Dear Friends,

  It is now the evening of June 30 and I feel inspired to write something I have found to be important to share, two stories, one heartbreaking and the other quite inspiring . . . so typical of Kenya.

   I am quoting a poem, free verse, of a not untypical teenage girl whose story is repeated too often.  Brace yourself.  This is grim.

                                                        CRY FOR JUSTICE

Welcome to my story, a story full of misery.  I am living in a society full of moral decay.  As I sit in this maternity ward I am writing this bitter letter, a letter full of pain as I cry for justice.

My father was my teacher, the pilot of my future, my role model.  And I was a perfect model of my father.  I gave my trust to him; he gave my life a hope.  He became my master and I became his humble apprentice.

But things began to change.  His life turned a new page.  It was hard for me to believe.  My father started drinking, drinking and smoking, smoking and abusing, abusing the . . . Bang. . . aah, my teacher became insane.

In this state of insanity my father killed his first born.  He sodomized his second born.  To make matters worse my father raped me.  And then, to my surprise, the doctor said I was pregnant.  Lastly, my father killed himself.

People, I am now in a maternity ward.  I am ready to give birth.  People, how will my child call my father??  Yet my father is also my child's father.  Will my child be my brother?  Will my child be my daughter??  My child's father is now dead.  Even if I go to court I will find no justice.

I will  have justice only when  society recovers from its insanity.  I will  have peace only when society embraces humanity.  Receive this red letter, a St. Aloysius lament, and spread it across Kenya.  I rest my case.

                                                               written by Florence Dushman Millicent

And then a second story . . . describing one of the people who comes here to make an 8-day retreat each year.

Sr. Willimena Ayan is a Kenyan Sister of Mercy who works in the Lokore village, 300 kilometers east of Lodwar, among the Turkana people in northern Kenya.  The region is known for it backwardness and lack of rains, as well as because of its recent social conflicts caused first by international companies drilling for oil and, second, by widespread cattle rustling among local groups.

Sr. Ayan teaches both math and science for grades 5-8 in a public Girls' primary school.  Her pupils are the daughters of poor Turkana parents, many of whom have lost their livestock to local groups of bandits.  Although the school has very poor facilities, no electricity supply or running water, the girls feel privileged to share a class with some 50 other classmates.  There they learn and also get--not always--a daily meal that their families cannot normally afford to offer.  St. Ayan is a Turkana herself and is very happy teaching these 300 girls at the Lokore village.  Despite the poor working conditions and lack of teaching means, she feels energized in her struggle to empower Turkana women.  "They are the future of our country," she says.

Sr. Ayan has been coming to Mwangaza to 'do' her 8-day annual retreat since she was  novice.  "I need to come to Mwangaza to pray in silence and quiet, so that I become more deeply aware of God's presence in my life and work among the Turkana poor, my people.  After these days, every year, I go back to resume my work among the poorest in northern Kenya full of hope and courage.  It is the Lord's doing," she adds.

I share these two stories to give you a snippet of life here in this young nation, to provide you a 'feel' for something of what God lives with all the time as well as some impressive Godly people.  I know when I participate in mass and the presider offers the bread and wine, later to be consecrated, I consciously put such people and situations there to be joined with Christ's offering to the Father.  Each day there is something new in these offerings, each day the mass is different because of these developments from the previous day to make today's mass new for God and for us.

Enough for today.  I am going to a medical clinic tomorrow to get myself tested for a possible pylora in my stomach.  My stomach is so acidic and I get often chills and feel sleepy, weak, dumpy.  I feel very sensitive to any breeze and need extra sleep.  Ugh!  I have a big event coming my way all of next week.  Starting Monday morning I will lead about 40-50 Carmelites through their annual Study Week, with Teresa of Avila being the topic.  15 presentations, three a day, through Friday afternoon.  I will need energy!  Prayers please for me  to get my energy back and for all who participate.  Thanks so much.

Bernie Owens