As we approach the end of another year, I feel inspired by the words of Mother Mary Joseph, Foundress of The Maryknoll Sisters: "When we stop to regard God's work, there is nothing to do but wonder and thank Him, realizing how little we planned, how little we achieved, and yet how much has been done." For seven years I struggled with huge water projects and dreaded to think about how we would ever finish. We finished the water irrigation project at Sagana Maganjo in the foothills of Mt. Kenya, three years ago, but have been adding on to it bit by bit to include more small farms (now about 180). I'd like to think this project is completely finished but the people drain the Sagana River which flows off Mt Kenya. The government threatens to close us down unless we build a huge dam to form a huge lake. The price tag on that is at least 100K. I promised the people if they pay half, I'd look for half. Translated, that means if they pay one tenth, I'll pay nine tenths, but they must make a supreme effort to contribute. This year we finished a huge borehole project in the Mua Hills, 60 miles East of Nairobi after six years of blood sweat and tears. The pipes, most of them steel, run for seven and a half miles. Four thousand people get fresh water close to their home. Then we have smaller borehole projects which have been completed in Komorock, Kibagare, Kabati, and Tawa. We have a few shallow wells in other places. Believe me all this is God's work. Seven years ago I would have said all this would be IMPOSSIBLE.

And I would have never dreamt that our ministry to the sick and poor in Mukuru slums would be where it is today. Oh, seven years ago I was sending a lot of patients to mission hospitals and dispensaries. But I was working on my own without a social worker. I was creating many dependencies, which is BAD. Now with the help of Theresa Wangechi, our social worker, we have refined our operation radically. We still send about 150 people to five mission hospitals and three dispensaries each month, but we make many of them pay a good portion of their bill. We make strenuous efforts to give a free ride to only those who are truly destitute or in extreme need. I'm not spending less, but I'm spending more wisely. We still have our program to help people in the slums to build their own toilets. We spend about $900 per month to buy corn flour and beans to help many people on antiretroviral drugs (AIDS) and TB drugs because you don't dare take these on an empty stomach. We keep these people on the dole temporarily till they gain strength and then we help them get started in a small business so they can make their own living. We continue to build very modest homes for destitute people. So, no cobwebs are forming over my pockets.

Sometimes we get a shot in the arm when one of our patients gets back to good health. Paul Mwangi, the seven-year-old boy in the photo above, ran a piece of wire into his right eye. The doctors at Kikuyu Eye Hospital extracted it and Paul is 100% OK. All for the cost of $50. How's that for a bargain? We hope for the best for thirty students whom we sponsor in schools. Most of them are in boarding high schools; a few of them are in colleges and our Sister Joan Njeri is in medical school in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We pray that they not only succeed in getting ahead in life, but they will use their education to help others as they have been helped.

I again invite you to share in this work. The best way to help financially is to write a check in the name of the Maryknoll Fathers and mail it to Maryknoll, N.Y. 10545-0302. Don't write my name on the envelope (only Maryknoll Fathers), but in a brief note advise them to credit your gift to the Mission Account of Fr. John J. Lange. I wish you MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A BLESSED NEW YEAR. Peace! John Lange

Learn more about John's Ministry

John's Biography             John's Reflections

     View the Photo Album of John's Ministries    

John may be contacted by Email at:   MklKenya@AfricaOnline.co.ke

Maryknollers in Nairobi, Kenya