Turkana - July 2007 by Bill O’Dwyer

Fr. Pat Brown, Fr. Steven Ochieng & Elsie O’Dwyer

Bill & Elsie O’Dwyer & Sister Yvonne

Our Lady of Peace Church – Todonyang, Kenya

The first day in Nairobi, Kenya Sunday 8-July we did see some wild life. These are 5 horn giraffes that were nearly extinct, only 100 left in the wild and these are being bred to be released into the wild. Well this was to be the last wild life we were to see in Kenya except for Fr. Pat having a rat visit him in his tent each night. The next day Monday we flew north to Lodwar about 3 hours flight in a small 6 seat plane and stopped along

the way at Lokitaung to drop of another missionary. We have arrived in Lodwar safe and sound. Fr. Steven and Fr. Manuel met us and drove us to the Dioceses of Lodwar guest house “Bethany House” where we were greeted by a retired sister who runs the guest house Sister Yvonne.

That evening we met with Bishop Patrick Harrington who welcomed us and wanted to thank the parishioners of

Holy Apostles for the kind support and generosity to the people of St. Joseph Parish in Lowarengak. Tuesday Fr. Pat said mass in the Lodwar cathedral and after breakfast we set out for Fr. Stevens church Our Lady of Peace which is a satellite of St. Joseph’s and has just been rebuilt after being abandoned for many years due to tribal fighting. This will be our home for the next 6 days, Todonyang. The trip from Lodwar to Todonyang was an adventure, the maps showed the road as a secondary road, however there were no sign posts or markers along the way. When there are dust storms or rain (rarely) the tracks completely disappear and you are left with your basis

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instinct and local knowledge to find your way. Thank god that Fr. Steven seemed to know every bush and tree along the way.

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Guest Tent Fr. Pat’s Tent Elsie & Bill’s Tent

Crossing river beds on the way to Todonyang, Kenya

On the way to Todonyang, Kenya, main road. Is this the exit for the M1? On the way to Todonyang, Kenya

We all were pleasantly surprised to see the great accommodations within the church compound at Our Lady of Peace church. We were told that we would have to sleep in tents and my memories of tents was when I was a boy scout, and they were small, uncomfortable, and you could not stand up in them.

There were standard toilets with running water and showers, who would believe we were in the desert.

The compound contained 2 permanent guest tents 3 temporary tents a permanent round house for eating meals and

congregating in the evening.

Fr. Steven’

The compound also contained workers sleeping quarters, kitchen, storage sheds, work sheds, office (20 ft. container), animal pens (for turkeys, ducks, and chickens). Water for the

compound has to be hauled about 30 Km once a week and pumped from a tanker into the different water holding tanks within the compound. s tent New Priest House under construction Guest Tent

This tractor and trailer is also used to haul cement, water, sand, stone, cement blocks, etc. for building well pedestals, dams, and general building construction. The terrain at the dam locations is very steep and rough and even this tractor has difficulty at times. Everything has to be hauled in from Lodwar or

Nairobi that is required. Nairobi to Lodwar is 695 Km / 431 miles. Lodwar to Todenyang is 285 Km / 177 miles. Building blocks (cement) are hand made on site and stone blocks are cut by hand using a sledge hammer and chisel. The Diocese of Lodwar in partnership with the Missionary Priests of St. Paul has constructed 22 dams in the Diocese. To see these dams built in such remote areas and with no modern equipment is amazing. Fr. Albert of Lokitaung parish is responsible for the design of these dams, beside being a Priest he is also a qualified Civil Engineer.

Water Dam near Natoo, Kenya

This picture is of the well that Holy Apostles

Project Turkana Well @ Natoo, Kenya

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Project Turkana Well @ Natoo, Kenya

“Project Turkana” funded and Fr. Steven constructed. During our trip Fr. Pat and Fr. Steven Baptised 44 children at an outstation of St. Josephs Parish under a tree in a dried up river bed. All the mothers and women had on their best outfits for this special occasion. As we are about to start mass. Fr. Pat & Fr. Steven being led under the tree by the young women singing and dancing.

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Fr. Stevens gift for saying mass and performing the Baptisms a rooster “Pat mind him and don’t let him get away”. Project Turkana has funded 8 boats for the people in St. Josephs Parish, Turkana. This money was amassed by fund raising activities of the committee, special collections, Holy Apostles children’s school, and 3 boats by 2 families of the Spanish community at Holy Apostles Church.

Fishing Village on Lake Turkana – Todonyang, Kenya

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We visited St. Joseph’s Parish unannounced and caught Fr. David Kilili hard at work

trimming his palm trees. Fr. David is the parish priest at St Josephs Church. Later in the week Fr. Pat and Fr. Steven co-celebrated mass at St. Josephs.

This is the Kenyan Police and Customs Outpost before we crossed into Ethiopia.

We are approaching the Ethiopia Customs outpost. This is a very remote outpost and the officials have no electricity with the exception of a solar cell and battery to power the short wave radio. They were happy to see Fr. Steven to bring them some local news and old newspapers.

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We are having lunch with traditional Ethiopian coffee at the National Hotel restaurant in the village of Omorate, Ethiopia.

Travel to Lokitaung where we met Peggy from Fr. Pat’s previous parish in Kentish Town, London .

Peggy was retired in London and volunteered to go to Turkana to help, she teaches the local people sewing. Peggy is well into her 70’s and is still working every day with Fr. Albert.

Or last night in Kenya we stayed with Sister Regina’s sisters at Nazareth Hospital just

outside Nairobi. They made us very welcome and we wished we had more time to stay with them.

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Trip to Africa Itinerary July 7, 2007 – July 17, 2007 travellers Elsie O’Dwyer, Fr. Pat Brown, & Bill O’Dwyer

Saturday, July 7, 2007 – Begin our journey by flying from London to Nairobi in the evening. Sunday, July 8, 2007 – arrived in Nairobi early in the morning, met by David Gitonga who took us to YMCA to check in. We went to Mass and then rested a couple of hours. David took us on a tour of Nairobi in the afternoon, we stopped at the Giraffe Park. Later in the evening we had dinner at the Carnivore Restaurant. Monday, July 9, 2007 – Travel to Lodwar on MAF Airlines (Missionary Aviation Fellowship), arrived about 12:30 pm. We were met by Fr. Steven, Fr. Manuel, and Franklin. They took us to Diocesan guest house, Bethany House which was our accommodation for the few days we were in Lodwar. Sr. Yvonne met us at Bethany House, who runs the facility. After we changed, we went to the Cathedral for lunch with Fr. Steven, Fr. Manuel & Franklin. We rested for a bit in the afternoon, and then Fr. Steve took us to visit the Deaf School. In the evening we met with Bishop Pat and had dinner at Bethany House. We were also introduced to Maria who arrived from Spain. She has visited Lodwar and Todonyang for the last six years and comes to help in the office. Tuesday, July 10, 2007 – Visited the Kakuma Refugee Camp, and Dunbasco Training Center for Refugees. Then we traveled to Losojait where Fr. Pat celebrated mass at the church that his former parishioner, Mary Tillett, donated funds to build the church. We had lunch with Fr. Pat Wamukoya, pastor of the church. Traveled back to Lodwar that evening. Wednesday, July 11, 2007 – Visited the handcraft buildings in Lodwar run by Sr. Catherine & Sr. Cecilia. Sr. Catherine looks after the basket weaving section and Sr. Cecilia monitors the weaving. We had lunch at the Cathedral (Fr. Steve, Fr. Manuel, Franklin, Maria.) then travel to Todonyang. We left approx 2:30 and arrived at 6:30. We stopped to see the church without nails in Nachukui on the way. Thursday, July 12, 2007 – Travel to Ethiopia, Town of Omorate; had lunch at the National Hotel. We ate Ajera with potatoes, goat meat and chile. A traditional coffee was made for us, the beans are freshly roasted in a pan on a grill and hot boiling water poured over the beans to brew the coffee. A young boy, Wondmagegen (Wanda) Givma from Jinka, Ethiopia joined us for the return to Todonyang. He will spend a few days with us for his holidays. Wanda is 14, speaks 3 languages and is well educated. His father is a politician in Jinka.

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Friday, July 13, 2007 – Travel to Lokitaung where we met Peggy from Fr. Pat’s previous parish in Kentish Town, London for a brief visit. Traveled to Nariokotome for lunch with Patricia and Scholastica who are members of the Missionary Society of St. Paul. We saw the new church that is being built and then drove back to Todonyang. In the evening Fr. Pat and Fr. Steven blessed five boats. The funds to build these boats was raised by the children of Pimlico Parish school and from two Spanish families in the parish Saturday, July 14, 2007 - Traveled to Pringan where Fr. Pat and Fr. Steve baptized 48 children and met with the Elders. Continue on to Natoo dam for a picnic lunch. Saw the well at Natoo and Natoo Dam. Return to Todonyang for the evening. Sunday, July 15, 2007 – Celebrated mass in Lowarengaik and then lunch with Sr. Elizabeth & Sr. Stella. Travel back to Lodwar after lunch. In the early evening, we met with Bishop Pat to review our trip and our impressions. We had dinner at Bethany House with Sr. Yvonne, Fr. Steve and Fr. Manuel. Monday, July 16, 2007 – Fly back to Nairobi. Spent the night at the Nazareth Hospital, Guest House. The hospital is run by the Franciscan Sisters of Immaculate Hart of Mary, these nuns are of the same order as Sister Regina (Franciscan Sisters of Immaculate Hart of Mary, from

Pondicherry, South India) who is staying at Holy Apostles during her studies in England. Tuesday, July 17, 2007 – Fly back to London

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