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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