Kenya Mission

How you can help We ask that you support the Oblates by joining the Oblate Mission associates through which you will understand more fully the charism of St. Eugene; to pray in a consistent way for the mission of the Oblates, here and abroad, and to support materially, as you are able, the growth of the missions. The AMMI office is located in Saskatoon, SK from where the missions continue to be funded. Funding is more critical than ever as the missions in Africa and elsewhere are growing. In Kenya, after only nine years presence, we have sixteen young men studying to be Oblate Brothers and Priests. If you personally want to make a donation, please make your cheques payable to “AMMI” and send to:	How you can help Message from Father Ken History of the Mission Projects sponsored Life in the parish area Fall 2006 Oblates newsletter More Oblates Newsletters Oblates Mission Associates official website
AMMI Lacombe Canada MAMI 601 Taylor Street West, Saskatoon, SK S7M 0C0 An official income tax receipt is issued for all gifts exceeding $25. Your gift of any amount is very much appreciated. Thank you. * Please note that MAMI has changed its name to Oblate Mission associates and its legal name to AMMI Lacombe Canada MAMI as of January 1, 2007.
History of the Mission
St. Stephen’s parish was created in 1997 and handed over to the care of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. This is the first work accepted by the Oblates in Eastern Africa. The Oblates have been present in Africa for over 150 years and are in 16 different African Countries, but this is our first mission in Eastern Africa. The Catholics of this area have been touched by the gospel since the 1950’s but as a remote part of another parish. They were reached only by mountainous trails and served in a very sporadic way. Catholics in former times were accustomed to walk approximately 12 kilometers to participate in the great moments of the liturgical calendar. They were eager to gain the services of clergy and built a fine stone house as a rectory to prove to the Bishop that they were capable of providing for a priest. That house remained vacant for four years, until the Bishop invited the Oblates to serve this Ameru tribe.
They were filled with pride as they first gave us a tour of the house and demonstrated the propane stove they had purchased for about $1000. No others in the area had such fine equipment. St. Stephen’s Parish has it’s Parish church in Kionyo, with ten other “Prayer Houses” as they are called, attached to it. These in fact are mission churches which gather independently every Sunday for mass, or a bible service with the Catechist when the priests are unable to come. Each mission church will have mass approximately every second week as there are three Oblate Priests serving the Parish.

		The parish is young and alive. The average longevity in Kenya today is 47 years of age due to disease and lack of proper health care. We have nine Catholic Sponsored Primary Schools in the parish with an average of 350 students a school. We have three Catholic sponsored high schools in the Parish. The RCIA program welcomes on an average fifty adults annually to prepare for initiation into the church.
We have at present three Canadian Oblates in Kenya as well as two Australians, two Congolese and one Oblate from Poland. The Oblates who are not serving the parish are mostly involved with Formation of Candidates, young men, who have a desire to serve God as a Priest or Brother. We have accepted candidates for the past six years and now have sixteen young men at some stage of formation. We praise God for the response. Children are a great gift to a family, but along with the blessing a great responsibility comes to care for, guide and educate them. We presently as a mission have no local resources as so rely on Lacombe Province and AMMI (Oblate Mission associates) to financially support us. Each seminarian will cost about $6000 a year for room, board and education.
Projects sponsored by Oblates
	Besides the pastoral programs for adults and catechetical programs for the children, a lot of effort has been expended on Development in the area. Since the parish was created nine years ago, five missions have built permanent quarried stone structures. Three others have put up temporary structures. All primary schools have been improved with one new one added. St. Eugene Day Secondary School has been built and Blessed Joseph Gerard Day Secondary School is not yet completed. Since we built the first Day Secondary Rural School to offer education less expensively, there are thirty such schools in the District. A Youth Center has been constructed that gives the youth a place to gather and recreate; that offers them training in computer which has invaded the country in the past ten years.
A Bakery has been constructed and used equipment has been purchased as an income generating project of one Catholic Women Association, putting dividends into the hands of the women. 1500 loaves of bread are baked and sold daily with the hope of expansion to two labor shifts. One “Prayer House” has built a furniture manufacturing business.  Catholic Men’s Association has built small “Dukas” (Shops) for rent. Three Women’s Groups are building “Posha Mills” for grinding grain cereals. Several “Prayer Houses” own or purchased land for tea production to generate funds for their church.
		A major gravity fed water project will bring water through plastic pipe to 2800 families living on their small 2-3 acre tea plots from the forest and streams of Mt. Kenya. Our Parish is at an altitude of 7000 ft. on the slopes of Mt. Kenya touching the forest. This project will have over 200 kilometers of pipe when completed. We have presently 145 kilometers in trenches dug four feet deep all by hand labor. Forty concrete and stone tanks have been constructed with only hand tools. The two biggest tanks are 225,000 liters. $900,000 has been spent to date: $200,000 from Canadian Donors, $400,000 from CIDA, and $300,000 from the local Merian people.
Life in the parish area
There is little visible wildlife in the area as it is quite heavily populated. One can see Colobus monkeys, Mongoose and small wild cats in the forest. Elephants are also found in the forest but not in great numbers on the East side where we live. An elephant slipped into the trench that was prepared for water pipes and impaled itself on a stump. A second elephant about a year ago came out into the inhabited area and became a major tourist attraction for the locals. Many have never seen an elephant although the rich and foreigners can go to the parks that are within a few hour drive and see hundreds. The Merian people are very industrious and hard workers. They mostly are small tea farmers and from this cash crop find a living. Coffee is also grown in the area but it has been a disaster economically for the last fifteen years. Because the value of the coffee beans had dropped to only 5 cents for a kilo, all farmers stopped caring for their trees or even picking the berries. Many farmers ripped out their trees and planted tea or other crops such as maize.
A tea picker makes about $2.50 a day. A land owner can make about $2000 an acre annually from tea. This will enable his family to have the basics of life: shelter, clothing and food. The Merian (People of Meru, Kimeru Speakers) struggle when it comes to enabling their children to get an education or providing health care for their families as there is no public health care system.
With all Development Projects, whether constructing a Church or any community income generating project, we have challenged the community to show it’s commitment by fund raising. After they have come forward with whatever they have managed to collect, we make application to AMMI to match shilling for shilling to enable them to move quickly and give them an incentive.