A Challenging Day

Tuesday was by far the most difficult day for me in Nairobi.  We began the day with a prayer challenging us to look at the world through the eyes of a child.  We then heard from the younger members of the assembly who shared their thoughts on the future of Marist life through a skit imagining what things will be like when the third Marist International Mission Assembly is held.  Both challenged us (me) to look at things differently.

Following a short break four presenters shared about their province's experience with lay formation and association.  In less than hour, we heard about efforts in Norandina, Canada, Iberica and Australia.  They ranged from two year formal formation programs to creations of new entities.  My head was spinning!

After lunch we were sent to an immersion experience.  My group was assigned to an "orphanage".  I was expecting to spend the afternoon playing with some young children.  The reality was quite different. The home that we visited was for multi-handicapped, mentally challenged young women.  Many of the women were rescued from garbage heaps or brought to the home by neighbors in a plastic bag.  The sights and smells were overwhelming and beyond description.

Even the bus ride to and from the home was disturbing.  The area we visited was poorer than Karen, the section in which we are staying, but still not considered the slums.  During the brief walk down the road to the home we saw a lot of refuse, people living in shanties and scantily clad children.  As someone said to me, these are the things that we see in an infomercial shown at 3 AM in the United States - something we keep at a distance and which we often refuse to believe exists. 

It will take some time to process the experiences of the day.  I have a feeling that the work of the assembly only begins in Nairobi!

Few more pix

Inside in our main meeting room, the giraffes showed up.

 And the map continually has more added to it...Marcellin helping us see through the eyes of the children.

On A Lighter Note- random photos

The young people presented a panel on Seeing the World through the Eyes of the Children

 The Plaque outside Mother Theresa Orphanage that we visited yesterday.

 The video message from the students of the United States being shown before afternoon prayer.

 New decorations are always appearing - the elands disappeared and the chimps showed up.

Each group meeting spot had this centerpiece - designed to look like the II MIMA logo of the flame.

The spot where we have coffee break reminds us of our Marist qualities.

Marist Mision and Marial Prayer

On Monday the delegation from the United States was responsible for creating and leading a prayer focused on Mary.  The theme for the day was Marist mission so for prayer we chose to use the story of the Visitation, Mary's response to her call.  We began the prayer by showing a video of the liftoff to Nairobi featuring the prayer services held in each school along with a bit about how our students respond to their call.  (Thanks to Erin Sisk and Anthony Gonzalez, a sophomore at Roselle Catholic High School for producing the video.) You can view the video by clicking on the link below:

Lift Off to Nairobi

The prayer also included multicultural images of the visitation and ended with the Hail Mary recited in English, Spanish and French with accompanying gestures. Here are a couple of pictures: