Friday 18 January 2008 was an historic day for the Kenyan mission of the Irish Province of the Daughters of Charity. It saw the opening of the first DC seminary in that country, and the incorporation of four young Kenyan women into the Community.

These first four Seminary Sisters in Kenya – Lawrencilla Ntinyari, Lucia Munyiva, Josephine Mueni Kimeu, and Rosemary Awor – have already been journeying with the community, discerning their vocation and beginning to learn what it means to be a Daughter of Charity.

The day of reception was a wonderfully joyful day and a full day of celebration. It created for all those on mission in Kenya a great sense of hope for the future. People in need, and they are many, will be served with love and compassion by their own Kenyan Daughters of Charity and the work already begun will continue and develop in response to new needs, as has happened in so many countries around the world where the Daughters of Charity serve.

Once again the charism of the community has taken root in new soil and will bring a dynamism and a fruitfulness to the Gospel message here in Kenya. Other young women are in a process of discernment and some will, over the next year or two, join this first group.

Sr Catherine Prendergast, Provincial, travelled to Nairobi to take part in the ceremony admitting the four sisters.

We wish each one of them every blessing as they continue their journey of committing their lives to God in Community to serve Christ in persons who are poor. At this time of chaos and suffering for the people of Kenya their witness is a beacon of light and a sign of God's presence among his suffering people.