Kamavaru Sand Dam Project

St. Joseph & St. Benildus parish is promoting partnership with Ishiara parish, in a poor, rural part of Kenya north-east of Nairobi. Both areas are affected by Climate Change but with different consequences.

In 2018 Ireland suffered the most serious drought in over 50 years and many of our reservoirs are still not replenished.

Ishiara suffers on an on-going basis from not being able to store any rainwater for irrigating their crops which hampers their subsistence farming and hence they often suffer food shortages. As a partnership we hope to raise some funds to help them build a “sand-dam” to retain water for their area.

A license has now been granted

To view more information of the Kamavaru Sand Dam project please click here

Parish Partnership

Update: 7th March

At a recent Partnership Committee meeting, having been advised by the Director of Trócaire in Kenya, Mr. Paul Healy, we are exploring the possibility of supporting a project concerning the construction of sand dams.  This will provide a facility for the conservation of water, which is one of the most urgent needs in the Ishiara district. We are also delighted to announce that we have received an anonymous donation of €1000 to support the provision of computers for one of the schools in the Ishiara Parish.  One of our committee, Br. Tom ( de la Salle ), is hoping to develop the Pen-Pal partnership between pupils in Ishiara schools and those in our parish.

We welcome a new member to our committee, Mr. Ray McEvoy.

Update: 14th February

We invite you to look at the Ishiara Partnership display, located  inside the front door of the church of St.Joseph & St.Benildus.

Three further panels will be added to the display area, which will give an up-to-date report on the 3 areas of partnership: Pastoral, Social and Developmental.

Mr. Chris O’Sullivan has been appointed Chair of the Committee, and Mr. Ben Nutty has taken on the role of Secretary.  Currently, we are exploring the possibility of sending used computers, which could be rebooted for use in the schools in Kenya. We are currently negotiating with CAMARA, a charity which recycle old computers to support education in third world countries. It is hoped that the CAMARA office based in Kenya will supply computers to one of the schools in Ishiara.

Camara Education is a non-profit international educational organisation dedicated to delivering real impact through technology by inspiring and empowering a young generation to improve their own life opportunities.Their mission is to transform education using technology to empower disadvantaged students. To find out more about CAMARA click here to visit their website

Children from the parish Gaelscoil and De la Salle College,  have initiated penpal communication with their counterparts in Ishiara.

 

Our liturgy group have sent a report on their work and ministry in our parish to Ishiara

 St. Joseph, St. Benildus & St.Mary’s and Ishiara Parish, Kenya

Three members of our parish, Chris O’Sullivan, Ben Nutty and Fr. Liam Power visited Ishiara Parish in Kenya, to establish a partnership. The visit lasted 9 days, beginning of October 30th and finishing on November 8th. The visit was organised by the Trocaire Director in Kenya, Mr Paul Healy who met us on arrival in Nairobi and introduced us to the development projects supported by Trocaire in the area. We can indeed take pride in the in the work that this great organisation is doing in the 3rd world. We were briefed on the programmes which include such diverse projects as the empowerment of women, support for those with aids, developing sustainable agricultural programmes to feed and provide a small income for families. The parish visit was very well organised. It is located about 200kms north east of Nairobi and it took us about 3 hours to get there. The Parish is staffed by Augustinian priests who are natives of Kenya. There is a church and presbytery at the centre of the parish with 19 out-stations or small hut-like buildings which serve as community centres and places of worship on Sundays. As it is a semi-arid land, the people are very poor and subsist on small holdings which because of climate change are unable to yield sufficient produce to support them. There are goats which are able to survive in semi-arid conditions and cows which are also suited to the these conditions. They have no running water, no sewage system nor is there is electricity in most of the huts. The diet is very basic. However, the parish is well organised and has a very active lay participation. The pastoral council is very dynamic and comprises representatives from each of the outstations numbering about 60 in all. The council meets once a month to discuss issues effecting the lives of the people. As the out-stations are organised and managed by the lay members, the pastoral council is an important forum for church governance and development. There are catechists working full time to support evangelisation and catechesis in the out-station communities. There is also a very active liturgy committee in the parish. The celebration of the Sunday liturgy was a most uplifting experience even though it lasted 3 hours. It was a wonderful celebration of the faith of a community which, even though extremely poor relative to European standards, is filled with hope and joy. In establishing this partnership, we believe that we have much to learn about our faith, parish structures, sustainable development and community living.

We will have an up-date each week from our partners in Ishiara and we hope that parishioners will come on board
with this project and support its progress.

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