Student Note

I confiscated the following note from one of my students this morning. It is just a little bit different than a note that would be passed in a class in the United States.

Rose, yesterday you took my spoon just after the prefect’s meeting. I kindly request you to give it to me now before I eat githeri.

Mass Kenyan Style

The basic format of Mass is the same wherever you attend, but there are definite differences between the way Mass is celebrated in the United States and Kenya. When going to an African Mass, allow at least an hour and a half. Why? There is much more singing and dancing!

We prefer music at the services when traditional music instruments are used. These include drums, kuwimba (hollow reeds filled with stones and then tied together), sometimes rattles and tambourines. If the church has electricity often there is a keyboard. You have to keep in mind that most people here don’t use printed music. The keyboardist tries to follow along with the singing playing by ear. Most of the time, in my humble opinion, it is more of a distraction and irritation than support for the music.

As Mass starts a procession begins from the back of the church as the entrance song is sung. The procession is led by the liturgical dancers followed by the servers (altar boys) and priest. This is not a fast procession as the dancers are leading with small steps often taking ten small steps forward and one or two backwards.

Often incense is used not only once but several times during the Mass. My girls hated incense on the special days that it was used at home. I wonder how, now that they are adults, they would react. Would they still hold their noses? If incense is being used, the altar is incensed as the final part of the procession.

Once the celebrants are at their places on the altar, the service continues. Almost all of the parts of Mass are sung, not spoke including: Lord, have mercy, Gloria, Profession of Faith, Holy, Holy, Memorial Acclamation, Amen, and Lamb of God. This is every Sunday, not just during the holy seasons of Advent and Easter. As a part of many of these songs, members wave their hands whenever they sing the refrains of Alleluia or Hosanna.

Before the readings, the liturgical dancers lead another procession from the back of the church bringing forward the Bible. Of course, there is a special song sung during this time. The Bible is incensed before the readings begin.

There is the regular offertory taken. Instead of baskets being passed among the congregation, each person who has an offertory gift goes to the front of the church where servers are standing with locked wooden boxes to receive the donation. This is not done in an orderly manner as we would expect. Instead each person goes forward whenever they want. There is no organized traffic pattern. People are coming forward and returning down every aisle, three people abreast! It is very crowded and confusing.

Before the Eucharistic prayer begins, the bread and wine, altar, priest and congregation is incensed.

Often the Sign of Peace is not done, there is no shaking of hands and greeting of your neighbors.

The majority of Kenyans do not receive communion. The reason is that many of them are not married in the church. It is so expensive that many cannot afford to have a church wedding in addition to paying the dowry. Often it takes years for the husband to be able to pay the entire dowry. Then some priests and ministers won’t perform a wedding ceremony until the entire dowry is paid. The traffic pattern for communion is the same as the offertory. People get up whenever they want and join the line going in any direction that they want. Wine is never offered as part of communion, only bread.

There is an additional prayer said after communion, The Soul of Christ.

After the Eucharist a thanksgiving offering is taken. Not as many people contribute to this second offering. This time the priest stands in front of the altar to personally receive the gifts. Gifts can be money, or real items grown and raised on their shambas (farms). We’ve seen bags of maize (corn), charcoal, eggs, bananas, fruits, vegetables, even live animals such as chickens, sheep or goats brought forward during this time. The priest accepts the gifts, hands them to the altar boys and shakes the hand of each person this time. Finally they receive a special blessing.

Once again the liturgical dancers lead the procession out of the church. I must say that a Kenyan Mass is much more joyful that Masses we are used to. With all that sining and dancing, how can you not be happy when it is over?


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Funeral Visitation

Tribal affiliation is extremely important. It affects every part of a Kenyan’s life even in such things as the foods they eat, clothing they wear, names they give their children, music, how they vote in elections, and ceremonies such as birth, coming of age and death.

Last week one of the St. Anthony’s teachers lost her son. He was only 22 and had been sick but his death was unexpected. As always, we took up a collection to help pay funeral expenses. This woman’s nephew died the next day. According to Luo tribal custom the nephew must be buried first because he was older. This means our teacher’s son has been in the mortuary almost two weeks. Staff members have been going out to her farm almost every day to visit and console her.

Today (Thursday) it was announced that a group of us would be leaving in an hour to greet her. Others would go on Friday and still others to the funeral itself on Saturday.

Fourteen of us left in a van to go to the city mortuary. Once we arrived we waited. Soon the family came in cars followed by our school bus. The school had provided the bus to help transport the family and fellow teachers. We all consoled the teacher and her other children.

Then they brought the casket out and placed it on the ground in front of the mortuary. I believe it was a viewing casket because it had a glass plate window so people could view him from the shoulders up. After viewing, the minister said a prayer which was followed by a song. Next the body was loaded onto a small pickup to be taken to the family home. Then we proceeded just like a funeral procession back home to the family farm. The women sang songs the entire way to the farm.

In the Luo tribe the body is taken to the house a day or two before the funeral. The road to the house was too narrow for the bus so we had to walk about a mile. Located next to the house was a small tent. That is where the casket was set upon arrival. There were also three large tents that would seat about 50 people erected for people to be able to be in the shade. A sound system was set up so all could hear the short 45 minute service. Since there is no electricity on the farm, the system was powered by a generator. All this time people continued to arrive.

A song started the service followed by a prayer from a minister. There was another song and a sermon. Last was a closing song. After the service was a procession for all to view the body.

It is custom for the grieving family to feed the guests. The menu was cooked rice, pilau (spiced rice), boiled potatoes and cooked cabbage. Many people sat on the ground or stood up to eat since there weren’t enough chairs.

Tomorrow (Friday) more people will go to express their sympathy and another short service will be held. The actual funeral will be held on Saturday. Funerals are almost always held on Saturdays so people don’t have to miss work to attend. It will begin around 10:00 and last most of the day.

It is the Luo custom to bury people in front of the house on the family farm. This woman’s husband’s grave is located about 20 yards away from her house. The son was going to be buried next to the father.

It was a humbling and yet an honor to be included in this experience.

Catholic Education Day

Catholic Education Day for the Kitale dioceses was held at St. Anthony’s last week. There was much preparation in getting the school grounds all spruced up. It is the best the grounds have looked since I have been here. During the week the St. Anthony’s boys practiced greeting the guests on to the school grounds, as well as singing songs and dance for the Mass, and the entertainment part of the program. The faculty wanted everything to be the best since we were the host school. Over 50 primary and secondary schools were invited for the big day.

The Mass was supposed to start at 10:00. The actual starting time was 11:20. The entrance procession was lead by various school’s liturgical dancers followed by St. Anthony teachers, and then the bishop. All but the bishop danced in. The good news was that I was in the middle of our dance line, and I did not fall or knock anyone else down.

During offertory not only were their monetary gifts brought up but also fruit, whole bunches of bananas (stalk and all), vegetables, large bags of maize, live chickens, sheep and goats. It took twenty minutes for the procession and gift giving to the bishop to be completed. The Mass took two hours. Cindy and I estimated there were over 3000 people in attendance. Besides students there were priests, nuns, principals, teachers, PTA members, board of governors, local politicians, and other guests.

After Mass the St. Anthony’s staff helped serve lunch to the adult guests, about 500 people. Rice, pilau, cooked cabbage, potatoes, chapatti, stew and a soda were served. My job was to help get sodas to the three dining areas plus any other things that were needed to help serve. The schools had to furnish their own students’ food as it would not be practical for St. Anthony’s to supply food for 2500!
After lunch was entertainment. The first group of students was from a deaf school. They sang a song in sign language. Others did songs and dances, some in traditional dress. One group of primary age students played soccer. It was a most amazing, humbling, and inspirational experience to watch because they were physically handicapped. Some had only one leg and played on crutches, others had different deformities. The point their head teacher made was they may have a physical disability, but that did not mean they were not intelligent and any less of a human than anyone else. Many times here, children with handicaps are considered outcasts by their families.

Next were speeches from the bishop (his was the shortest), other school officials, the MP (like a US congressman) from Kitale, and the guest speaker. Some speeches were good about education. Others were about schools getting funds on time and the government not being so corrupt. Finally were the awards for various things like best schools, most improved school, best disciplined school, highest math and religious scores, etc.
I left home at 7:30. I called Cindy to pick me up and returned home at 6:45, just before dark. Yes, I was tired but it was a great experience. Our staff and students took a great deal of pride in making sure everyone had a great day.

To view more pictures of this special day click here.

Annual General Meeting

Both St. Anthony's and St. Moncia's are Catholic schools in Kitale. Their governing board known as the Board of Governors (BOG)is similar to our school board. They meet monthly to take care of the business of running the school. Bishop Crowley is the chairman of both schools. That shows his interest in good quality local schools. In the Kitale dioceses, St. Anthony's consistently ranks first in academics and St. Monica's in the top five.

Each school also has a Parent Teacher organization that plays a similar role to our PTAs. Parents and teachers are working together on projects to improve the schools.

Once a year the school holds an AGM (Annual General Meeting). Kenya's love acronyms! The purpose is to allow the BOG, PTA and school administrators to let the parents know of progress, issues, and needs. The parents have the opportunity in the Open Forum to speak about any topic they wish. Important guests are invited and a Chief Guest that is the keynote speaker.



The day started with Mass. These are the liturgical dancers leading the procession as the priest enters to begin Mass. Mass was followed by the meeting and speeches. One of the topics discussed was the need to purchase a generator because Kitale seems to be having electricity problems and the school is frequently without electricity.

The final activity was a late lunch. I was on the committee to help purchase food and supplies for the High Table. We also supervised the arrangement of the room for the special guests.

Click here to see more pictures of this day including many of my fellow teachers at St. Monica's.

Daily Life

A friend recently asked how do you avoid being sick and getting intestinal bugs? Well, we’re really careful about what we eat and drink.

We cannot drink tap water. So we have two water filters. It probably takes about four hours to put our drinking water through the filters. The first basically takes the dirt and other impurities out of the water. The second removes microbes and bacteria. That is the water that we use to drink and brush our teeth. We take water bottles with us wherever we go. You can also buy bottled water most places that are sealed with a plastic rings just like in the States.

When buying fresh fruits and vegetables, wash them in water that has a small amount of Clorox in it, especially those that will be eaten raw. However, it’s fine to use tap water when cooking.

We buy our meat from an Asian Kenyan woman that has deep freezers where she stores the meat. The meat is frozen when we buy it so we simply move it from her freezer to ours. We don’t buy from the local butchery where the meat is exposed to the air hanging from hooks in the window.

When eating out, which doesn’t happen very often, we are careful about where we go. The two restaurants that we frequent in Kitale cater to Western customers. I understand there are a couple African restaurants in town that would be fine, but we haven’t had an occasion to visit them.

John and I both drink the morning tea and eat the lunches prepared at school. I’m sure they aren’t cooked in the most hygienic situations, but our digestive systems seem to tolerate them.

Here are a few other interesting items about our daily life.

At home:
• turn on the hot water switch for the shower a couple of minutes before showering
• fill the water filters both in the morning and evening
• turn on the outside lights about 7:00 for the night security
• put any open food items in a sealable container
• keep the rechargeable lantern charged and in the same place so you can find it when the electricity goes out
• turn on the electrical outlet before you use an appliance
• take daily malaria pill at breakfast

When leaving the house:
• open closet and cabinet doors to avoid mold and mustiness
• don’t forget to put on sunscreen
• take your umbrella with you every day because it will probably rain at some point
• take your water bottle
• carry a bag for your dirty shoes if walking to school
* make sure you have your phone with you

At school:
• shake the hands and greet everyone in the Staff Room the first time you enter each day
• carry a piece of chalk and a pen to class with you because there are none in the classroom
• carry a wrap or jacket with you in case you get chilled
• keep the Oxford dictionary beside you as you mark compositions (British English and American English are different!)
• if marking exams, take the calculator to school because they don’t have them

Click here to see an earlier web album of household items that are different in Kenya than the States.

St. Monica's Teachers to Mombasa

Teaching doesn't have many perks in Kenya. However, many of the better boarding schools send their teachers on a trip during August holiday. Several weeks ago Bishop Crowley mentioned that I would be going to Mombasa, the Board of Governors (school board) had approved the trip. I knew the past couple of months there had been many discussions about where to go in the staff room . But as with many things, information is hard to come by because of organization style. I was looking forward to staying with Mary and Doctor Susan while there.

We left on Wednesday morning and returned home early Sunday morning. I think all but two teachers went so that meant there were about 35 of us. We took our own school bus and had two drivers to share the driving duties. Most of us has a seat to ourselves, so we had plenty of room.

On the way down we stopped for a late lunch at place called, Kikopey, known for roasted meat. I understand it is near a grazing area where they raise many animals. Our men especially were thrilled. There were many shops that were grilling meat: goat, beef, chicken, sausages. As a small group, you order the meat that you want and were served ugali, tomatoes and onions on the side. It was OK, the men were a lot more excited about it than the women. Roasted meat is a real treat and Kenyans don't eat it often.

When we arrived in Nairobi on Wednesday night we hit rush hour and were caught in a jam (traffic jam). When we got to the downtown area several of the younger men teachers spent their time standing in the back of the bus watching traffic out the back window. Welcome to the big city! I think everyone appreciated having an hour to find snacks, bathrooms and stretch.

We got to Mombasa about 7:30 am. They hadn't called ahead for reservations so the first order of business was to find a place to stay. I recognized that we were only a few blocks away from Susan and Mary's house the first place we stopped. I gave them a quick call and less than 5 minutes later Mary picked me up. I ended up spending the entire day with them. We had a great visit, ate PIZZA for lunch:), and went to a mission group to order furniture. The Brother than ran the mission was a friend of Susans. Both of them had worked in Kitale for a number of years. We had a wonderful visit and got some good information on nonviolent communication. On the way home we got ICE CREAM! Pizza and Italian ice cream on the same day. What a treat!

I spent Friday with my fellow teachers. As pedestrians, we rode across the ferry to the south coast. (The city of Mombasa is on an island. You drive over the causeway to approach it from the west, but must cross on the ferry to get to the south. To get to the north you can use a bridge. The beaches are both to the north and south.) We had a little excitement on the return ferry trip. It got caught in the current, traveled downstream and turned a 90 degree angle at one point. We were never in any danger, but many people were pretty nervous.

Just like many tourists, shopping, shopping and more shopping is what they were most interested in that afternoon. I trailed along listening to them bargaining. Once a price was established, I did purchase a couple of lessos (fabric used to cover their good clothes when they are working).


We got to the beach about 4:00 that afternoon. It seems that many Kenyans are afraid of the water. It makes sense: they don't have swimming pools and there is very little water in rivers, ponds or lakes for swimming. Even though I had a swim suit on under my clothes, we were only there for an hour so I didn't bother to take off my skirt. I was the first one in at low tide. I went back several times and told the men they needed to take off their shoes, roll up their pants, and come on in. Finally several did.

There was a small boat that offered to take us for a ride out to the reef. There were about a dozen of us that went. It was a glass bottom boat, so we were able to see fish, urchins, coral, etc. They were so excited and amazed. It was so much fun watching them. Francis, David and I were the only ones brave enough to go sit on top of the boat. I'm sure they all agree that I am pretty crazy not being afraid of the water and sitting on the roof of the boat.

Mary, Susan and I spent a relaxing Saturday morning chatting and eating. We left about 1:00 that afternoon and didn't stop nearly as often on the return trip. During one of our stops the biggest purchases were honey, woven baskets, and carved wooden spoons. I'm guessing there were many happy wives when their husbands returned home with gifts.

We arrived in Kitale about 6:30 am. I had asked the driver to drop me off at a gas station that is only two blocks from our house. His comment was, "Is someone going to meet you there?" I was going to just walk home. The people sitting around me wouldn't hear of that. "It's too risky," they said. I'm sure it wasn't really. It's a major, wide road in a good part of town. We walk on it all the time, but I did have a couple of bags. So, I called John so he could meet me. You could see and hear their relief when they saw John and our car. I don't think anyone at home needs to worry about me when I am with my fellow teachers!

Click here to see more pictures from Mombasa.