Makuyu

Sunday, March 21st Fr. Mtunga took me (Pat) and two school boys, Peter and Albert, to Don Bosco Makuyu. It is about 85k (2 hour) drive from Bosco Boys. We left early in the morning after a night full of heavy rain. On the drive there we passed by a few cars who were pulled to the side of the road. As we came closer we found a dead body on the side of the road. It was very tough to see because it was not covered, just lying there, and it's tought to see death like that. It really shook Fr. Mtunga while he was saying, "this just shows how precious life is and how it can be taken away so easily". We figured someone had swerved and hit the person. Cars don't yield to people here and people don't yield to cars.

We ended up getting to Makuyu which is a primary, secondary, and technical school. Many priests from Nairobi go to Makuyu every weekend due to the small parishes not having enough priests to say mass. So the priests come then departed to the 16 different small parishes they have surrounding Makuyu. I decided to go to some of the small/developing communities to have mass as oppose to go to mass at the school. I departed for the days festivities with Fr. Steven (a priest from Makuyu), Br. Peter, and Br. John Paul. Both of the brothers are studying at the local university and live at Don Bosco Utume. They are both apart of the group of people who I played basketball against :) The communities we went to were Mugira and Mihango. The communities were much more rural than anything I have seen here thus far. The children were smiling, the singing was beautiful, and the love of the community showed during mass.

The entrance to Don Bosco Makuyu, another beautiful Salesian campus.

The lot of land where the new church at Mugira is being built.

The church at Mugira. The size of the church is 25 yards long/10 yards wide. During the week the building is used as a kindergarten and then a chapel on Sundays.

Inside view of the church, there are a few of the kindergarten children's drawings on the walls.

The children were happy to take a picture after class.

Br. Peter and a small boy from the village. This little boy during church was so intrigued by me. I was much much taller than anyone there, much whiter, had much more facial hair than anyone, I could not have looked anymore different than what he's used to. He came up to me and at first was scared to be by me. I kept smiling and he would hide behind his friends. He then gained enough courage to grab my hands. I saw him then counting the number of fingers on my left hand. When he was finished he turned around to his friends in amazement and told them I have 5 fingers also. He then did the right hand.
This is the church at Milhango. Fr. Steven was telling me that the buildings in this region are all made the same; with mud bricks, mud plaster, and tin roofs. The mass was being said from noon until 2pm, it felt like an oven!

This region of Makuyu is much more rural than where we are at Bosco Boys. The land surrounding is gorgeous.

After mass everyone walked home.

Fr. Steven stopped by a small shopping market on the way back. The children immediately swarmed him. Fr. told me that the people here all make money from agriculture which they sell at local markets. They harvest corn, beans, mango, and grass for cows to eat on the 1/2 acre of land they own.

Br. Peter, Fr. Steven, Br. John Paul. Br. Peter is originally from Vietnam, became a missionary in South Africa, joined the Salesians, and is now in Nairobi to study. Br. John Paul is from Congo and is studying in Nairobi.

Back at Makuyu, another Priest was playing his accordion while the children were singing. After I left with Fr. Mtunga and the two boys back to Bosco Boys.

Fr. Peter stopped off at this place called Blue Springs on the drive home. It turned out to be a water fall but all the water was brown. Fr. said it was brown due to the dirt. This confused me because every waterfall flows over dirt. eh

Peter (left), Fr. Peter Mtunga, Albert (right)

This is just a "shot out pic" to the Big South: Noah Sutherland!

I just thought this was a cool picture.

Our trip then went to a village called Ruiru. This is Peter's (far left) home where we were greeted by his mother, older brother, and neighborhood friend. The mother, whom we thought was his sister, made us chapate (a fried/thicker tortilla) and hot chai tea. The home was made out of stone but had no doors or windows. It was in a small lot of land where they have a few chickens, piegons, and vegetation. We then drove back to Bosco Boys after the long day.


Oh btw, Katie didn't want to go because she was tired and wanted to sleep in. haha