Family day

Today we celebrate Family Day in Todonyang. Families from all over the parish gather for mass, followed by lunch together.

Mass is a joyous feast, with plenty of singing and dancing. The women wear colourful dresses and, of course, their best traditional beaded collars. Most children wear the school uniform, while the children of Grade 6 and Grade 9 wear a special t-shirt. In a week's time they will sit their year-end exams and graduate.

During mass, the Grade 6 and Grade 9 students are called forward to be blessed. Parents, teachers and sponsors join them on the stage. As sponsors, we place our hands over the bowed heads of each child, accompanied by happy music. We feel special.

Towards the end of mass, everyone takes part in a fundraising activity. Each group walks towards the altar, singing and dancing, and places its donation in a basket. We join in and place our own. The music in the church is loud and the singing even louder. Despite the heat, the energy and enthusiasm is high and contagious.

But a gathering like this could not finish without us being welcomed once again, and this time the welcome touches our hearts even more. We are called to the stage to say a few words. We thank everyone for the warm welcome and say that we come from a far-away place, but our hearts are close, because we are united in Christ, in friendship, in kindness and in love. We receive a loud round of applause. Then each of us is given a gift: a traditional Turkana wooden stool (ekicholong), which can also serve as a pillow, and a traditional Turkana sleeping bedding (ejomu). In Turkana, they say that you only need these two items to travel the world. This is the essence of the Turkana people: they are happy because their needs are minimal.

We have now been formally welcomed into the Turkana community. I hope we will learn from them that one only needs an ekicholong and an ejomu to seek happiness. After all, finding happiness is much simpler than we think.