Live Blog from #TeamKenya!

February 2, 2016

This page will provide updates, news and information about St Paul’s International Project to Kenya.

6 students are visiting the Parish of Londiani and working with Irish missionary priests from the Society of St Patrick at Kiltegan. The students are accompanied by School Chaplain, Father Dermot Maloney, Head of Science, Mrs Bridget McConville and Principal, Mr Jarlath Burns.

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See below for a gallery of photos from #TeamKenya!

 

Day 3 – Sunday 31 January

Sunday was a rest day and a chance to get our bearings in our new home. We began with Mass in the church beside the priest’s house, named after St. Kizito, who was one of the Ugandan martyrs. Fr. Martin and his team run a highly impressive operation in the compound which is their home. In this is the pastoral centre, a book shop, living quarters for Friends of Londiani, a computer school and accommodation block which is always busy. Although we had been told that the Masses were special, interactive events, the sheer energy, simplicity and enthusiasm of the congregation was quite inspiring and we realised very quickly that a Kenyan would be very disappointed if he came to a Mass in Ireland. The choir was soulful, the harmonising occurred naturally within the congregation and schoolchildren danced in the aisles with true joy at moments during the Mass. After Mass, we mingled with the children and very soon we realised how happy, joyous and grateful these young people are. They played with the students for hours and the mixture of the long journey the previous day, coupled with the heat and the fact that we are 7483ft. above sea level, meant that we were all exhausted by lunchtime. We quickly realised that the cook David had a special talent and he became part of our team.

After lunch, we wandered up into the town. It is difficult to describe this place. It is a third world town, with a bank that looks like something straight out of Hill St. Right in the middle of it, a disused railway station, a green in the middle of the town on which hundreds of townsfolk play and meet and shops which looked as if they were about to fall down any moment. Londiani is quite a place. A friendly place, a safe place, but a town where exquisite poverty is simply the accepted lot of its inhabitants. We realised that day from looking at the dozens of children in rags who followed us around that the best things in life are not things at all.

Day 2 – Saturday 30 January

Saturday. Our travelling to Londiani Day. Ten of us in a small bus as well as as much luggage that would cloth a small army of Kenyan children. O Neill’s Jerseys, footballs, sweets, pens, Orla’s violin and Mr. Burns’s guitar. The journey lasted six hours and although it was very cramped, the trip was never dull, because the Kenyan people are highly visible at all times, on the road, walking, selling at junctions, working in the fields and just sitting chilling, talking to each other, a skill we seem to have lost in Ireland because of the mobile phone. We saw our first zebra in a field and baboons on the side of the road and stopped to throw sweets at them which they guzzled with relish.

Fr. Martin stopped the bus at the Rift Valley and nothing could prepare you for the sheer panorama which unveiled itself right before our eyes. We stopped for lunch at the Rift Valley Sports Club, an old gentleman’s club from the British colonial era. The girls were not impressed by the Men Only, Women Not Allowed Bar, though the chicken Maryland was to die for and there was WIFI, which seems to be more important than running water. After this, Fr. Dermot and Mrs. McConville headed off to the supermarket to buy sweets for the Kenyan children we would meet on our school visits, while the rest of us went to the market in Nakuru and haggled with the street vendors, some of whom called Mr. Burns Papa. Some great discounts were won, but we were followed right back to the bus by the overzealous hawkers who wanted our money and our shoes.

We finally arrived safe and sound at at Londiani at 6.30pm and met Fr. Con. We then unpacked our baggage, had supper and had our first night in the remote parish which was to become our home.

Day 1 – Friday 29 January

We left a wet and windy Dublin on Friday morning at 6am on our flight to Amsterdam, which would later connect with the KLM Jumbo to Nairobi. The take off an landing in high winds was as precarious a moment as we had experienced and quite a few early prayers were said on that flight.

When we finally landed in Nairobi at 8.15 Kenya time, which is three hours ahead, we were ready for our supper, quite tired, but full of anticipation for the adventure which was to follow. Our first night’s accommodation was in the plush surroundings of the Kiltegan Fathers Nairobi House HQ.

Fr. Martin was with us, having picked us up at the airport and Fr. PJ O Kane was our host. Needless to say, we were ready for bed after supper at 9pm and none of us had to be rocked to sleep that night.

 

One comment

Jambo sana,
Am committing one of the seven deadly sins, envy! I would simply love to be with you, tell everyone I was asking for them and take care…

by John Campbell on 05/02/2016 at 10:56 pm #