Br Adam

Well, he has come to believe that my room has a basement room - although I actually live upstairs. I wonder how there can be basement in an upstairs room! His concern is that he is my immediate neighbour yet he doesn’t get to see me once I have entered my room or hear any sound hence the basement thing. He wonders if all is well with “me” when I retreat in the basement! such is Adam the brother of Eve as we usually call him (Eve I hear is his twin sister- I don’t know her).

Upon meeting Br. Adam, you will surely know you are a human person because he will make you feel like one. One fellow who will never assume your presence. He is a true Adam (man) and full of life! He will make you know human beings count over objects. 

Just a memory: A few years ago, as we were doing the dishes, he noticed that I was struggling to dry them by wiping with an already wet wiping cloth. He smiled as he took the cloth from me and he hastily wiped them. Kamrata http://capuchinkenya.blogspot.co.ke/search?q=kamrata , was also present and he was taken aback at how Adam was doing it. I also questioned because the dishes were not fully dry. To Adam, that was pretty funny and he laughed as usual. Certainly according to Adam’s wisdom, plate are objects and so he continued placing them in the cabinet as he laughed saying “Huku kuna joto sana, zitakauka upesi, hata mimi nikioga huwa sijipangusi na nakauka mara moja.” And he continued laughing – we joined him in his laughter

Such is him a man who seems to know what to care about and what not to worry about.

Br. Maloba

If you want to make a hilarious story about any community here in Kenya, there is always a mythical story to tell. For instance I have heard that if someone collapsed in my tribe, the best way to resuscitate him is to call his name and say to him, “hey, Njoro yule mzee alikuwa na deni yako ndiye huyu amekuletea”, surely the fellow will wake up energetically. Now brother Charles comes from a community whose hilarious stories have to do with stomach matters. A community in which two fully grown-up folks can stand and have a serious conversation about ugali. Trust me, I have been with him and I know of few people who could equal his train of truly progressive thoughts. He is always speaking in a joking manner yet he raises issues that build communities and particularly my current religious community. I once tried to make a contribution in his conversation and he listened to me. He comically commented, “ndugu una mawazo mazuri. Mawazo kama hayo ni mazuri, inatakiwa yakafundishwe wapostulanti!” and his conclusion was that the advanced ones would not find my thinking quite sensible, I think I also did not find it sensible. I walked away pretty glad that a man of his calibre listened to my deficient thinking.

Br. Njoroge,

Umoja is a very remote place and away from “civilisation” – It is in Mpeketoni where grandmothers teach their young grandsons how to jump on bicycles. Bikes, bikes and more bikes is what you see. On arrival, we were received by a deceptively young priest. Having in mind that I was a young boy, for me to be able to tell that someone is young he must have looked very young, nonetheless I was under his tutelage.

I looked at the many pieces I wrote to pick something about him but I couldn’t tell what to pick but I came across one phrase he uttered in class while sternly looking at me. “hakuna kitu kipya hapa duniani, usidhani utafundisha dunia kitu chochote kipya, ni jina lako tu mpya juu hakujapata kuwa na jina wanyeki hapa shirikani” (now, that is a rephrased eccl. 1:9 and my name added to it). My classmates laughed. I am not sure whether they were laughing at me or not!  

Later on, I saw something new, Fr Njoroge was on a bicycle going for mass. A priest riding a bicycle? Mpeketoni is another world or is it Fr. Njoroge who is from another world of priests? That was unheard of in my world. Where I come from, priesthood and car are synonymous!.

Br. Sammy

          As he prostrated beside me, I recalled how the Turkana make a camel go down on its knees with sweet songs. I listened to the high tuned melodies of the choir as they sung “watakatifu wote mtuombee” and as the whole congregation reverberated in unison in response to the choir. I knew with certitude that a fighter voluntarily lay beside me, not because he was weak, but because he had endured so much as to come this far, and now he lay there on his own.

Similarly, this morning of 19 September, I watch from a distance as he prostrate again for the deaconate ordination. The one who had been struck so many times yet never fell, one who is so prone to all sort adversities yet unequalled in resilience. I want to ask him how he has made it, but then I remember that he will just burst into laughter. Not because I have that sense of humour as to make him laugh, but because his answers are always comical, “leo tumezipunguza. jioni ikifika tunatoa moja. Huwa ni 365 days na kila siku unatoa moja. Kwisha!!.” Now this is a funny way of living. Every day for him is lived as it comes and each day, one is deducted on its own – I think that is how he has come this far (maybe I should not think, I should be asking him).   

Br. Joe (Bsp)

        It is true that when we are young we don’t pay much attention to youthfulness and when we see young people it doesn’t seem to matter. That was true for me until I met Bishop Joe in 2008. He was then the provincial of Malta. What was striking is his youthfulness. At first I asked Fr. Joe how come they have such a young provincial and Joe shouted facing the Bishop, “Hii ni Mzee hata ni mzee yangu, ako na nywele muzuri”. 

As usual, the bishop kept his smile lingering as he watched fr. Joe make fun of his youthful appearance. Well, I could hardly understand how it was possible for him to take so much chaffing until I stayed with him and realized how easy going he is. With so much ease, every evening he walked to my room before retiring to his and said, “usiku mwema”. Isn’t it that I am the youthful one here who should have walked to his room instead?  

Br. Ndoria

This long holiday has been an awesome return to my first experience of religious life. The very first day I joined, I found Br. Ndoria doing the very things he is doing right now as am typing this. Hurling maize to the chickens, observing jioni (our special bull) as he grows massively big and it is almost like the bull’s growth depends on his eyes, collecting mangoes and other things. Unlike the past when I was a postulant, and seldom asked questions, I had a chance to ask him why he does these things. At first I thought he is wasting time because in my shallow understanding I wondered, why keep chickens, goats, cows among others, that we never slaughter yet we buy meat. It was a very simple question to him because he didn’t even think much about the answer, he already had it. He smilingly explained “hii ni shule na hapa tunawafundisha nyinyi vijana kuhusu miradi ili ukiwa parokiani kama parish priest msiwasumbue wakristu na mahitaji yenu kila wakati. Hii miradi ya kuku, ng’ombe, na mbuzi na hata shamba ni ya kujiangaliliwa na kujifunzia.” Well I understood that very well and went to my room to bring my camera in order to take photos of these animals. Aren’t they there to be seen?