St. Monica Holy Cross Africa Ministry Trip 2017

by Tom Dempsey The first time I entered the Mission of Charities home for women who are neurologically impaired in 2015, my only thought was, “I have entered into hell.” The smell, the screaming and the surroundings gave me a feeling of dread. Once inside the room, seeing the contorted bodies and misshapen heads, the erratic movements and the random utterances rather than speech only intensified my emotion. Despite this initial response I forced myself to participate in feeding, touching, praying with and singing to these “unfortunate souls.” That night, I made a sarcastic yet heartfelt question, “what kind of God would allow this fate for these women?” The immediate response from Fr. David Guffey was, “the same God who inspires the Missionaries of Charity sisters to care for these women on a daily basis.” That was my personal epiphany. That experience which tested my faith and somehow allowed it to go to a place it had never really been. My visit to the home in 2017 has b...

by Paul Aglione   Peter, a Dandora Phase 1 resident, invited fellow traveler Mary and me into his home. Phase 1 is the oldest part of Dandora and Peter has lived there since 1971. Beautiful 18-month-old Victoria greeted us–Peter’s youngest daughter. Victoria captivated me with her sweet innocence and pretty blue dress. She took my heart instantly! We walked inside the house and met the rest of Peter’s loving family. We had a nice visit learning about each other's lives, yet we had barely scratched the surface. We held hands and prayed together as a family in God’s presence. When we returned to Holy Cross Church in Dandora Peter and I continued our conversation. He told me how his father was an alcoholic and used to abuse his mother. So he decided to become a SAPTA addiction counselor. SAPTA stands for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment in Africa. He became a certified addiction counselor and worked at BOMA Rescue Mission until he was laid off because BOMA was...

by Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson St. Monica shares a special relationship with its sister parish, Holy Cross and is the primary reason we travel to Africa each year. To reach the parish, we must traverse the roads of Dandora, where its residents live and work amidst a 35-acre dumpsite for the entire city of Nairobi. One of the twelve travelers with me described it as “apocalyptic.” Yet, Holy Cross Parish emerges as an oasis and beacon of hope for these men, women, and children who are no different than you and me except in circumstance. Any of us could easily be the one amongst dogs and goats scavenging for our next meal in the rubbish. Surrounded by bleakness, Holy Cross serves the community in so many ways. About 6000 faithful attend Mass each Sunday and are led by their newly installed Parish Priest (Pastor) Fr. Alex Okidi, csc. It’s campus also houses St. James school for which we provide scholarships. As we drove through the gates, we were greeted by dozens of their preschool...

Jambo and Karibu! It’s Monday night here in Nairobi, and almost all of our travelers have arrived. Like the animals of Noah’s ark, we have been coming in pairs and small groups rather than all at once. KLM, Turkish, Ethiopian and Austrian Airlines have transported 11 of us 9600 miles to the Eastern Coast of Africa. This morning, we enjoyed our first outing together as one big group: provisions at the Nakumatt —Kenya’s grocery store. What better way to acclimate and adjust to the environment, the culture and the currency than to be among locals shopping for each of our daily needs. Then, on to the Nairobi National Museum for lunch and an interactive tour of Kenya’s rich heritage. Kenya lays a claim to the oldest human remains going back 7 million years. Led by student guides, we learned a survey of Kenya’s history, from its early Arabian and European presence just after the time of Christ, through British colonization and its independence in 1962. Oh, and we happened to coerce ...