I was reading Fr. Hans Burgman's article here in response to an earlier article on the violence in Kenya early this year penned by another Mill Hill missionary called Dr. Mark Faulkner. i found it quite interesting in the beginning. Fr. Hans MHM, PhD is very well known to many fish members having been a key financier of the health program which collapsed the other year. but another thing I knew him about him was his peculiar choices when it came to appointing leaders and managers in his projects. in fact he quotes one of them whom he calls his old friend , Mr. Paul Olaka.
Fr. Hans has been in Kisumu or around Kisumu for over 50 years and so one supposes that he understands the plight and struggles of the people of the region fairly well. He has heard our confessions, married our couples, buried our dead, baptized our children and so on.
Its therefore with utter shock and disappointment that i read his comments on the violence which i quote verbatim here below:
"... the church can be a good nation builder. Our parish of St. Joseph is an example. Every Sunday morning we have three Masses: the first in dholuo, the second in English, the third in Kiswahili. All of them are full, in all of them the Luo, the Luya, the Teso, the Kisii, the Nandi, the Kikuyu and the Kamba mix, singing each others’ songs, and having their children dance together in the processions. Or, that is how it was. Now the “strangers” have been chased away with extreme violence. Not because of a pernicious colonial legacy, but because the strangers were better traders, or because they occupied “our” land..."
to say i find that statement unfortunate is to understate my utter disgust. Fr. Hans by my estimation has grossly trivialized the issues at hand. terming them simply as mere jealousy of a people inferior to others in trade. he ignores the glaring anomalies in the vote counting. the historical injustices of land occupation, the tribalism in places of work and even in the church itself. I feel bad that a man who has aged gracefully among the people has failed to grasp such simple and direct issues. in fact its disturbing that the priest feels that tribal cohesion can be brought about by simply singing and dancing in church. he does not take into consideration what those choir members feel when they see their bright sons and daughters who fail to get employment due to their tribe. does Fr. Hans think we dont see it when people who were academic dwarfs pass us by ,get the jobs and the strategic courses just because of their tribe or does he think we are all so blind. But maybe Fr. Hans choice of friends can explain it. maybe he doesn't meet people who tell him the truth or who challenge his ideas. I have missed severally opportunities just because my name suggested i was Luo. some of the people who denied me these chances were my colleagues in that same church that Fr. Hans mentions, i was with them in the church prayer groups, reflections and so on. i also sung and danced with them.
I feel bad about this statement in the MHM website and I wish I could comment on it so that Hans gets to know what i feel about it.
I strongly feel that we all need to live and let live in Kenya but we wont be able to do it if some people feel that they are hard-wired to succeed while others are genetically inferior.
5 comments:
Hi Odegle. I was keen and attentive as I went through every line of your posting and even read in between the lines. Then, it came to my mind: "go to the Mill Hill official page and read what is there...". And what first struck my attention was this; a comment from Fr. Tony our founder... Read here: http://www.millhillmissionaries.com/message3.html
I did not stop here. I went on to read other articles and I found Fr. Tony still talking in other places and this cought my attention: Says Tony: "Shortly after this I visited Kisumu. I went with some friends of mine through the areas of burnt out shops and houses and then one of them said to me: How could we do this to each other?
It struck me as the key question:
How can we do such terrible things to each other?
In order to do these kinds of terrible things to each other we first have to believe the lies each group tells about the other group. Go to any of the great places of violent conflict in the world past and present Middle East, Iraq, N. Ireland, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Burma Sudan, South Africa
and you will hear the same kinds of lies and falsehood:
They cannot be trusted
They are not as civilised as we are
They all want to kill us
They are wrong
They all hate us.
It is when we begin to listen to the dark voices of division that
tell us that others are different
and that that difference is a threat, a danger an enemy, responsible for a long list of problems and evils that we prepare the ground for the seeds of violent conflict. Difference can be the colour of your skin
or the religion you belong to
or the economic group or class you find yourself in or ethnic group or clan you were born into..." Wanna read more on this? Click here: http://www.millhillmissionaries.com/Fidei%20Donum%20Homily%2019%20Apr%2008.pdf
All in all, Odegle, you are free to feel what you have felt and even to tell Fr. Hans (hburgman@millhillear.com)on his face what you feel. I have enjoyed the total freedom the Mill Hill have when they write and even criticise one another as in the case of Fr. Mark and Fr. Hans on the topic of "CULPABILITY OF THE CHURCH IN KENYA'S ETHNIC VIOLENCE". There is a lot of material to be chewed there.
No one should aprove what our people have undergone simply because they are Luos or what we have seen recently as the overflow of what was being kept in the hearts. Social injustices must be addressed and we have to live in peace as we sing in our National Anthem. When I was in the University in Colombia, we could protest in streets against the guerrilla and against the government saying: "Peace, peace and Justice to the land. And there is no PEACE without JUSTICE...". This is the cry of our land Kenya. We hope the voice of the people will be heard and Kenyans can be proud to sing: JUSTICE BE OUR SHIELD AND DEFENDER...
Peace to our Land and to the people that duel there in.
Fr. Gordon, IMC.
Thank you Fr. for your balanced and well thought out response to my post. I strongly hold that this country has enough for everyones needs. I believe in the goodness of peoples. At my age i have discovered that everyone is capable of succeeding in a given field given the oportunity. I also hold that it is grossly unfair and unjust to collectively and negatively judge a people based simply on differences you have.
I dont justify what happened in kenya early in the year, but i invite people to objectively reflect on the causes and not just rush into lazy and simple conclusions. violence is not only violence when blood is shed. even the negative comments made by the cardinal about the leaders in ODM were violence, even the decision of the president to ignore Luo land in his campaigns was violence, the absence of drugs in hospitals, schools, colleges, miss appointments of pple from the region, impassable roads etc. all that to me is violence.
Thank you for the other article. i have also read it and found solace in the words of Fr. Tony.
And for the email address, i have written to Fr. Hans and even invited him to read my response.
Hi Jere
I have been reflecting on your article and also read through the Mill Hill Website. I must say that I was so suprised since Fr. Burgman in my view is more of a luo than all of us. this is a gentleman in his 70s if not 80s and has lived in Kenya especially Kisumu for the past 50 years Most if not all of use the Fish members were not born when he first set foot in Kisumu. We should appreciate that that Fr. Burgman has done a lot to the community in and around Kisumu. We all know that he is the founder of the Pandipieri projects these include, Pandipieri Catholic Centre with all its programmes which include, Girls Domestic, the Boutique, the Health programme which we all know has made a great deal of knowledge and improvement to the health of the community in the so called Kisumu "Slums". Not to mention the Street children's programme,the small christian communities. We all know that Pandipieri has given birth to Magadi, Flamingo, Nanga, Dunga, Nyalenda and all the other small centres. Fr. Burgman was also instrumental in the early stages of the Fish Group as we had access to all the Pandipieri project centres free of charge all we had to do is ask. Pandipieri project also funded some of the Fish projects like the fish health programme.
I read Fr. Burgman's comments on the Clashes I felt it was very shallow and to be frank it is not clear what he meant. We all know that people's property was vandalised, looted, buildings razed to the ground for no good reason, buidings set on fire and people who were felt to be related to the opposition were driven away. Let us not forget that there are so many Luo, Luyhia, Nandis, Kipsigis and even Kisii who suffered in Central, Eastern and Rift valley provinces. Majority killed in Nakuru and Naivasha were from the communities considered to belong to ODM. Most of the Deaths in Nairobi were mainly Luos. I know you guys in Kenya did not see some of the disturbing messages of people being harked to death with a panga or ax. Economically Kisumu was the worst affected and mainly because of our own people who could not think before they acted, most of the looters did not see how a property belong to a person from another community benefited them although they depended on it for a job.
It is common knowledge that the Kenyan community is not fear to all but at least we are getting somewhere at long last. Knowing Kenyan history we know there is bad blood and some tribes are not trusted. We all know that the Luos are welcoming that is why any Kenyan can come and buy a piece of the so called Luoland but it is next to impossible for a Luo to buy a property in Central province or even to our good neighbours the Kisiis. I dream of a fair Kenya where we do not regard people with their names or the tribe they were born to.
Let us pray for a Kenya we all belong and cherish.
James.
Right of Reply:
I wrote to Fr. Hans as advised by Fr. Gordon. and this is the reply he sent back to me. I feel its important for me to put it here. I however do not want to hold an argument with the old philosopher and historian but at least i have made him know what i feel.
Greetings. I have read your blog entries. I feel hurt. You do not dicuss with me,
you attack me. You accuse me of wilfully ignoring the plight of poor Luos;
of being superficial and vain. You condemn me for what I do not say and for
what my opinions are. To me that is violence. Maybe that is just a style of
arguing among a younger generation, but I don't know how to join in that. So
forgive me if I withdraw from this slanging match and dedicate myself to
bringing people together that are thoroughly afraid of one another.
Congratulations with your website and the contacts with the Fish Group. I
continue to plead their cause with the church authorities.
By the way, you claim to be one of my philosophy students; when was that?
With every good wish,
Fr. Hans
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