Transfers, Secularism, Language among PMS Challenges in Kenya: Officials

As a cosmopolitan Episcopal See, inhabitants of Machakos Diocese hail from different parts of the country, Fr. Kiteng'u said, highlighting language as a challenge.

He explained, “Some of the children are well versed with Kiswahili and English while others are only conversant with their local language.”

This poses a challenge on facilitators during workshops, the Kenyan Catholic Priest said during the February 12 interview, days after the conclusion of the PMS Kenya Annual General Meeting in Nairobi.

He went on to acknowledge the support the Local Ordinary, Chaplains, and the people of God in Machakos Diocese are offering to foster PMS and PMC, including financial support.

In Kenya’s Military Ordinariate, the PMC vice moderator shared about the continued transfer of soldiers and their respective families as a challenge to the apostolate. 

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“The problem comes in when the family that is on the move has been very active at the local parish; it becomes challenging for them to adjust while at the new local parish because it takes time,” Collins Godfrey Maloba told ACI Africa.

Mr. Maloba added, “There are also some new camps that are being formed in Kenya and you find that the soldiers at such places do not relocate with their families because they have not settled well.”

He also lamented the under-representation of boys in the PMS and PMC as well as the small number of male animators compared to their female counterparts.

“Boys are under-represented, and the issue starts with animators as male ones are very few,” Mr. Maloba said, and added, “In terms of children, what we are trying to do is introduce activities meant for boys only like having a set piece for boys only.”

To address these challenges, the Military Ordinariate has planned to recruit potential animators among members of the Catholic Men Association (CMA) for training, he said, adding that the trained CMA animators would play the role of mentoring the boychild. 

Mr. Maloba underscored the need for collaboration among parents, church leaders, and learning institutions among other stakeholders in the local communities to help bring up children in Christian faith.

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.