Brother Herman Kinzler, O.Carm., joins in dance with the children.

Among the most interesting of the many outreach projects of the past summer is one embraced by Brother Herman Kinzler, O.Carm., in Kenya. Including travel time, Brother Herman spent 90 days at the unique Nyumbani Village at Kitui, 75 miles east of Nairobi, Africa. Nyumbani Village is the dream of Jesuit Father D’Agostino, who responded to the needs of children orphaned by the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Africa. These are children who are not sick themselves, but whose parents have died. In many cases, they have no remaining roots and are in danger of being discarded by society at large. Many of the orphans, ranging in age from six months to 25 years, are already in very bad shape.

The Village seeks to pair these young survivors with grandparents, siblings, or other relatives into extended family units. Houses and food are provided on about 1000 acres of land. There are chickens, goats and cows, with plenty of land where crops can be planted. The eventual goal is a self-sustaining community, where farming and frugal living will provide a living for 1000 children. At present, there are only 165 children, with 25 caretakers, and the operation does not yet sustain itself completely. But steady growth is on the way.

Brother Herman’s part in the ministry was substantial, since he is both a deacon and an experienced builder-gardener-organizer. Both residents and volunteers are expected to work. Keeping an eye out for nasty snakes, Brother Herman planted trees, organized a garden, and helped wire the school for solar power. There it is solar or nothing— but the school (up to grade 4 at the moment) is the best in the area. As a deacon, he also led liturgical services, and helped at Mass. The local Kenyan people sing and participate enthusiastically in their worship. A visit by the Papal Nuncio provided an excuse for special celebration and exuberance.

The extended families form the basis for small Christian communities, which in turn serve as subdivisions of the local parish. This type of clustering works very well in the African Church, where strong families provide the structure for nearly everything. At night, Brother Herman continued his work of visiting the family units to sketch out a kind of parish census and pinpoint the sort of needs and services which would help people the most. The needs are nearly endless. Brother Herman says that the ministry to other volunteers was actually the best part of his work. Many of them had very genuine needs which they were not even aware of. The well seasoned skills of our formation “one-on-one” talks came in very handy. All things considered, Brother Herman came away with great satisfaction, as well as a great appreciation of how much more needs to be done for these people. If only the snakes would stay away!