“A good relief”: Catholic Bishop on Launch of Spiritan-initiated Health Facility in Kenya

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The Kenyan Catholic Bishop thanks the Spiritans for facilitating the realization of the health facility, saying, “I want to thank the Holy Ghost Fathers who have been missionaries in this region for quite some time for their efforts, their commitment to the work of this region.”

“Their work here is really evident and we want to continue encouraging them to provide the services they are providing for our people, not only preaching the word of God but preaching the word of God with compassion, bringing the reality of the good news by providing healthcare to those in need,” the Bishop who started his Episcopal Ministry on May 6 said.

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He continued, “The Pokot people have been marginalized for quite some time and basically their problem is that they don't have facilities; they don’t have resources; they don’t have water, roads; food is scarce.”

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“I think with education, and provision of healthcare, we believe slowly the issue of banditry that has been around for quite some time will come to an end,” Bishop Oseso told ACI Africa.

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In his homily during the inauguration Holy Mass at Good Samaritan Catholic Mission Hospital Tangulbei, Bishop Oseso highlighted four virtues from the story of the Good Samaritan.

The Good Samaritan, he said, “took his time to see what was up with the man lying on the road; he made a sacrifice…such a person can only have been generous; not necessarily with money, but with what he could afford.”

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The 55-year-old Kenyan Bishop said that the Good Samaritan “gave his resources … and promised to give more in case of need,” and challenged the beneficiaries of the newly launched hospital to “contribute to this facility if it has to progress and remain standing.”

“Being Samaritan, he could have been accused of being behind the injuries of the man. This is what life can put us in,” Bishop Oseso said.

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He cautioned against the tendency to judge and condemn on the basis of background, saying the Good Samaritan “did not judge or condemn; he saw a human being in need of help. Some of those behind this facility might have simply seen people in need, the race, color, tribe being irrelevant.”

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“If you want to know love in practice, look at the actions of the Samaritan and do the same,” Bishop Oseso emphasized. 

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He implored, “May those who come to the facility be served as people in need; may those who serve here be guided by their vocation to service.”

“May God bless those who contributed to the realization of this facility. God bless the women who come to deliver at this facility to find the help they need to contribute to God’s work of creation and filling the world with children in the image and likeness of God.”

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Started in 1995 as Tangulbei Divisional Medical Programme (TDMP), the newly launched hospital has grown into a well-equipped health center that now employs professional staff. 

The health center offers outpatient services, mobile outreaches, ambulance services and laboratory testing. It also provides maternity as well as maternal child care services.

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Also speaking during the June 6 event, the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya thanked the Spiritans and the Companions of the Order of Malta for their contributions to the success of the project.

“Proud to be a Catholic, proud to be able to contribute to the development of the country, to the development of the people in this country, to bring a better life in this country because we want to express the love of Jesus for all of us,” Archbishop Hubertus van Megen said.

Archbishop Hubertus van Megen. Credit: ACI Africa

Archbishop van Megen added, “In each and everyone, something of Jesus is present whom we want to serve, and that is especially with the order of Malta, who want to serve the poor because they see in them Christ himself and one of the expressions of that love is the clinic we are opening here today.”

“This clinic has been built with the contribution of the companions of the Order of Malta, and we still hope that they will be able to continue to contribute to this clinic so it can develop further,” he further said.

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The representative of the Holy Father in Kenya and South Sudan implored, “May the blessings of God rest on everybody who comes here to be healed to be helped and to come out of it better than the way they entered.”

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