Br. George

            Many wonderful things that happen among the capuchins, one of them is the coming together for evening prayer. Brothers living in the big cities understand just how almost impossible that is. The cities are noisy, prayers often take place at sunset, right when the cities are coming to life, someone is stuck in the traffic (I suspect someone was once held at the Westgate, he appeared after the hostages were released and he looked equally scare and fatigued). simply put, there are whole lot of reasons why the environment in the city is basically not conducive for these evening meetings.

However, there are a few times I was in the same community with George - in Westlands and Starehe - and it was different! I tend to think community prayer is the one thing that counts most, according to him. One time he told me, “Brother umecheza football? Umetoa jasho? umefurahi? Sasa mwili uko sawa kwa sala? hiyo ni sawa.” Now, that was a funny relation, football and praying? Back in Lusaka, during the annual visitations, while all other superiors went out there to make great times around Lusaka, George was always seated in the chapel for Evening prayer. During such days, I, a member of the lot that is usually a few minutes behind starting time, made it in time - trying to emulate my superior. Students from other jurisdictions would say, “ah! this superior of yours is praying too much, he is setting the standards too high for you Kenyans. Most of you won’t make it!”