Last post I referred to a Soggy Easter. It continued to rain every night and most days until Thursday afternoon. Thursday morning I walked in the rain and mud down to Rafiki. I guess I was quite a sight. To keep my attache dry, I zipped it up in my windbreaker which made me look very fat. Totes on my feet and umbrella in hand, I walked by my favorite Acacia tree. I look forward to seeing it nearly every day. Its a thing of beauty, especially when the sun is shining. Remarkably, we have now had three days and two nights without rain. I was able to get out for an hour’s brisk walk this morning.
I have asked the students to write some notes to be included in the blog and here is the first installment.
You may remember Gladys Muchoki. She was a school teacher before attending seminary and becoming a Presbyterian minister. She has been posted to Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital in Nakuru where she will begin as chaplain at the conclusion of the program. She notes that her area was “the most affected by the tribal clashes, and suffers frequent drought leading to hunger. Thus, the hospital is kept quite busy.” Through the CPE program she “has learned to handle the patients by listening” and that “patience is a primary requirement.” “Observing the patient’s emotions and feelings is an art. . . Writing and presenting verbatims has given me a new approach to my ministry.” CPE has “helped me deal with fear and gain self-confidence which is very useful in my ministry. I work with about thirty volunteers who need my leadership and training. CPE has prepared me to” provide this leadership. “CPE encourages the pastor or pastoral care giver to see the patient ‘no matter who that patient is’ as somebody in whom the face of Christ could be seen. . . CPE trains the student to hear the patient’s story, not putting his/her agenda (on the patient so) he/she will not judge them for what they are thinking or feeling. . . CPE should be a requirement for all pastors as they serve the Lord’s people.”
Lucy Karaba is a lay minister in the Presbyterian Church. She serves as a prison chaplain. Like Gladys, she begins with relating how CPE helped her “learn to listen to the patient’s feelings” and never to take things for granted.” She says, “I used to give them my own agenda, and not listening to the patients expressing his/her own agenda or feeling and emotions. . .CPE has helped me to become a better chaplain in prison and also with patients. . . I have learned from various topics presented which challenged me to grow. My supervisors and lectures have become good role models for me. . . CPE is so relevant to Kenya and Africa because it helps to tranform hearts and minds, thereby impacting the patients, prisoners, and the society as a whole.
Leah Munio is also a lay minister serving in a ministry she founded called Healing and Revival Ministries near Nakuru. She was raised in the Anglican Church of Kenya, though her ministry is interdenominational.
She writes that “most of the things we were taught (in CPE) ties with my ministry and the church as a whole, and even the community. I have benefitted a lot because in the hospital I am able to move with the patients, discern their feelings and emotions, amd move with them in their valley. CPE has helped me personally as a mother and in my ministry. I have already started teaching my peers in the ministry how to follow one’s or another’s feelings and emotions so we may be able to help the community in our village to start with. CPE has helped me in my learnig goals: bitterness, viewing dead bodies, and anger. Today I am trying to overcome these weaknesses though it is a process; I can see a lot of change in me. Soon they will be strengths. Finally, I would congratulate all the organizers of CPE here in Kenya and outside Kenya for the good work they are doing. Long live CPE. Long live the whole fraternity.”
I hope you, the reader, can pick up the enthusiasm and satisfaction these ministers are sharing. It has been a real joy for me to observe their progress and hear their plans. I have no doubt that the general quality of pastoral care is going to be improved by them – directly and by their example. I hope to be able to share comments from the remaining three students in next weeks blog. When we resume seminars on Monday we will have only two weeks left. This coming week will be our last “regular” week, followed by final evaluations.
The students are already working on their final evaluation reports. Because of the need to have them typed, they have to be submitted by this Friday. So, they are feeling some pressure. They are also feeling sadness about the ending of this experience together, but it is balanced by the excitement they feel about doing ministry with new skills and confidence. The sun is still shining. The Son is shining through these ministers. Peace, Cal 
