Karibu!

Karibu! Welcome!

All these months of anticipation and preparation and finally we are here! What we did not expect or anticipate was how emotional it would be upon arrival. The welcome we received by Father Andrew, Paul, Sister Agnes, Joy, Christina, Isaac, Adrian, Joseph, and about 15 more people from Holy Cross was to witness the Holy Spirit in action.

Waiting outside with bouquets of roses for each of us, they welcomed us like long absent family. And now we were home! There were hugs and tears of joy, and thanks that we were united at last after such a long journey.

The warmth and smiles, the delight at seeing one another for the first time, walking out the door to see 20 people waiting for us was a moment we will never forget. We lingered on the sidewalk and Father Andrew gave a beautiful blessing of thanks and welcomed us with God’s grace.

It was a moment that we didn’t want to end, and a first that we will never forget.

Our wonderful coordinator Paul Mbugua and driver Alex led us to our destination and pointed out the giraffes and zebra visible from the highway out of Nairobi Airport. Unfortunately, these are a rare sight these days.

We stopped to get supplies from the local supermarket and were once again surprised by the Spirit working. One of the gentlemen helping to load our purchases was from Holy Cross. He stepped on to our bus and welcomed us assuring us he would be at the mass on Sunday. He said, “Holy Cross Dandora means EVERYTHING!  Holy Cross is the world to us. And we welcome St. Monica’s.”

We were greeted at our hotel by Father David Guffey. Our group was complete. We had an opportunity to share and pray together and talk about the journey ahead. Being in a group like this is a powerful feeling. We are not here to “fix” things, but we are here together to be guided into what this mission means to each of us individually.