Fr. Terry - Holy Week Letter

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

I write you from St. Aloysius as we all continue to live through the coronavirus pandemic that is devastating our world. Even as our school has been closed since March 16, I still have enough contact with our staff and students to ensure that they continue to keep you in prayers as we all face this crisis.

We have monitored the situation of our St. Al’s family here in Kenya and have begun to respond with a fund of $5,000 composed of one donation given specifically to respond to the crisis along with money which a benefactor had asked us to set aside for special needs. This past Monday and Tuesday, through text messages, to the phones of parents or guardians, we asked our students to come at fixed times (for the sake of maintaining social distancing) to pick up homework assignments. As students arrived, they were surprised and grateful to learn that we were giving a package of food staples to them for their families. The cost of each package is about $11.00. 

I sat down with Abaxad Musioki and Baraka Wambua, who are brothers and both in their last year at St. Al’s, to talk with them about their situation. They live in Kibera with their mother and a younger brother. I was struck that they are very aware of how to avoid the virus.  Frequent hand-washing is difficult because of water shortages, but they know that social distancing requires them to stay in their one-room home most of the time.  This means they cannot even go to a local field to play soccer and get exercise, so they are bored. They spend time reviewing school notes, but they are worried whether they will get sufficient preparation for their big final exam, the Kenya Certificate for Secondary Education, because of the interrupted school schedule and also are concerned whether the shutdown will necessitate re-scheduling the examination. Their mother used to work in a market area selling vegetables six days a week, but now she is allowed to work only Tuesdays and Fridays because of social distancing. Yet Abaxad and Baraka realize that they are better off than many families in Kibera where the breadwinner was a casual laborer, and these jobs have disappeared as the economy has weakened. Smiles appeared on their faces as they received the food package, and they told me that it will supply their staple food needs for a week. 

Some families are, of course, larger so the food package will last only a few days. One female student was completely overjoyed by the food received because she said her family could only find money for porridge for the last several days.

We will distribute a food package next week to the recent graduates who were in community service when we had to close down. In addition, we are reaching out and giving help to the neediest of our graduates who were doing their college studies, as well as providing extra help for especially needy families. You will not be surprised to hear that our fund is becoming exhausted.

I ask you to consider a gift for St. Aloysius which could be designated for “crisis response” or for our ongoing mission of empowering youth through education.

I pray we many find hope in the celebrations of Holy Week and Easter even as we ponder them alone or participate through social media. Jesus invites us to place our uncertainties, fears, and suffering with his as we face the cross with him. May we experience the confidence of Easter that life is finally victorious over death, and love over selfishness and isolation.

Yours in Solidarity,

Fr. Terry Charlton, S.J.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga Co-Founder