Essere laici missionari nella Diocesi di Marsabit

TUKO PAMOJA: TO BE A LAY MISSIONARY IN MARSABIT DIOCESE

A group of twelve people, with different backgrounds and professions, but working towards achieving the same goal: to be witness of Christ, trough their work and their own life of lays faithful. They choose to leave their countries or their home area to fulfil the dream to be a missionary in one of the remotest part of Kenya: Marsabit diocese. All of them are lay people, and for the first time in the month of May 2009 they met as a group with their Bishop, Peter Kihara, to plan together and to strengthen each other. Margaret, Gilberta, Adrian, Angela, Michael, Alina, Rose Isabel, Naftaly, Felix, Henry, Patrizia and Enrico are a colourful group: within them, we can find ladies and men from different counties, like Romania, Italy, Swiss and Kenya (Eldoret, Bungoma, Muran’ga, Meru), with different skills and capacity, as nursery, administration, teaching, mechanic and technical skills, with different time of service, from 6 months (the last arrived) to nine years in their own assignment…, with different support, belonging to C.L.M. (Catholic Lay missionary, from Kenya), or “Fidei Donum” (send from their own diocese to the diocese of Marsabit) or related with other association, serving in different part of the diocese, from Laisamis, Karare, Marsabit town, to North Horr and Maikona.
«To be a missionary is the dream of our lives - they say -. For the majority of us, the only obstacle for our choice were our parents or relatives. Back home there was a big resistance. There was in their mind a lot of fear (caused also by the post-election violence) and this question: “What is wrong with you that you want to be a missionary?”. They fear we could lose our roots. The Kenyan missionaries, found hard to explain their vocation: “Why be a missionary in our own country and what are we doing in the poorest areas, in the desert, living in a Muslim context and facing a lot of difficulties?”». Leaving home was a challenge for them all, but «We are getting aware that missionary dreams are contagious and also our families and friends are embracing our cause and promoting our work back home - they explain -. We are aware we are lucky to be here and to fulfil our dream».
In a context where conflicts and tribalism continue to cause material and psychological sufferances, like in Marsabit area, sharing and understanding different ways of living life, supported by the value of exposure, is not a common way of living. «We are interrelated, even if we are different - they continue -. Working in a team with different people is a good occasion to show ourselves and others that to collaborate with people from different cultures and level of education is possible and gives chance for growth».
At the end of this first meeting, they all agreed to continue this walking of sharing and to meet twice a year, to give strength to their friendship, to pray together, to have a recollection day and to live a different Church: by virtue of Baptism the lay faithful are children of God and fully members of the Church. “We, you and us, are the Church”.