HISTORY OF THE FMA IN KENYA
LIFE IN SIAKAGO MISSION
Sr. Virginia in the beginning followed up the nursery school and also soon got involved in the nearby Siakago Girls Secondary School where she gave her services freely and generously, wondering, however how to put together Don Bosco’s style of Fruits of Preventive System with the rather severe system of corporal punishment in use in the school. Sr. Antonietta, a trained nurse, soon after arrival, began to follow up the work of the dispensary in Siakago begun by the Sisters of the Consolata. Sr. Delfina, instead, got busy with the work of the ‘maendeleo’ with which she hopes to uplift the situation of those girls who will not make it to a Secondary school. In the maendeleo they can be offered basic skills that will make it possible for them to sustain their families in the future. Sr. Barbara, who kept the dispensary running before the arrival of Sr. Antonietta, helped in any capacity and soon began, together with the other Sisters, the weekend Oratory. There is also the big work of food distribution that is overseen by Sr. Rose and the community. The food is supplied by the Catholic Relief Services and, in the face of the severe famine and consequent hunger in the area, this work probably saved many lives. Soon Sr. Barbara will go to pioneer the new community of Embu…but that will be in the future!
Although we see these Sisters take on new responsibilities in just a few months and try to adapt themselves to their new reality, they are not satisfied that what they are doing is enough. The diary shows them with many questions about the long-term future of their work:
“It comes spontaneously to ask ourselves for how long will we spend the greater part of our energies in providing food and taking care of the sick? When will be begin to put all our energies into education in such a way as to give real hope and a future to these people through a good programme of development? It isn’t so much a problem to solve as a serious questioning of ourselves which disturbs us deeply and makes us taste our own powerlessness which finds an answer only in God, our strength. Our questions and awareness of limits make us try to root our faith in history, to bring about a new INCARNATION.”
THE PIONEERS TODAY
There is a saying that, ‘The longest journey begins with a single step.’ This year we are celebrating with gratitude a very long journey which began somewhere in the lives of each of our pioneer Sisters with a single step, a moment of decision, of commitment from which they never ran away or turned back, no matter how many challenges they encountered or problems they faced. Twenty five years later, where are they? How are they continuing the journey, being faithful to the decision?
Sr. Rose since that time has pioneered four more new foundations: Makuyu, Dagoretti, Mutuini and presently, when most people of her age would be enjoying a restful retirement, she is busy with the new mission of Tonj in South Sudan!
Sr. Virginia became the first head of Don Bosco Girls, an answer to the question of how to provide quality education for girls characterised by kindness, rejecting the harshness of other systems of discipline prevalent even now in some other schools in Kenya. She also pioneered the community of Dar es Salaam where the Sisters faced many discomforts and inconveniences before having their own house. Presently Sr. Virginia is….back in Embu from where she also co-ordinates the work of Social Communications for the Province.
Sr. Delfina followed Sr. Rose to Makuyu where she established the very big centre which many young people benefit from today. She was also part of the team involved in training many young ladies who made the first dream come true and asked to become Salesian Sisters. After many years in Makuyu, Sr. Delfina took on the tough job of co-ordinating the finances of the Province and then ‘retired’…to Wau in S. Sudan and is even now still busy doing a variety of jobs presently in Rwanda.
Sr. Antonietta has spent most of her 25 years between the communities of Nairobi and Siakago. God alone knows how much comfort she brought to the sick in the years of service in the dispensary of Siakago. Presently, Sr. Antonietta is still giving of her best in the community of Zway in Ethiopia.
Sr. Mary was for a number of years in the early days in charge of the finances of the Province at the time when many new initiatives were coming up. Who can count the number of offices she visited for permits, passes and documents of various kinds? She served also for a time in Embu and is presently, as one of the most senior Sisters of our Province, still thinking of the young and following new works for them being developed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Sr. Rosetta pioneered the work in Namanga after serving in Siakago and Embu and is presently…back in Siakago where she has the joy of meeting mothers and fathers who were just girls and boys when she was in Siakago all those years ago. Sr. Barbara and Sr. Marietta went back to their home countries after a number of years here.
THE LORD OF THE HARVEST
In conclusion let us continue to heed the words of the Rector Major: “Jesus entrusts the mission which two thousand years ago he gave to his disciples: ‘I am sending you to proclaim my Gospel to the ends of the earth. Go with that love, and that apostolic and educative passion which led Don Bosco (and St. Mary Mazzarello) always to give preference to the young, the poor, the people not yet evangelised. Do not be afraid! The Risen Jesus will give you the power, the energy, the joy that come from the Holy Spirit.”
