By Father Richard A. Kieran

One of the major contributions of the Church to the development of the country has been its schools. Many of the leaders in the struggle for independence were educated in Catholic schools. Since independence, the schools have come under the control of the government. However, there appears to be a good relationship between the Church and state in the educational field. Religion may be taught in the schools and the Church tries to prepare teachers for the task through in-service programs. The parish clergy maintains close communication with the schools.

Education is now compulsory up to the fourth grade. Another grade is to be added each year up to the twelfth grade. Attendance varies vary much depending on the economic development of the area, the weather and the need for young hands to help at the "shamba" (the small plat of land the family cultivates). Facilities are very poor, except in very developed areas. Much attention is being given to in-service training for the teachers and teaching is highly regarded as a profession. It was interesting to observe modern math being taught in mud-walled schools.

Church-sponsored programs of social services and health care were more sophisticated than I had expected to find. For example, the assistance being given 200 crippled young people, from kindergarten through high school, in the Nyabondo Rehabilitation Center, where my sister is a lay volunteer, is remarkable. With a staff consisting almost entirely of non-professionals, the Center provides physical therapy, orthopedic aids, education, occupational therapy and a home for these children. In addition, a mobile clinic serves the crippled children of the region.

The mission hospital at Nyabondo is poor by our standards. However, it provides basic general and maternity medical care for the area. In addition, it has an excellent nursing school. One parish we visited was sponsoring a home for orphan boys and girls, a program of foster homes for other orphans, a trade school for those unable to complete a high school education and a village community for the elderly.

I was particularly anxious to meet with the directors of the US Catholic Relief Service in Kenya. In light of much recent criticism of CRS, I was anxious to find out what was happening in the field. I had a delightful meeting with Mrs. Jack Matthews, who is the Director of CRS for Kenya. Their main focus is a maternal-child health program. Through 260 centers throughout the country, many of them not sponsored by the Catholic Church, CRS provides post-natal medical care, nutritional education and food supplies for mothers and children from one to five years. In this way assistance is being given to 90,000 children annually at a time when good nutrition is critical for their future development, CRS is the largest program of aid in Kenya, which is not direct assistance from some foreign government. I was impressed not only by the extent of the effort, but also buy the independence from interference either by the US Government which CRS has maintained.

I also met with Father Carlo Capone, an Italian Consultata Father who is also a medical doctor. He is the director of CRS for Sub-Saharan Africa. I spoke with him regarding the effectiveness of CRS in the development of people as opposed to simply providing band-aid relief. In effect, his response was that in face of starvation there is no band-aid relief. He explained the almost insurmountable difficulties which exist in simply trying to get aid to the people who need it. For example, in some of the desert areas in the north of Kenya a woman might have to spend two days traveling on foot to and from the center where relief is available. So, to get this aid she must make an enormous sacrifice.

The Catholic Church is the largest religious denomination in Kenya (18% of the population of the 13-million in 1977). The Church is experiencing the pangs of rapid growth (280% in 25 years). Its vital signs are good and it seems ready to come into its own as a truly African expression of Catholic Christianity.