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The latest news on the Homa Bay, Kenya - St. Cloud, MN Global Solidarity PartnershipKenya, and the people of Homa Bay, have suffered a great time of turmoil and violence following their country's December elections. Many have died, and more have been displaced. Despite the governmental power-sharing agreement and restoration of peace in most areas, there continues to be harsh realities that make life difficult for our brothers and sisters in Homa Bay. We have promised our partners in the Diocese of Homa Bay that we will continue to hold them in prayer. Please join us in praying the following prayer in solidarity with Homa Bay:
The Leadership Teams of Homa Bay and St. Cloud have defined a Partnership Project. For the next five years our diocese will be raising support for a *Child Survival Project* that will help HIV/AIDS Orphans, widows, displaced and other vulnerable children and families in the Homa Bay diocese. Please consider sharing your gifts to effect positive change in this global need. Download our Homa Bay Partnership Brochure Download the prayer service for peace in Kenya
A bit of History on the Partnership's TravelsThe partnership between the Dioceses of St. Cloud and Homa Bay, Kenya goes back to 1999, when through the help of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) St. Cloud engaged in supporting a Metal Silo project for Homa Bay. Since then our two dioceses have sent numerous diocesan delegations to and from one another's diocese, as well as engaged in the sending of missioners from Homa Bay to serve and walk in faith with the people of the Diocese of St. Cloud. The people of the St. Cloud Diocese are also becoming more engaged in this partnership by becoming delegates to Homa Bay and hosting delegates from Homa Bay in their homes and parishes. This travel was recently re-structured, and is now set-up on a 3-year cycle: we travel there one year, they travel here the next, and we postpone travel the following for a year of implementation to work on mutually-defined goals and projects; and then we begin the cycle again. Most recent travels include: A delegation from the St. Cloud Diocese will be traveling to Homa Bay in 2009. Dates are not yet determined; watch for more information to come soon, or contact the Mission Office if you're interested. In September of 2007 12 delegates from Homa Bay came and spent 3 weeks in the St. Cloud Diocese - visiting many people and places, staying in homes in 5 different parishes, and both sharing in the life of Minnesota and also sharing with us the life of Kenya. View photo highlights from the visit. In August of 2007, Fr. Gregory Ombok journeyed to the St. Cloud Diocese. He will be ministering in the diocese for 3 years; he is currently living and working in the 5-Parish Cluster in the Holdingford area. Blessings to him as he begins to be in mission to all of us! Previously, in July of 2006, 15 members from the St. Cloud Diocese journeyed to the Diocese of Homa Bay, where they spent 2 weeks sharing in the lives and faith of our brothers and sisters in Kenya. No "projects" were done, no agenda was set, no purpose other than to accompany one another and share our gifts across the continents in a very real way, just as our Catholic faith calls us to do! In March of 2005, a delegation from the Homa Bay Diocese visited the St. Cloud Diocese. They shared in the everyday life of parishioners from the parishes of St. Michael in St. Cloud, Spring Hill, the Belgrade cluster, Henning, Mora, Freeport, Foley and Isanti. During the visit from Homa Bay, the leadership teams of the partnership discussed supporting one another in the areas of Communications/Evangelization, the challenges of HIV/AIDS, and the official signing of a formal agreement of understanding between the diocese in regards to the evolving partnership.
In August, 2004, Fr. Pascal Ounga, Sr. Everline Mboga and Sr. Winefred Oguya from Homa Bay were sent forth in mission to the Diocese of St. Cloud. Sisters Everline and Winifred left our Diocese in the fall of 2006, but we have since been sent two other great missioners - Sr. Alice and Sr. Beatrice; they are working with elders in the Franciscan community in Little Falls. Fr. Pascal left our diocese in the fall of 2007, having ministered at numerous parishes and the St. Cloud Hospital. In August, 2004, 16 delegates from the Diocese of St. Cloud spent two weeks in Homa Bay. Fr. Marv Enneking, Fr. Bill Vos, seminarian Aaron Kuhn and Steve Bresnahan stayed for a third week to attend the ordination of a number of seminarians. The delegates from St. Cloud went to share their common faith together with their sisters and brothers in Kenya. They also learned first hand about daily life and the reality of the church in Kenya. They lived and were sent two by two (like the Gospels say) to local parishes throughout the Homa Bay Diocese. They walked, talked, worshiped, prayed, ate, shared, and lived with and as their Kenyan friends and global neighbors. And together the Minnesotan and the Kenyans continue to grow and seek to know and love God in one another. Contact us if you are interested in interacting with future delegations or traveling on delegations to Kenya.
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Missionaries . . .
