A Parish and So Much More
St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Parish stands alone in the crowded Kangemi slum near Nairobi, Kenya
By Ann Power Greene
Midwest Provincial Fr. Karl Kiser, SJ (left) visits with children in the Upendo program.
A student explores laboratory work at St. Joseph Technical Secondary School.
Before 1985, there was no Catholic church in Kangemi, a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. Christians who lived in Kangemi had to travel to nearby parishes for Mass, yet found it hard to worship in a language they could not understand. As an alternative, they formed Small Christian Communities (SCC), and members met regularly to hear the word of God, and pray, in private homes.
Seeing such strong demonstrations of faith, and knowing of the Society of Jesus’ commitment to justice for the poor and marginalized, Cardinal Maurice Otunga of the Archdiocese of Nairobi invited local Jesuits to visit Kangemi, and on May 1, 1985, St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Parish was established. Two years later, the St. Joseph Development Programs (SJDP) was formed to coordinate and manage the various social apostolic works in the parish.
Maintained by Jesuits, St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Parish is now one of the 112 parishes of the Archdiocese of Nairobi but is still the only Catholic parish in Kangemi, home to more than 200,000 residents. Because
of this, Small Christian Communities (SCC) continue to exist in Kangemi. Today there are 31, each with 40 members, and Masses are still celebrated in homes. But St. Joseph the Worker is the spiritual center of Kangemi,
a place where life is a struggle but the idea of tuko pamoja (“we are together”) offers consolation and hope.
“Visiting St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Parish in Kangemi really expanded how I think of a parish,” says Midwest Provincial Fr. Karl Kiser, SJ, who spent time at various Jesuit works in Eastern Africa this past June.
St. Joseph the Worker consists of a church and a school (St. Joseph Nursery and Primary School), as many parishes do, but it also has a medical clinic, psychological support services, sewing and carpentry workshops, and a technical secondary school offering training in dressmaking, tailoring, fashion and design, hairdressing and beauty, electrical and solar installation, and digital screen printing, among other things.
“They are feeding their parishioners spiritually and attending to all their other needs, as well,” Fr. Kiser says. “I was completely inspired and impressed by what the Jesuits have created in Kangemi.”
Father James Mugwe, SJ, serves as director of programs and oversees the SJDP and its three main works in Kangemi: St. Joseph Upendo Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Education Program, St. Joseph Technical Secondary School and the Uzima Women Empowerment Program.
Ann Power Greene is the senior director of grants and special projects for the Midwest Province. She visited St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Parish in 2019.
Upendo is a Swahili word for “love,” and the program’s main objective is to rehabilitate, educate and integrate orphaned or abandoned children, and low-income families. St. Joseph Technical Secondary School offers a four-year secondary school curriculum which includes instruction on technical and vocational skills to help students become self-reliant. It also provides psychosocial and spiritual care. The Uzima Women Empowerment Program was founded in 2004 as a way to restore dignity to the vulnerable members of the Kangemi community experiencing HIV/AIDS, and to establish networks of HIV/AIDS prevention and care in Kangemi.
Pope Francis made an apostolic journey to Kangemi and St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Parish on November 27, 2015. His visit aligned with his message of service to the poor. “The dreadful injustice of social exclusion leaves the poor with an unfair distribution of land, lack of access to infrastructure and minimal basic services,” he said.
In ways both small and large for close to 40 years, St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Parish has helped alleviate some of the issues of the poorest and most vulnerable members within the Archdiocese of Nairobi.
“The Gospel calls us to proclaim the kingdom of God, and this parish lives this out in a beautiful way,” Fr. Kiser says.
Fr. Paul Kalenzi, SJ, is currently involved in fundraising for Hekima University College in Nairobi. He can be reached at 617-860-7805 or pkalenzi@jesuits.org.
FR. PAUL KALENZI, SJ, A JESUIT FROM THE EASTERN AFRICA PROVINCE NOW LIVING IN CHICAGO, GREW UP IN KANGEMI AND SHARES THIS REFLECTION.
“My family lived in Kangemi as refugees in the early 1980s. Many of my childhood memories date to that time: the kind old man named Jimmy who carried me on his shoulders; my first best friend George with whom I was always getting into trouble; the many Ugandan exiles who came to stay with my family in a two-room (not twobedroom) shack. I had the good fortune of going back there as a Jesuit during regency (the years of work between first studies and theology). I worked with the parish youth, who remain the most vivacious group I have ever encountered. But I have to admit that returning to Kangemi as an adult was something of a shock: the squalor of the slum; the winter cold that seeped through the walls made of nothing more that corrugated iron; the heartbreaking poverty. It is a good thing to be a child; I couldn't remember any of that.”
IN THIS ISSUE
Photo: Courtesy of Xavier University