Sr. Patricia Speight, and her fellow sisters react to the arrival of Pope Francis at St. Mary’s School in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: Daniel Dal Zennaro/EPA.
When I first heard that Pope Francis was coming to Uganda as far back as July, I immediately booked a room at our Convent in Laverna, Kampala Uganda.
Shortly after this we heard that Pope Francis was coming to Kenya from 25th-27th November. I was so happy and knew that I only had to travel about 3 hours to see him.
My next step, I did not want to waste any time on the roads with traffic jams and hold ups, and so decided to book into a nearby Convent where if possible and if necessary I could walk to see him.
Thanks be to God all worked out very well. I set off from Nakuru to Nairobi on the 24th November at 6.30am just to make sure I would be there on time. I got myself ready and bought a plug to make sure my little camera was always charged.
On the 25th November, the big evening had arrived. Our Loving Father had touched down on Kenyan soil. He was greeted with heavy pounding torrential rain. El Nino was expected and I am sure this was the beginning. The rain never stopped the entire night, and I kept waking up in case I would sleep in. Then I had a dream and it told me: “Patricia you have overslept”. I jumped out of bed to put on the light and found it was 3am. “Thank God!” I said. “This is only a dream.”
Arrangements were made in the Convent that we leave at 5am. Four Sisters and myself braved the heavy rains that pounded the city for the entire night and made our way to the Nairobi University grounds to attend Mass celebrated by Pope Francis. We waited for a number of hours outside and then were told by security to use another gate. I was sure we would be late. The distance from one end of the University to the other was great, and with over 1.5 million people in Nairobi who had come from all over Kenya, you can imagine that everyone was bumping into each other eager to reach the other side.
Security was extremely tight, and of course all this took time. The rain continued to pound down upon us as we entered the grounds of the University. At this stage we were walking through a mud bath. Some lost their shoes while others slipped, and fell over each other. All eager to see the Pope.
Eventually we got a seat, which we took in turns to share with each other. We shivered in the cold with our umbrellas trying to shelter each other from the torrential rain.
Then 10am came and the roars of us all as Pope Francis entered the grounds could be heard wide and far.
To put all into words is not easy, but for me Pope Francis portrayed, humility, simplicity, love, warmth, and compassion for the Poor. This for me is my definition of Pope Francis.
The fact that Pope Francis chose the name Francis, after Saint Francis of Assisi, the Patron of Animals who abandoned wealth to embrace a life of poverty and simplicity, really leaves a great impression on me as a Franciscan Missionary Sister for Africa.
He reminds me of how Jesus is portrayed in the Gospel of St. Luke. Jesus has a special love for the poor, the suffering, the sick, the lost, the despised and those on the margins of life. For me this means so much as I also try to reach out daily in my ministry to the very same people that Jesus, and Pope Francis are asking us all to do.
Pope Francis came across as a man full of energy, zeal and enthusiasm even though he suffers a lot himself from a lung problem and Sciatica. One can see that he is a man full of the love of God, and love for others. He puts others first in spite of his age and sickness.
The Mass was just beautiful, full of colour, song and dance. Pope Francis had a message for everyone. At around 12.30pm the Celebration of the Mass was over. Angelic voices hit the heavens as Pope Francis left the grounds of Nairobi University.
There was pushing, and shoving as people tried to get nearer to the Pope. But it was impossible as the barricades set up blocked all people from crossing them. Again there was the very high and tight security who were surrounding every corner of the grounds.
From the grounds of the University I lost all of my Sister friends which is not unusual with such a big crowd of over 1.5 million people. Anyway for me, I was determined to make my next move to the Sports Field of St. Mary’s School where Pope Francis was to meet all Religious, Seminarians, Priests and Novices at 3.45pm.
I scampered by foot as fast as I could to the next venue which was quite a distance from the University. Many other religious were doing the same. On my journey I met a Brother John, from the Xavarian Order, whom I had not met for a number of years. We had great conversations as we walked along. Eventually on reaching the gate again we all had to line up to be searched. The females on the right and the males on the left. Each one of us were thoroughly checked. Initially we all had to register in order to attend both events. So this meant giving in all your particulars of your Passport and ID Card which were highly inspected by the CID. As a result of this we were given the day before the event, the card and a bracelet. The bracelet was clearly checked before entering together with the card.
Finally we reached the beautiful Marquee in the grounds of St. Mary’s, covered with the Papal Colours. Decorations and flowers were not in short supply. Everything was there to welcome the Pope, even the Red Carpet.
This being the year of the Consecrated Life, Pope Francis based his talk on the way Religious and Priests should be living their lives.
I was touched deeply as he just shared so freely and joyfully about our Calling to Religious Life and the Priesthood. He encouraged each one of us to keep praying that our first relationship was with the God who called us to follow Him. This means denying ourselves the extra hour in bed in the morning to give ourselves to Him in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Denying ourselves the time we would sit in front of the Television and give this time to Him.
He spoke of the Joy of Religious Life and of Priesthood, and we must be seen and look as people filled with the Joy of God. Our life is one of radical service to the Gospel. Lifting the words from Scripture Passages and putting them into action daily.
We are called by God to reach out to the poor, sick, suffering and those on the margins of life and to be with them through their painful journeys in life.
We are called to serve others, and not wait to be served ourselves.
This experience of being actually present and walking the journey through the trudging red wet mud, the pounding rain together with the cold I was feeling due to the weather, brought it home to me more and more what our people whom we serve everyday go through in so many similar ways.
The entire day I took photographs. In the end I took a lot. At the Podium at the Marquee on the Thursday afternoon there were many photographers from all over the world. One of the Photographers saw me struggling to take a photograph of the Pope and he took the camera from me and went as near as he could to the Pope and took a photograph. I was so overjoyed.
The rain pounded down upon us all again as we left that evening. Many people were walking to find their buses and with difficulty. My vehicle is my feet and sandals which always get me to my destination quicker than the transport.
Initially I had been walking with one of the Sisters from the Convent I was staying in, then I lost her in the crowd. Eventually I made my own way and discovered that I was walking in the wrong direction. Darkness was beginning to fall and I wanted to be back before it got dark. I asked a few people on the road side for directions. Eventually I arrived back soaked to the skin.
The first thing I did when I arrived in my room was to get myself ready for the following day as the Pope was passing the Convent were I was staying, and the Sister in charge had arranged that all the children in their care would line up so that the Pope could bless the Children.
I went to a Gilan’s Plastic Supermarket bag which I kept the camera in together with a big note book and little booklets that were given to us. I was shocked to find that my Camera was gone. All the photographs taken of the Pope had now gone. This pained and hurt me so much. It was like as if a family member had died. The pain was so very deep.
One can save for a Camera, but I will never retrieve those very precious photographs of Pope Francis which meant so much to me.
On Friday morning the 27th my determination drove me back to St. Mary’s just to see if the camera was there, of course I knew that was the end of it.
On my way home to Nakuru on the Friday afternoon, I went into the Sarid Centre in Nairobi to a shop called Uchumi to do a little shopping. I saw Television sets and they were on. People surrounded the television to look at the last lap of Pope Francis’s journey. He was now at the Airport ready for take-off to Uganda. I joined in to say Good Bye to Pope Francis. As I waved him off something within my heart touched me deeply.
Tears flowed down my cheeks as I said, “Good Bye Pope Francis.”
Special Report by Sr. Patricia Speight of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa in the Love and Hope Centre in Nakuru, Kenya.
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