Friends Across Borders 2013

FAB (Friends Across Borders) is a program sponsored by Maryknoll Lay Missioners that provides an opportunity for people to travel to countries where MKLM live and work.

The purpose is to expose the travelers to a different culture and life style and see first hand the work we are doing.

I am the FAB coordinator for Kenya and work with Cecilia in New York. Basically that means I work with her making all the

travel arrangements, housing reservations, meals, and schedule. I don’t have to do it all alone. Curt is the Mombasa coordinator and he has been a huge help.

This year the FAB group had 12 participants: 10 newcomers to Kenya and 2 former lay missioners that have lived and worked here as in-country guides. Four of the group were from Edmonton, Canada, two from Miami, two from Wisconsin, two from Minnesota. This time they were all retired people.


They came to Kitale first spending five days here, four days in Mombasa and the final three days on safari. We scheduled visits to all our ministry sites as well as some historical and cultural tours. I’m afraid the only pictures we have of them were during their visits to John and my schools. I thought you might enjoy.

At Weaver Bird they stopped by the Form IV classes to wish them luck on their upcoming KCSE exams, visited John’s Form I and II classes and chatted with his YCS (Young Catholic Student) group. The highlight of that visit was visiting the school kitchen.
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Ukarimu Retreat Centre

In July I had an appointment to meet Sr. Pat who had been recommended to me as a spiritual adviser. As she lives in Nairobi, it is difficult to meet, so we decided to meet at Ukarimu Spirituality Centre between Nairobi and Kitale where she would be leading a workshop. It worked out that she was going to be there over a weekend so I was able to travel there and back staying less than 24 hours. It was such a beautiful place I wish I could have stayed there longer.

When I got home I raved about it to my fellow MKLM. Margaret commented that she would be ready for a retreat during August holiday so the three of us decided to go down for several days at the end of August. They were as thrilled with the place as I was.

The centre, run by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, which has been there since the 1960s has recently been renovated. The rooms are large and airy with tile floors and hot, hot showers! Originally the doors to the rooms opened to the outside. As Molo is colder than Kitale, it was freezing. They put a nice glass enclosed walkway in front of the rooms with a little crannies with cozy chairs for reading to take care of that problem.

They had a little stream that ran along the side of their property. They decided to divert it to create a running brook with little waterfalls that empties out into two little ponds.

That tall plant growing in the water is papyrus. I had always wondered what it looked like. Can't you see how Moses's basket got caught in the papyrus along the water's edge.

Near the book is a labyrinth that you can use for prayer.

There is a beautiful church that looks out onto a beautiful view of the hills nearby. It is a beautiful place to rest and refresh yourself.

While we were there we all met with Father Brian, a priest from Ireland who is available for spiritual direction. He is a dear wise man who was so easy to talk to. We all fell in love with him.

There were a group of young sisters also on retreat there. They told us they were "cousins" to the sisters that run the retreat centre: Sisters of the Incarnate Word. They laughed and said they were working on their charity. We saw them at meals although they didn't eat with us and in evenings huddled around the fireplace to get warm.

We had such a good time while we were there we extended our stay an extra day. When we were ready to leave Fr. Brian was going to take us to the station where we could catch a matatu or a bus. Margaret was going back to Kitale while John and I were headed to Nairobi. As luck would have it, a group of sisters from a nearby house needed to go into Molo to do their monthly shopping. They gave us a ride into Molo itself and helped us get our tickets and sent us on our way. We had a delightful visit in the back of their pickup sitting on bench seats with another group of young sisters. Talking about coincidences, the Sister in charge of these young nuns is from Mexico. I think she also enjoyed seeing someone from "home". Next time we go back, we'll have to make a visit to see them also. I guess they live about 3 kilometers away. That would be a nice walk.

Adventures with a Boot

Once upon a time there was a girl named Cindy. One day while on her way to class, she stumbled stubbing her toe. She was so glad she didn't fall and no one saw her. Her foot hurt, but the local x-ray didn't show any problem.

However as time passed, her foot hurt worse and in a different place. She saw a podiatrist while she was visiting the big city. He sent her for a CT scan which showed two fractures: an older bone chip and a new stress fracture of a metatarsal. His recommendation was to have her wear a boot for 8 weeks. Unfortunately, he didn't have a boot in her size. Fortunately, there was one in town and he could have it sent over. Unfortunately, he had a meeting that couldn't be missed so he made arrangements for his nurse to do the fitting.

Cindy got the call that the boot had arrived and went to get it. The nurse put the boot on her foot and she merrily stumbled out the door and went on her way. After several days Cindy noticed that the top piece of the boot was rubbing the skin of her leg causing a bruise and sore. "This can't be right," she thought to herself, "I wonder what would happen if I put the nice, soft bootie on the other way. Low and behold, it fit better. "Wow," she thought, "I'm sure I have been putting my foot in the bootie the way the nurse showed me. Let me check in the instruction book to see for sure." Sure enough, the new way of wearing the bootie was the correct way.

Several days later the bootie became dirty. "It's time to wash the bootie. Since there is an extra one, let me start using that one while the other is washed."

"Oh my, she thought when she put the clean bootie on,"this sure feels strange. There isn't nearly enough padding in this one. I can't wait until the other one is dry so I can start wearing it again." She had a miserable day slipping and sliding in the unpadded boot.

That night Cindy's husband got hit in the head by the drying bootie on the clothesline in the bedroom. He looked at it. "I wonder," he thought, "there is a zipper in the bootie. Do you suppose you can take the padding out of it and put it in the other one?" Both were amazed when he was able to successfully move the padding from one bootie to the other.

While he was changing the bootie he decided to try to put more air into the padding inflating it with his own breath. The little pump that came with the boot didn't seem to be much help. "Amazing," Cindy said the next morning when she put the bootie on. "There has never been so much air in the bootie before. It sure feels better and more secure."

Several days later the top piece of the boot kept slipping out of place. "This isn't doing any good today," Cindy thought. "I wonder . . . Do you suppose that I could turn this piece around. Maybe it would fit better and not move." Low and behold, the top piece fit better turned the other way. "Maybe I ought to check the instruction book again and see if I have been wearing it wrong," she mused. Can you believe it, she had been wearing the upside down!

Moral of the story: Read the instruction book!
(The top piece is upside down in this photo.