By the time you are reading this letter I will have set up our African Christmas Crèche scenes and already celebrated the Birth of our Lord. I pray that you all may know the “peace of Christ” and the blessings for the coming New Year in all that you do.

Brother Daniel arranges the African Christmas Crèche figures in the Chapel.

It’s hard to believe that I have already celebrated my second anniversary of being here in Africa and that this will be my third Christmas. WOW! “How time flies.” On one hand it seems like I have been overloaded with so many things being new: a new assignment; a new culture; new people. But, on the other hand, I realize that there is still so much that I have yet to learn about Africa and the people – not even bringing up the subject of Kiswahili, the main, local language.

I continue to live in Nairobi with the Dominican Community that primarily staffs the Parish of St. Catherine of Siena. We are just about ready to move out of our rental house into a newly built residence adjacent to the parish church on the 5 acre church compound. It’s been a long time in coming due in a big part to the bureaucracy of getting necessary building permits. When I think back to all the difficulties that came up in the building projects at St. Benedict’s over the years I can see that Lane County rules and regulations Parish House under construction are nothing compared to those here in Nairobi. Still, we have finally been able to get the building of the new house underway and should be moving in there within a couple of months.

Here’s our community
People write to me and ask, “what’s it like living in Africa? Who do you live with and what kind of things are you doing?” Here are the people that I live with and some of the people that are a part of my new world experience and some of the things I am doing.

When I first came to Africa the Dominican community was made up of three “wazungu” (the Kiswahili word for ‘foreigners’) and one African. This last year the tables have turned and we are now two “wazungu” living with three Africans. This new living situation is more than a simple black and white issue since Kenya – and, in fact most of Africa – lives along very apparent and clear tribal and clan lines. At first I wasn’t so much aware of this but now I can see that these tribal and clannish bonds are very deep Brother D, Fr. Martin Ndegwa, Fr. David and represent strong, family-like ties that I have Adiletta, Fr. John, and Brother Jude never really been aware of before.

Fr. Martin Ndegwa, ordained six years ago, is the superior or our community and “Priest in charge” of the parish of St. Catherine of Siena. Americans would call him the “pastor”. He is a Kikuyu one of the larger tribes in the central part of Kenya and has, in his short Dominican life studied all over Africa and already been a delegate to an international Dominican Chapter in Krakow, Poland. I think he is the most well-known priest in Kenya and there is almost nowhere I can go with him that he is not recognized and remembered for a wide variety of ministerial contacts.

Fr. Lenkaak Lorisio John is a Samburu, one of the tribes closely related to the more well-known Masaai, coming from the north-eastern part of Kenya. Even though we usually just call him “Fr. John,” he pointed out to me that the proper “Samburu” way to call him is the way I have listed above. Lenkaak is his family name; Lorisio is the name he was given at birth; and John is his baptismal name. This is just one example of the ways different cultures deal with naming. It explains why some people first meeting me through seeing my printed name will casually call me, “Thomas.”

Brother Judethadeus Mmassy is from Tanzania where there are more than 100 separate tribes. He comes from the Chaga tribe and tells me how important names are in their culture. At birth he was given the name Meku which is only used by parents and respected older brothers and sisters. At Baptism he was given the name Judethadeus but for official records he uses his fathers name, Aloyce along with his sirname, Mmassy. After he is ordained a priest people will be able to call him by his birth name because he will be respected by all.

He was ordained a deacon last year and, after this pastoral year working in the parish, he will be ordained a priest. He is our computer/tech person and a blessing for me whenever I get stuck in some kind of cyber-glitch. He spent a year in South Africa working with the Dominicans in Radio Veritas and has also studied in other parts of Africa. He has, and continues to work in media and communication.

Fr. David Adiletta is originally from Connecticut and has been in Africa just a little longer than me. He entered the Dominicans in the New York Province with a background in bio-medical science and is way ahead of me in the language department due in part to having attended a four-month long extensive language school when he first came to Africa. Also, having a scientific mind and an almost photographic memory, puts him light years ahead of me. I’ve always said that God gave me a vivid imagination – and I am happy for that – but I was never good a spelling even in ENGLISH and some of the Kiswahili words seem impossible to pronounce let along spell! But I forge ahead and try my best.

Here’s what happens when I try my best. Recently, when I was preaching at the parish, I tried to say, in Kiswahili, the Gospel phrase, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” but I mispronounced the word for “light” (mwepesi - pronounced with just a hint of “m”) and instead said mpenzi which got a bit of a snicker from many since I had inadvertently said, “My yoke is easy but my burden is my lover!” You’ve got to admit, “…pesi” and “…penzi” are pretty close.

In the above picture we are all standing around our “Advent Wreath” in our house chapel. I thought the African statue of “Maria Bikira mwenye heri Mama wa Mungu” (Mary, virgin Mother of God) was the appropriate center-piece for the wreath.

Terra cotta stature of Mary as part of our Advent Wreath

More beautiful terra cotta

Some of the others who are a part of my life in Nairobi
The next most important person would have to be our cook, Jane Mukirwa Tarimo. She is from Tanzania and does a good job of keeping all of us well fed with a wide variety of African food. I have recently been bringing her copies of a magazine put out by our super market that has lots of picture recipes and her “repertoire” has expanded significantly to our delight. Jane comes from the Chaga tribe in the northern part of Tanzania and has been our cook for five years. She came with the house when we first rented so we don’t quite know what will happen when we move up the hill to our new house.

Jane our cook and housekeeper.

Living in Africa
One of the sad realities of living in Kenya is the fact that security is not just a given. Almost every house or compound in most of the city is gated in some way and employs “askari” (guards) – usually on a twenty-four hour basis. On our house compound we have two askari at night and one in the day. They ordinarily work 12 hour shifts on a rotational schedule and most often come from Masaai or Samburu tribes which are noted for their expertise in the area of security. Most of them are expert marksmen and often patrol the grounds with bow in hand and poison-tipped arrows at the ready. Of course we also have our two trusty “guard dogs,” Nellie and Kate who often bark at the moon or chase squirrels and lizards more than thugs.

Pictured right:
Ntokoya Lengasiuk and James Lesirangangu (seated) and John Muindi (standing) & the dogs, Nellie and Kate.

Lengasiuk and James are both Samburu and are “askari usiku” (night guards.) They live in the nearby village of Gachie. Both are married and have families “up country” in Marsabet in the north-east of Kenya. Of all our askari they are the least fluent in English and only a little better in Kiswahili. John is a Kamba from the eastern part of Kenya and is one of the askari at the church. Like most of our askari they have a wives and family living in the tribal parts of Kenya where they come from.

“Rafiki Bora”

Benson Leshamba is my “Rafiki bora” – my best friend – and the person who has taught me more Kiswahili during our conversations than I have picked up from any of the professional programs. Benson is a Samburu and only began working as an askari a short time before I arrived in Africa in 2005. At that time he spoke almost no English and very little Kiswahili. One of the other friars asked me, “How do you and Benson communicate?” but somehow we managed and I must say, Benson has learned more English than I have learned Kiswahili. Benson and his wife Ann have a little “mtoto mischana” (baby girl) named Maureen. When Benson talks about his wife he refers to her as , “Mama Maureen” – the mother of Maureen. Benson wants to learn to drive so that he can get a better job but the first lesson that I gave him prompted me to look for a large, empty, level field somewhere since he isn’t really ready for driving on regular roads with other cars, bicycles, push-carts, and pedestrians.

Michael Kimenju (above left) is from the Meru tribe from the eastern part of Kenya and is one of the askari at the church compound. He is a widower and struggles to raise his three school-age children by himself. Frances Murigi (above right) is also an askari at the church and is a Kikuyu from the central part of Kenya. He mostly watches over the several buildings on the compound and makes sure the church and sacristy are well maintained.

Joseph Lesioro, also a Samburu, (here pictured with his wife, Rosalia and his youngest son, Benedicto) is a day or night askari at our house compound and is also a catechists at one of the nearby parishes. All of our Samburus come from the same north-eastern part of Kenya but come from different clans. To give you an idea of the size of the larger Samburu communities they recently conducted a circumcision/initiation ceremony (which only happens about every 14 years) and there were thousands of “boys” ranging in age from 13 to 25 who were initiated. I will spare you the details of the ceremony but tell you that this is still a very important ritual and one which is still followed with many of the tribes in Africa. In fact, the distinction between tribes that circumcise and those that don’t can effect the way one person relates to another even in religious communities. For those tribes that circumcise a man is not considered an adult until he has passed through this ritual and will not be respected seriously or given any authority.

Even in general, the tribal or clan bond is stronger than anything I have ever witnessed before. It is even stronger than many family ties that westerners experience. Joseph told me, “if a Samburu was running for public office EVERY Samburu would vote for him regardless of what he stands for or promotes. This is an election year for Kenya and already I can see how strong these tribal ties are and how they can even sometimes result in violent outbreaks. The closest thing that might come to explaining this phenomenon might be the classic “Italian Mafia Families” of some generations ago in the states. “You do something to one of our family and we’ll take care of you!” translates often in today’s Kenya where house burnings, business vandalism and even murder can happen because tribal boundaries have been violated in some way.

Still, as more and more people become educated and move away from their tribal areas and as there is more and more inter marriage occurring many of these things will change. However, as happened in “immigrant America” in the early part of the last century, many people re-congregate in the cities and re-create their ethnic ghettos wherever they are. Even so, the concept of “home” as being the place where you come from – as in present tense rather than where you came from - and where you still have roots, perdues in spite of people moving to the cities.

Just the other day one of the askari in the parking lot of my supermarket asked me, “Daniel, will you be going home for the holidays?” I told him, that I don’t have any home other then here – which is really true since there is nothing left in Oakland, California that I could call “home.” I’m sure that I detected a look of sadness in his eyes as he genuinely felt bad for me not having a “home” to go back to for the holidays. As an itinerant Dominican I really am happy to be here and call this home.

Alphonse Ocheng, our bookkeeper, here pictured with his son, Collins and his wife Irene is a good example of inter marriage. He is from the Luo tribe up near Kisumu in the northwestern part of Kenya and his wife is Kikuyu from central Kenya. I asked him what kind of things he had to do to “win her hand.” He said that he had to pay the equivalent of twelve goats and 30 cows. He’s been married for about 8 years and he told me, with a little bit of a chuckle in his voice, “and I’m still paying the “bride price!” Alphonse and his son, Collins are driving up country to visit family “at home” before the holidays. Being that elections will take place on the 27th of December many people will forego “visits home” in order to be able to vote where they now live.

Most Africans, upon hearing your name immediately know where you are from and what tribe you belong to. Even today, these distinctions have some of the stereotype names that all of us “elders” can still remember from our own younger years. Often these names are somewhat sarcastic or downright derogatory.

These are just a few of the people who are now a part of my life in Africa. Considering that there are forty-two recognized tribes in Kenya alone, each a having different languages, there is still much for me to learn. The culture, too, presents a challenge to anyone coming to Africa from other places. Living as we do almost right on the Equator puts a real damper on liturgical celebrations which are based on the changing seasons. Singing, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” doesn’t have a lot of meaning or significance here. We just celebrated Kenya’s 44th Anniversary of Independence and I’m reminded to look back on our own American History to see where the USA was after just 44 years of standing on their own. Independence doesn’t come easily and this birth process is still in its infancy.

Celebrations and Festivals
The celebration of Thanksgiving is only significant for the many Americans who are living and working in Kenya. There are just four of us American Dominicans living in the Nairobi area and one had done his best at raising some “free range” turkeys. When I looked at them I could only think, “What kind of things do they do to turkeys in the US to get them looking so robust?” In the end it was thought to give them a reprieve and a chance to fatten up – maybe by Christmas. So we had chicken and goat for Thanksgiving (the preferred, African feast day food) and we’ll see what happens by Christmas.

Wild Dominican Turkeys

NMS Choir Christmas Concert
I continue to sing in the Nairobi Music Society Choir which just had its Christmas concert recently. We are a nice mixture of Africans and Wazungu and usually have close to 80 for concerts. In this last concert we did some rather difficult pieces with close harmonies and intricate rhythms. We did a piece in Kiswahili that was made more difficult in that we not only had to count carefully but we had to clap our hands on our thighs and sway back and forth whenever our part was singing. Fortunately the Zulu Bird Song was dropped from the program which got me off the hook of trying to do all the above in addition to singing in Zulu which requires “click sounds” to make the words have sense.

Nairobi National Park
Every other month I volunteer to count animals in the Nairobi National Park which is one of the world’s only open parks where the wild animals can come and go as they please. It’s only fenced on the side that abuts a baseline road at the city limits. We’re given a quadrant and start at the first light of day and record all the animals we see. Last time I took one of the park rangers with me and he was amazed that we saw seven rhinos within OUR quadrant. He said that many people come to the park for years and never see one rhino and that day we saw a total of nine. Two weren’t in our quadrant so we couldn’t officially count them.

Celebrating Christmas In Africa
Well, now you know something of my living situation and something about the people who are closet and part of my daily life. This doesn’t even include the seventeen visitors from the US that I’ve had in the last two years who all seemed to enjoy their time being shown around town by this “muzungu mzee” (old foreigner).

Now, as we continue to celebrate the Birth of Jesus some of the traditional art of Africa reminds us that this gift of Jesus begins on a small scale. Just like this gourd which has been dried, carved and decorated. When you open it up you are treated to an entire nativity scene which has been carefully crafted and arranged inside the hollowed out gourd. May the light of Christ grow ever brighter in your lives and may your future years be blessed in ways you never before imagined. Like, could I have ever imagined that I would one day be celebrating my Christmases in AFRICA!

As always, I write back to folks who write to me. Here are the ways you can contact me”

Contact: brotherdaniel@opwest.org Mobile Phone from US: 011-254-02724 255 662

Please feel free to print this letter or pass the web site address around freely. I recently had another story carried in the newsletter of the Dominican Mission foundation. If you would like to receive their newsletter you can ask for the “Christmas Issue with Brother Daniel” at info@dominicanmission.org 

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