Last summer I accompanied a group of Irish university students on a three week volunteer project in Nairobi, Kenya. One of the things we did was to help out in the Kwetu Home of Peace – a small complex of tiny school-rooms, and even tinier dorms and offices to care for homeless boys rescued from the streets of Nairobi. When we arrived we found a young Kenyan nun, Sr Caroline Ngatia and her small team of volunteers looking after a group of thirty young boys, some of them as young as eight years of age. We were given a very sobering introductory talk about the lives these thirty homeless boys had been experiencing on the streets of Nairobi. Over the course of the week it became clear to our team of Irish university students that these boys were like young boys anywhere: delighting in football, in games, songs and practical jokes, but most of all relishing the genuine love and affection they had been starved of during the first years of their very young lives. Before leaving I resolved to let people at home in Ireland know of their work, and to seek assistance for their wonderful work. To this end I’ve asked some questions about the work she does in Kwetu and also her new project called Comarock.
Can you tell me about the background to the Kwetu Home of Peace?
Kwetu Home of Peace was established in 1993 by Fr Michael Meunier, a Missionary of Africa priest as a care and feeding centre for Nairobi street boys. KHP has grown from being a feeding centre to a rehabilitation centre. The boys – some as young as six – are taken from the streets where they easily fall into drug-taking and crime, and can stay in Kwetu for some weeks, before they decide if they would like to continue with their education. Since 1996 the Assumption Sisters of Eldoret, the order I belong to, have managed the home. Actually our congregation was founded by someone from your own country! Joseph Brendan Houlihan was born in Kerry, came to Kenya as a missionary and became Bishop of Eldoret in central Kenya. In 1962 he founded my order.
When our group was there I said Mass there on a makeshift altar in a classroom. But now you have built a brand new chapel! Can you tell me about this project?
A while ago I undertook to build a chapel for the Kwetu children. This was recently completed, and though simple in structure, it is at the heart of Kwetu Home of Peace, reflecting the fact that Christ is at the heart of the work done there. This is what one of the boys recently wrote me something very nice about the chapel: “Sunday school is something which I can’t wait for each week. I get to see all my friends, laugh, and play and learn about Jesus! The stories that are told are so exciting and I love learning about Jesus and all the things he did. He is my Superhero! And gone are the days when bad weather could lead to cancellation of Sunday Mass.”
The construction of the chapel has cost approximately €15,000. The donors have not only done a big favour for our boys, but also helped the entire Kwetu Home of Peace. This is because the Chapel will also be used for many other things, other than Sunday school, like all meetings, band practices, fundraising events and much more. With this new chapel we will be able to provide for these children in a much better way. There will be no more interruptions or cancellations of the worship services due to bad weather, the cold and hot weather will be less of an issue, and quite simply an indoor building with seats and proper facilities will just mean so much for the children, they will feel so much more wanted!
How did you raise the money?
Well I walked into people’s offices and many listened to me. I knocked on the windows of cars on the street, and people opened their windows for me, and listened to me. Many people, though they didn’t know me, answered my calls and listened to my story and then they trusted me with their money. I am very grateful to them and may God bless them. Without them our home couldn’t make an impact on our community. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of street children. As Christians, we all know the importance of giving our children a good grounding in our beliefs about Christ and the Lord, and this is what our Home’s main goal is! We want to teach the children in the best way possible and help them to develop into strong and honest Christian adults. There is a line from the book of Proverbs which is an inspiration for me: “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (Prov. 22: 6).
Can you tell me about your new project in Komarock?
Komarock is a shrine of Our Lady in the Machakos diocese to the east of Nairobi. I have been given a little land there to start another home for homeless boys and we are starting work in September. As we have done in Kwetu, we will work to rehabilitate homeless boys from Nairobi there, thirty at a time. This time we’ll be living very close to Our Lady of Komarock. And once again I’ll be knocking on doors and on car windows looking for funds!
About the Author: Fr Gavan Jennings
Fr Gavan Jennings is the editor of Position Papers. For more on Kwetu see www.kwetuhome.org. See the back cover page for details on how to help support Sr Caroline’s Komarock project.