Frank's Journal 11/27/08

Arrived in Nairobi yesterday night, late. Fr. Mutiso, Fr. Joseph, and Jack Ouda (Fr. Joseph Okech’s cousin) greeted me at the airport. They took me to Mazzoldi House, the HQ for the Apostles of Jesus, the order to which Fr. Okech and Fr. Mutiso belong. I spent a very pleasant evening. Temps were just right for comfortable sleeping.
After breakfast, Fr. Joseph took me to Mary, Queen of the Apostles, where the Taize Pilgrimage of Trust was being held. I was met there by Thomas Odhiambo, the chairperson of the youth group from Bomu. There were several thousand (5,000?) young people there, from 15 different African nations, as well as a sprinkling of white folks from Europe and North America. The Taize brothers had erected three large tents that were not large enough to hold the throng. I got there just as the prayer service was starting and Thomas and I sat just outside the tent to pray in Taize’s unique meditative fashion. From there we went to a workshop on “Discovering God’s call.” There had to be a good 1,000 young people at this workshop.
Bomu has 15 members of the youth group there: Thomas Odhiambo, Crispinus Ingesi, Baraza Frederick, Edwin Owino, Doreen Kilui, Felicia Anna, Eunice Awimo, Caroline Oluoch, Anne Agatha, Dan Mwaro, Charles Agoro, Regina Mwamdoe, Colliins Randiki, Steve Akanga, Thomas Owino.
You cannot be unimpressed with the open faith of these young people. They are mostly twenty-somethings, although there are a fair number of those in their late teens. Dinner was Taize simple, a rice and stew mix that tasted fine. There were no complainers in the group. That was followed by evening prayer and transportation to our host parishes.
Taize set it up so that each of the participants stayed in the home of a host family for the evening, being transported to and from the host parish by bus. The Bomu youth were split between two parishes, one close to the event and one in Kiruri, which was about 20 kilometers from Nairobi. The bus reide was pretty close to an hour.
Crispinus and I stayed at the home of Mama Margaret Njeri. She has four children, Trizza Wanyika (24) and her daughter Georgina (3), Antony Kinungi (18), Rose Wanjiro (13), and Risper Wambui (8). Trizza and Georgina were not with us the first night, as they live closer to town. The walk to Mama Margaret’s is about a mile, all hills. Antony had mercy on me, though, and we took a cab, which cost Sh150. Antony would not allow me to pay, and I know that if zi tried to press the point I would be insulting him. The culture of hospitality here is very strong.
The house is a solid cement structure that is two stories high but the top story is not used because the cement used is too porous to keep out the water, so they use just the first story. It is a townhouse, one of four. The compound has another similar structure facing our house. Inside, it has a living room, 3 bedrooms (tiny), a loo (a porcelain hole in the floor), and a bath. We ate ugali, watched the news and sports, then I took a shower – a small tub a third filled with water you splash on yourself.
When Mama Margaret served the food, she made sure that Crispinus and I were served first and most. The just plain goodness of these people is striking; it fills you up in a warm and very welcoming way. They treat you immediately as a member of their family.