Br. Sammy

          As he prostrated beside me, I recalled how the Turkana make a camel go down on its knees with sweet songs. I listened to the high tuned melodies of the choir as they sung “watakatifu wote mtuombee” and as the whole congregation reverberated in unison in response to the choir. I knew with certitude that a fighter voluntarily lay beside me, not because he was weak, but because he had endured so much as to come this far, and now he lay there on his own.

Similarly, this morning of 19 September, I watch from a distance as he prostrate again for the deaconate ordination. The one who had been struck so many times yet never fell, one who is so prone to all sort adversities yet unequalled in resilience. I want to ask him how he has made it, but then I remember that he will just burst into laughter. Not because I have that sense of humour as to make him laugh, but because his answers are always comical, “leo tumezipunguza. jioni ikifika tunatoa moja. Huwa ni 365 days na kila siku unatoa moja. Kwisha!!.” Now this is a funny way of living. Every day for him is lived as it comes and each day, one is deducted on its own – I think that is how he has come this far (maybe I should not think, I should be asking him).   

Br. Joe (Bsp)

        It is true that when we are young we don’t pay much attention to youthfulness and when we see young people it doesn’t seem to matter. That was true for me until I met Bishop Joe in 2008. He was then the provincial of Malta. What was striking is his youthfulness. At first I asked Fr. Joe how come they have such a young provincial and Joe shouted facing the Bishop, “Hii ni Mzee hata ni mzee yangu, ako na nywele muzuri”. 

As usual, the bishop kept his smile lingering as he watched fr. Joe make fun of his youthful appearance. Well, I could hardly understand how it was possible for him to take so much chaffing until I stayed with him and realized how easy going he is. With so much ease, every evening he walked to my room before retiring to his and said, “usiku mwema”. Isn’t it that I am the youthful one here who should have walked to his room instead?  

Br. Ndoria

This long holiday has been an awesome return to my first experience of religious life. The very first day I joined, I found Br. Ndoria doing the very things he is doing right now as am typing this. Hurling maize to the chickens, observing jioni (our special bull) as he grows massively big and it is almost like the bull’s growth depends on his eyes, collecting mangoes and other things. Unlike the past when I was a postulant, and seldom asked questions, I had a chance to ask him why he does these things. At first I thought he is wasting time because in my shallow understanding I wondered, why keep chickens, goats, cows among others, that we never slaughter yet we buy meat. It was a very simple question to him because he didn’t even think much about the answer, he already had it. He smilingly explained “hii ni shule na hapa tunawafundisha nyinyi vijana kuhusu miradi ili ukiwa parokiani kama parish priest msiwasumbue wakristu na mahitaji yenu kila wakati. Hii miradi ya kuku, ng’ombe, na mbuzi na hata shamba ni ya kujiangaliliwa na kujifunzia.” Well I understood that very well and went to my room to bring my camera in order to take photos of these animals. Aren’t they there to be seen?