer together in their very nice chapel. There is also a school here operated by a
group of Sisters, who we have not yet met.
We will celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation tomorrow morning for a
group of the village children (over which Bishop Dominic will preside since it
will be in Swahili). We will stay here
through Sunday, when we will have a Prayer for Peace service and procession,
culminating in Mass on Sunday.
As we were introducing ourselves, and they understood
that we were from the Diocese of Kalamazoo in Michigan, they immediately began
to rave about the great work that our Father Ken Schmidt and Sharon Froom did
when they were here in the Diocese of Lodwar about a year ago to conduct the
diocesan Trauma Recovery program for the priests of this Diocese. They spent a great amount of time talking
about how professional and capable Father Ken and Sharon were, and how
desperately they were in need of just what they brought to them due to the
painful circumstances that the priests of this Diocese were dealing with at
that time. And this was not the first
time during our time here in the Diocese of Lodwar that people were recalling
the great work of Father Ken, Sharon, and the Trauma program; the Diocese of
Lodwar staff also recalled their presence, and one of the priests here in particular
was also complimenting Father Ken's work when he was here most recently with
Father Robert. We all should be very
proud of the work that the Trauma Recovery program is doing around the world,
not just in our own Diocese of Kalamazoo.
The priests also were telling us that in this part of the
Diocese, tensions are very, very high.
The Turkana people here do mostly shepherding work with goats and
cattle. There are people, as they say "on the other side" (meaning,
on the other side of the river which separates the two people----they are not
Turkana people; they are people of a different Tribe, something like
Protto. For generations these two groups
have raided each other's livestock; however the difference is that in recent
years, people have AK-47s, rather than spears or knives, and the violence has
escalated and has become more indiscriminate.
We have been told that in the daylight, we will see people openly
carrying weapons around. The Government
seems to "turn its head"; therefore, it is the Church who is the only
one who can try to mediate, just as the Church is doing in many other parts of
this Diocese near border areas, or other places where the tradition has been
fighting and violence. Please pray for
the work of these fine priests and the dedicated people who work with
them. And please pray for Bishop Dominic
who leads this effort to work for Peace, among these two groups of people, and
for Peace throughout the world.
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