Ebola outbreak Earlier this week, we received the following message from Bishop Isesomo (North Kivu Diocese, DR Congo): “There is another sad situation which has arisen in our diocese and particularly in Beni area: it is Ebola. Some people have died from it. We are praying so that God may stop it.” CMSI has a long partnership with North Kivu; our most recent partner visit was just last year. In 2015, the CMSI Children’s Resource, Little Lights, focused on the diocesan childr

This year sees the 25th anniversary of the Diocese of Kajiado. Maggie and I were privileged to be here at the beginning in 1993, and many years before that, as the diocese was in its infant stage. When we first arrived in Kajiado in 1980, the whole diocesan area was only one parish under the ministry of one ordained Pastor – Rev John Sakaya. There were about ten congregations at that time scattered across the diocese. Now, in 2018, there are six Archdeaconries, 49 parishes (1

From time to time someone in the office will share an image or story with the rest of the staff that connects to the work we do. Last week my colleague Rachel Brittain shared a link from the BBC website of an 'In Pictures' piece on life in the Bidi Bidi refugee camp in Northern Uganda. It consists of simple and beautiful images of everyday things and people, including a photo of a child’s toy made out of bottle caps, plastic containers and strapped together with fabric. The p

Plans are coming together for CMSI's Annual Ignite Conference on the 14th-15th September in Dromantine Conference Centre, Newry. As well as welcoming Archbishop Masimango and his wife Naomi (DC Congo) and the Baker family, we're also pleased to announce that we'll be joined by Bishop John Nduwayo as he retires after over 30 years as Bishop of Gitega Diocese, Burundi. In addition to times of worship and sharing together, there will be a range of seminars, each highlighting asp

'Bout Ye from Muhanga in Shyogwe Diocese! This is day six [written on 10th August] of our experience here in Rwanda and our first blog post, so please bear with while we give a brief summary of what we have experienced. We arrived safely on Saturday to Hallelujah Guest House – 'Hallelujah' indeed! We truly experienced driving Rwanda style on the journey from Kigali airport, seeing many taxi motorbikes and bicycles carrying people, mattresses, glass bottles, fruit – you name i

Lyn does not often feature in these stories. We have an agreement: I do the blogs, Lyn deals with some of the other aspects of our link with CMSI. Which is why this story is so important. Lyn is the heroine of the tale. It was a Saturday. Saturdays are quiet around the Seminary. There are no classes, sometimes the students are 'off-site' attending to their own business or on parish placement. This particular Saturday morning we were slow off the mark. Nothing much was expecte

Jambo! Welcome to the final instalment in the story of the Kuvuka Daraja team and its adventures in Nairobi. We're now safely home, but we wanted to share some news of our last few days in Kenya. The hard work in Tujisaidie school continued, but we also attended many events and met a range of old and new friends in Nairobi. Provost Sammy and Rev James met with us in the cathedral (All Saints') - we were delighted to have the opportunity to thank them for their support and res

'Be Prepared' was the motto of the Cub Scouts, back in the distant days of my youth. It still is. Some years ago, while in parish ministry, we ran a variety of youth events supported by Youth With A Mission. The young YWAM people remarked to me that their motto was 'Be prepared to pray, preach or perish in the next three minutes.' Perhaps one of these mottos should be adopted by the parish priest of Kwacha and Dean of St. John’s Seminary. One Sunday in late July I went to lea