This article originally appeared in the winter 2024 issue of the Western Province quarterly newsletter, The Vincentian.
Kenya Pilgrimage affords experiences in Vincentian Vice-Province
In late September, corresponding with St. Vincent de Paul’s feast day on Sept. 27, a group of 12 travelers made a meaningful pilgrimage to the Vincentians in Kenya. The trip represented a return to such events, which had been offered on several occasions prior to the Covid-19 lockdown era in 2020.
Organized by Sharon Essner in the Provincial Office and Fr. Edwin Mugwe, C.M., Visitor for the Vice-Province of Kenya, the group was in country from Sept. 23 
through Oct. 1 and had the opportunity to visit numerous communities, including rural small Christian communities and parishes, a Vincentian school, and various programs run by the Vincentians, such as direct service to the poor and training programs for entrepreneurship and woodworking.
They took part in an elaborate outdoor feast day Mass at the DePaul Center in Nairobi and the blessing of a recently completed water project in the Karuiro region.
“We felt like missionaries coming here,” said Alina Korn, a youth leader from Vincentian Maryan Youth in Ste. Genevieve, MO. “But the reality is that the beautiful, joyful people of Kenya were missionaries to us.”
