First Holy Communion with pomp....

So we are seated enjoying lunch by the ocean and notice two separate groups having parties

The girls are in lovely lovely white dresses and white stockings and the boys in black suits complete with bow ties (despite the swealtering Dar es salaam heat!!!). Its a party to celebrate their First Holy Communion - this apparently is a very big deal in this city and one person jokingly told us that waTanzania wanapenda sana sherehe!!

I guess for us a houseparty suffices - and mostly a few relations and thats it - one party even had a memory book complete with pictures where guests were signing!!!

Took me back to when I received my first Holy Communion - it was at the Holy Family Minor Basilica and I was in class two.  My sister and I wore long white dresses that had more net than material - which was the fashion then....I remember also that the lady who sewed them lived near Kongoni primary school, Nairobi West...used to have a photo of this day, but I have not seen it for a long long time. The church was packed that day since the ceremony was for a couple of schools and for some reason I vividly remember the entrance song was:-

'...Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
Enter his courts with praise,
Today will be, a Joyful day,
Enter his gates with.....

Well, all I can say, is that I wish them Gods blessings as they enter into this new phase of their Catholic Faith - its indeed a joyful day, and a moment to remember!

Of nuns and their immaculate attire.....

I have always admired the way nuns can keep so prim and proper despite their surroundings!!

I was reminded of this today, as I walked around Resurrection Garden and passed many many nuns...all in clean clothes, in various colours, stockings that matched their clothes and of course with kitenge shukas incase they need to seat/kneel. You see I attended schools run by nuns all my primary school life and this admiration was cemented in these formative years. In lower primary the nuns didn't wear veils, never quite understood why....but they kept short hair and most were Irish nuns (giving away my age right there!)

In upper primary, the school was boarding and next to a convent so we saw nuns alllll the time.....from very young ones to very old ones...and it didn't matter their age....all were very neat and their clothes looked freshly ironed even in the hot afternoons!!

Fast forward to present day.....and specifically to Merti, which is a very hot and dusty town in Northern Isiolo. I found myself in Merti on a Sunday and so decided to attend Holy Mass. Merti is the kind of place where by 9am it is already very very hot. Where I was staying was relatively near  the church so I decided an early morning walk will do me just fine. By the time I reached the church, I was, as expected, hot and sweaty!!  Incidentally I was early, so I had to wait under the shade of a kiosk opposite the church, and this didnt help in cooling me down. Anyways, when church finally started, I didnt feel conscious about my dusty feet since everyone seemed to be in the same boat. So enter this nun....in WHITE....looking like she dropped from above being so dustless!!  She took her seat on the bench, after carefully folded her kitenge shuka on the bench (that was probably very dusty in retrospect!)

Same script was repeated in Marsabit! with a headscarf because of the dust....

In Turkana, we flew by a small aircraft into a mission setting in Northern part of Turkana (cant remember the name) and you can imagine how dry most of the County is. We landed and since its a convent setting and little kids came round the aircraft once it had settled. The excited nuns also came to welcome us and we were soon seated in their pristine dining have tea and snacks. I mean just looking at spotless room one cannot imagine we were in Turkana county!!

Ehh, I guess cleanliness is next to Godliness!!

Need to give up something this Lent

Lent is here with us again

So I was trying to have a conversation with my children on the meaning of Lent and the actions we can take. So one issue is that we need to give up something we love to do or eat as a way of focusing on God alone this period

I ask my son....so what will you give up? he promptly says....CABBAGE!!....am like, you dont like cabbage that much anyways....yes, he says....so i give it up (aiii lesson lost!!)...I try again....how about chicken?....or phone.....he looks distraught!!

Will try again tomorrow.....for now, let me try and rephrase the essence of Lent... :)

Sunday mass

Holy Mass is normally a sombre affair...but its been a while since I had a sombre mass on a Sunday...

Today my youngest made some two other friends of the same age (around 3yrs) and they were running up and down the stairs along the aisles. Of course some people were looking back and wondering whose children are these....cant they be tamed? but i was busy enjoying the mass and not caring a bit about the noise being made by the kids...you see, i was once vindicated by a priest

He mentioned clearly that the church is made up of parents and their children. mass and jumuia should represent the family. And so in church, if the kids are in mass and a bit distracted, thats alright (this was my interpretention). and he went on to add that if you miss parts of the mass because you had to calm down the baby outside the doors of the church, then you are still welcome to partake in the Holy Communion, because you were doing Gods work, being a mother is a vocation!! how about that??

No more guilt trips for me!

Am so vindicated! so I sing along happily as my child tries to entertain himself...and of course try and control the kid  abit so he is not  a total distraction to the other members of the congregation!