Four decades ago, on 18th January 1980, two gallant women of God, Sr. Chantal Gester OSB and Sr. Irmtrud Wagner OSB, set foot on our soil with singleness of purpose: to share their love for Christ and humanity with those who did not know Him and also with those who had heard of Him but needed reawakening. You can imagine their fears! For four months, they stayed in Flora Hostels before moving to the staff quarters of the Missionary Benedictine Fathers later on in the year. This made it easier for them to supervise the construction work of our convent and the kindergarten, which started on 1st March 1980 and was completed and blessed on 10th February 1981 by His Eminence Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga.

Three other sisters joined them: Sr. Magda Eberhard, a kindergarten teacher who arrived on 27th June 1980; Sr. Fidelis Jardiel OSB, an accomplished musician and pianist who arrived on 21st October 1980; and Sr. Ramira Uy OSB, a medical doctor who arrived on 4th January 1981. This then completed the founding team. Within a very short time of their stay, with no mastery of the Kiswahili language but moved and powered by the aphorism “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else,” they embarked on social and pastoral apostolates among the poor people living in the slums of Mathare. You bet, love knows no language barrier.

They went about doing good things for the people, following in our Lord Jesus’ footsteps as expressed in Mark 7:37. They visited families, prayed with them, gave them hope, treated their illnesses, and educated their children. It is no wonder, forty years down the line, the mere mention of Sr. Chantal’s name in Mathare slums today evokes memories of a Missionary Sister who embodied the Gospel of Christ and enfleshed the words of Thucydide.

The deep and life-touching encounters our sisters had with the lowly in the slums pushed them to dream of a health and educational facility that would enable them to be more impactful in their ministry of touching the lives that God had entrusted to them. This then saw the birth of the two big institutions that we pride in today, namely: St. Scholastica Kindergarten, which would two decades later grow to become the giant St. Scholastica Catholic School, and Uzima Dispensary, which has grown to a Level 4 hospital by the name St. Scholastica Uzima Hospital.

The great brain behind St. Scholastica School is Sr. Magda Eberhard OSB, who, with a very rich experience of running schools in Germany, saw the kindergarten receive the first 100 pupils on 16th February 1981. Other sisters would join her later on. Among them was Sr. Lourdes Edisa OSB, who started the phase II of our kindergarten in Mathare Valley following the soaring numbers of parents looking for quality services offered by our sisters. Worthy to note is Sr. Magda Eberhard OSB, who went to be with her creator on 2nd January 2022. May she receive eternal reward for the great work she did in her lifetime for our institution.

Our Lord always rewards the faithful service rendered to His people with abundant blessings. A few years later, the sisters had to move to Karen since they had grown in numbers and in grace, as numerous young women continued to be inspired by their way of life and desired to join them. On 10th February 1985, on the Feast Day of Scholastica, our patroness, the Priory House (headquarters) named after the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Karen was blessed and consecrated.

Earlier on, in 1972, our Benedictine fathers from Peramiho, Tanzania, had started a mission station in the Kerio Valley following the invitation of the then Bishop John Njenga of the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret. Burning with missionary zeal, our sisters followed in 1973 to take care of the girls and women, offering home economics skills. Besides, they also engaged in pastoral and health apostolates in Chesoi, Chesongoch, and Endo Missions. These mission stations later became part of the Sacred Heart Priory Karen in 1987.

Our dear sisters, Sr. Ruth Gruebel, Sr. Margareta Maria Arnold, Sr. Heriberta Erhard, Sr. Wilgard Lumpp, Sr. Maria Uhl, among others, served with utmost selflessness and diligence among the Marakwet Community for decades. We have now come of age, having been schooled and mentored by our pioneer sisters in the School of the Lord’s Service. The great testimony to this growth is the election of the first African prioress in March 2021. This is indeed an incredible milestone in the history of our Nairobi Priory (region).

Our German sisters who labored and toiled when sowing the good seed of the Missionary Benedictine way of life in this part of God’s kingdom can now exclaim and sing with Simeon the “Nunc Dimittis” (Luke 2:29-32) “Now, Lord, you can let your servants go in peace for my eyes have seen your salvation…” “These God’s generals” for sure laid a foundation built on the solid rock, Christ Himself, and what they built will remain forever, for it is the Lord’s.

As we celebrate this Ruby Jubilee of the Missionary Benedictine presence in Kenya, our minds and hearts go to all our foremothers, both living and those who have gone to the next world. It is hats off to every one of them, for they were brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe that they could change the world, and were talented enough to do it. They left a legacy and a testimony of true monastic life of “Ora et Labora.” The work of their hands speaks volumes and continues to be sweet music that will never run out of tune.

We are forever reminded of the words of Albert Pike: “What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.” That is indeed the reason for the season—the Ruby Jubilee we are celebrating!

Dear readers, as you join us in thanking God for using our sisters as instruments of His love to humanity, I leave you with these words of Nesta Jojoe Erskine: “We might not be the ones to change the world. We might not belong to the few that ‘put a ding in the universe.’ We might not be something the whole world would celebrate. But…In the little corners that we live; in the lives that we’ve played a part in, we should be nothing but unforgettable.” Live your life as a jubilee every day!