The Final Days in Kenya

Asher Kaufman, age 18, set out on June 28 for a yearlong trip to help spread the Children's Rosary in Europe and Africa. He spent the months of July, August and the first two weeks in September in France. He arrived in Uganda on September 15. From Uganda he traveled by car to Rwanda on September 28. After a week in Rwanda there was once more a return for more travel in Uganda. On October 11 he arrived in Tanzania and on October 26 traveled to Kenya. Asher grew up helping the Children's Rosary and participating in it. He now is helping to spread the Children's Rosary to more parishes and schools. He is also discerning a vocation to the priesthood and has applied to the seminary through the Archdiocese of Hartford. Please keep both his trip and his vocation in your prayers. He has been sharing dispatches from the trip.  

"After visiting Dandora, Fr. Cleophus and I hit the road again, this time to the south. We went to Kajiado, where Fr. Wachira Wilson had his parish.

Fr. Wachira has long been a friend of the Children’s Rosary, having worked with Fr. Cleophus to establish Children’s Rosary in his parish in Rombo and then in his subsequent parish in Sultan Hamud. We visited him in Sultan Hamud back in 2019 at his parish of St. Martin of Tours. And in my last post, I discussed how I went to one of the outposts of that parish that still has a Children’s Rosary.

Now Fr. Wachira is at St. John’s parish in Kajiado. We arrived late on Monday and were able to be shown some rooms in the Anglican guest house next to Fr. Wachira’s parish.

Having just read through Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical on inter-Christian relations, Ut Unum Sint, I joked with Fr. Cleophus that we were engaging in the essential work of ecumenism.

The next morning, we drove out to St. Peter’s outstation where we went to Mass with the children and presented the Children’s Rosary. Fr. Wachira had started the Children’s Rosary in the other outstations but not yet at this one.

Afterwards, we visited a rock quarry. It was located right outside of town and formed an essential part of the local economy. The rock was so brilliantly white that when I was in the midst of it, I had actually to close my eyes to avoid serious pain. A few workmen showed us around and explained some of the intricacies of the type of rock and some historical nuggets, like how the Germans had created a crater inside the rock to conceal themselves during the Second World War. However, since most of it was explained in Swahili, I cannot relate too much here.

One of the workmen then invited us to his home where we spend some time in fellowship with him and his family.

Once this was concluded, we drove back to the parish and had dinner. I met some of the other priests at the rectory; in all there were four. Everyone was quite nice and hospitable and thanked us for coming to the parish.

The following day, we set off around ten in the morning to head back to Nairobi after saying goodbye to Fr. Wachira. Fr. Cleophus had to be dropped off on the way in order to go to a priest who needed him to cover some Masses.

I stopped at the offices of ACI Africa to visit some of the staff there, including Agnes Aineah, who had written an article about my trip. The staff was very kind to give their time to receive me, and I enjoyed seeing their offices and hearing about their work. They report specifically on the Catholic Church in Africa, and so they have correspondents not just in Nairobi but in Nigeria, Cameroon, and South Africa.

I must say that Nairobi has changed noticeably since the last time I was here in 2019. It has developed, the neighborhoods appear more polished, and overall there is an air of business and gentrification.

As a result of my meeting at ACI Africa, Agnes helped me to get in touch with Radio Waumini, with whom I did an interview the following day. Radio Waumini is the Catholic radio station operated by the Bishops’ Conference in Kenya. Bramwel was the man who interviewed me, and he very generously offered to take me to the Basilica in downtown for Mass afterward since I had not been able to do so that morning.

After Mass, I went to meet with Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla, the head of ACI Africa and the one who had originally expressed interest in running the story about my trip. Fr. Don Bosco received me at the parish where he was staying, St. Austin’s Parish in Msongari, with some priests.

He is a most interesting man, having lived in France, South Sudan, and Kenya. He was very warm and accommodating in making time for me in the midst of his busy routine, which included a long journey back from a rural village to the office.

We had a very nice evening with all the other priests at the rectory. The parish itself is worthy of mention as it is the oldest in mainland Kenya. It was built by the Holy Ghost Missionaries at the end of the nineteenth century. The church itself is a beautiful stone construction that reminds me of some of the older churches back home in Connecticut.

So ended my last full day in Kenya.

On the morrow, I met up again with Fr. Cleophus to say one final goodbye, and then I left for the airport, bound for Madagascar. I will leave that story, however, for another time."

To see all of Asher's dispatches from his journey click HERE