Brothers Bill Zaydak and Donald Blauvelt, Provincials of the Eastern and South-West Brothers Provinces, are currently traveling in East Africa visiting the Holy Cross members and their ministries. Holy Cross began working in East Africa in 1958 and currently serves in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The mission to Rwanda was discontinued after the genocide in 1994. Bro. Bill returns to the District after serving there for 10 years. I invite you to watch a video of Holy Cross' early years in East Africa, then read Bro. Bill's posting below.
The trip has gone extremely well so far. Donald and I met up at Heathrow and arrived on time in Nairobi late at night. The next day we started our visit of the District of East Africa with a busy day of going to Dandora Parish for Sunday liturgy. As always the church was packed, the music was lively, and everyone welcomed us.
We did a quick tour of Nairobi by car and saw the massive roadwork being done which is related to the demolition the formation residence. That evening there was a regional meeting of Holy Cross members which we attended. Because all the meeting rooms were being used at the parish, it took place at the parish residence. Towards the end of the meeting, it started raining which was considered a blessing since it had been so dry. But the rain caused some sort of problem and the electricity went off, so the social time and dinner was by candlelight. For the next few days we had interviews and visited the colleges in the area. The rain was off and on for three days, and caused problems with the electricity in that part of Nairobi also. The formation staff of Fr. Patrick Neary, Br. John Flood and Fr. Pascal Mugabe started in July 2010. They no sooner settled in along with the young professed when they received news that the formation house was on property needed to build a road. Fortunately, the Consolata Fathers had enough rooms that Holy Cross was able to rent. In spite of all the tension, and the time and energy involved in moving, the formation community is doing quite well. It was most impressive in talking with the young men about their lives as Holy Cross religious and hearing of their hopes for the future of Holy Cross in East Africa.
We flew from Nairobi to Kampala, Uganda, and are staying here for two days for interviews and tours of Kampala. The community here has been most gracious in hosting us. It has been interesting to be here at the time of national elections. The current president, Yoweri Museveni, is expected to be re-elected and much of the news has been about the election process and the hope for a fair election.
For me (Bro. Bill) it has been a great experience of reconnecting with Holy Cross. It was a bit strange staying at the ‘new’ formation house in Nairobi. With all the furniture moved from the other house, it’s familiar but then not. What adds to it is that parts of the old house are piled on the property: doors, screening, windows, roof material, sinks, toilets and even the drawers for the kitchen cabinets. All of it salvaged and stored to be sold to recoup some of the cost.
Donald is doing quite well. He sees this as a journey of discovery since he has never had the chance to be in East Africa before. The most disorientating is driving on the other side of the road. Wisely, Donald has mostly sat in the back seat of the car. The weather, food, and accommodations have been wonderful.
Tomorrow we will head to Jinja, Uganda, traveling there by car. We’ll be spending a few days there to visit the Candidate Formation House, Lakeview High School, Holy Cross Parish and all the CSC’s in the area. More to come…
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