“He was definitely a very holy person”: Co-Author on Writing First Book about Kenya’s Cardinal Otunga

Roche taught at Kenya High School and has worked at Strathmore University. She was also the head of Kianda School, started in 1977.

What are your memories of Margaret Ogola?

My first contact with Margaret was when I went to her for medical treatment because she was a doctor. Then we became friends. She also had children in Kianda where I served as school head for a very long time. Before going into A-level, she wanted to do literature. And so she had this idea of writing the story of her great-grandmother and grandmother. When she had the idea of writing ‘The River and the Source’, she discussed it with me. She worked on the manuscript and we looked at the manuscript together. She was a brilliant writer. But she was also a very good doctor and very involved in AIDS treatment and research. Her last book, ‘Mandate of the People’, was on politics. She was very involved with the people. She was a very strong-minded woman. It is just a pity she died so young.

What inspired the both of you to write about Cardinal Otunga?

I am an educationist. And as an Educationist, you can see the impact of older people on younger people. You can easily see their icon, the image of people that they're following. I knew Cardinal Otunga from the interactions we had when he came to Kianda School for a number of reasons. I saw that everybody admired him. He was a man that he was. A priest, a leader. Very straight, very direct. And we felt this would be such a role model for younger people. Obviously, he was a national figure. We were thinking it would be great to have books on good role models for the youth. Margaret had asked him previously as they were both working with the Family Life Association of Kenya (FLAK). Cardinal Otunga had a great regard for Margaret. He worked very closely with her on things related to the family. That was the time when the United Nations was pushing family planning into schools. And Kenya was on the agenda. So when Cardinal Otunga was asked about it (the book about him), at first he didn't want it. But then he agreed to see Margaret and I. So we went to the Cardinal's residence off Manyani Road. Because of Margaret, he agreed to see us.

Interviewing the Cardinal and collecting relevant materials for the book took us time. It took us time to ask the right questions. He was also very slow in responding. It definitely was an effort for him to do it. But then when we began to ask the right questions, we would go there over a period of three or four months. And maybe a couple of times a month. He would talk to us for hours. Once we got him talking, he began to talk about the history of his people. And it was very impressive. Then we went a number of times to Bungoma to see his family and his relatives. We went to Uganda, to Gaba, where he had done his seminary. Margaret went to Rome, where he had been ordained a priest, to try and gather information.

It must have taken a long time to get this work done.

Yeah, it did. We were using cassettes. And these cassettes actually were not very clear. Luckily, I had my full hearing in those days. I typed out what I heard in the cassette. But it took time. It wasn't like now when you can transcribe a recording. But also, getting data took time. Margaret and I agreed we would write different chapters. But then the style had to be more or less the same. And we had to verify many things and discuss them with him. We would come back, let him read what we had written, and then he would give us more information. He also gave us his photo albums.

You mentioned that Cardinal Otunga was a role model to the young people, especially those in schools. What issues affected young people those days?

The issues were the beginning of what young people are experiencing right now. But to begin with, the education that was being given to them in school was shifting because of the push of the United Nations for sex education. They were pushing it even into primary schools. The education kids get obviously affects them. The stability and the clarity of mind they were getting in the family was changing. The family was not so much together. There was already much more divorce. In my observation, when we started Kianda School in 1977, there was no divorce for the first three years of that. But by the time we were into A-level, so you're looking now already into the 80s, there were many divorces. Those things they introduced in schools had a huge impact on the kids. The role models were not there. Neither in politics.

What was the inspiration behind the title “Gift of Grace”?

We thought Cardinal Otunga was a gift to the Church and to Kenya. Grace as a gift, yes, but also the gift of his vocation to him. The clarity he had of his vocation for me was amazing. We thought of other titles, but we kept on coming back to that title.

What was your experience writing the book?

It was fascinating. For me it was fascinating. For both of us it was fascinating. Once the Cardinal trusted, he spoke with a lot of simplicity. When we went to Bungoma, we met the Cardinal’s relatives. It was fascinating talking to them. It was like going back in history. I like history. Interacting with the Cardinal was very, very interesting. It was very rewarding. I have never forgotten it, actually.

Apart from the impact he had on us, I heard many other testimonies of conversion from the people he served, upcountry. There were already, those people, even from when he was very young, and they were very impressed by him. I can’t remember but his mother was the eighth wife? The Cardinal had a hundred and something siblings. Sudi was an incredible chief who later was converted. Cardinal Otunga’s mother was also eventually converted. Even now, you can meet people who were confirmed by the Cardinal and they remained true to the faith. Many people were convinced to stay in their faith by him.

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While interacting with the Cardinal and writing the book, did it ever occur to you that one day he would be considered for Sainthood?

Yes, absolutely. He was, already. We already knew from the beginning, even before we wrote the book. From his political interaction... But once you started dealing with him... We would come in to the Cardinal's residence and he would serve the tea. He would never let us serve the tea. He would see us to the door.

Then there were a number of things that had happened to him, as he talked about them. For example, just the very fact that his father wanted him to be the chief and at that time to be the chief, even now, was a huge thing. Yet, he didn't lose his vocation. And he was so clear. Despite how hard his father tried to even put him in a situation where afterwards he would be disgraced because of a woman, those kinds of things, that small voice remained steady. That sanctity. The pressure against him. And the way he was treated by some of the missionaries. He was already holy. I'm not sure I have interacted with really holy people, but he was definitely a very holy person.

He was an extraordinary person. One of the times we went, I have no recollection of what it was, but I must have been in some sort of stress. And he told me, ‘you're in trouble’. There were times when Margaret was not happy, things were not going well, and he told her what it was that was troubling her. And he prayed for her.

Now that the Cardinal’s canonization course is in place, how does that make you feel being one of the people who experienced him so closely?

My memory is not so good, but those memories from dealing with him don’t go. I have a Bible that he gave us with his signature, and he gave us a little crucifix with Our Lady and St. John.

He stayed in Nyumba ya Wazee (home for the elderly) even though Catholics in Nairobi wanted to build a house for him here for retirement. Even in Bungoma, they wanted to get land and build a house for him for retirement, and he wouldn’t accept. He wanted to be in Nyumba ya Wazee. That's another thing about his humility. Margaret and I went to see him at Nyumba ya Wazee quite a number of times, and I can say the people at Nyumba ya Wazee had a sense of Cardinal Otunga’s sanctity.

Do you feel that there is any other thing that is not addressed in the book for other people who may want to write something else about him?

I'd say his impact on the Church in Kenya, because it was still a reasonably young Church when he became the first Kenyan Bishop. One can also look a bit into his clarity on the separation between church and state. The Catholic Church in Kenya maintains that, I think. But that hasn't been maintained all over the world yet. Cardinal Otunga, being so young, and being the first Kenyan bishop, was so clear on that issue. That set, I suppose you'd say, the way for the church. And that has been a cause in other countries of great conflict if that separation is not there. Maybe that's something that could be looked into. A political historian could look into this.

Did you experience any challenges writing the book?

Well, he was a challenge to begin with. He didn't want the book written. It was a bit difficult to get historical documents. I think now the next people who have written books about him have managed to get more historical documents. We also didn't have money to travel. It just happened that Margaret was going to Rome for some conference, and so she was able to visit where the Cardinal had studied and get a little bit of history from there.

Why is it important that the story of Cardinal Otunga continues to be told?

Because he is a role model and we've always needed role models. It's important not to lose a closeness to the great figures who have gone ahead. It is possible that one generation will lose interest. But then another generation will come along that actually is interested. And that happens all over the world, I think, with great figures. They kind of fade. But then another generation wants to understand their history. And now, of course, because of the process of his canonization, we should be talking about him. Which I think people are. A lot of people I know are waiting, praying for a miracle. I don't think the country will let his memory die any more than it would let the memory of many other of our historical figures die. Also maybe when he is canonized, then obviously he'll be a church figure which will be looked at in many, many ways.

There are other very interesting figures in the church that we need to think about, to write about before the people who know them die. Once the people who know them personally die, then there's an element you don't get.