Arlene Kyenze - A Collaborator in Mission

By Brother George Schmitz, CSC

Before introducing you to Arlene Kyenze, Justice and Peace Director for Holy Cross Parish, Dandora, Nairobi, Kenya, allow me to tell a little bit about the parish itself.

Holy Cross parish in Dandora is a large urban parish administered by the District of East Africa (Congregation of Holy Cross). The parish priest (pastor) is Father Sylvester Makwali, CSC and he is assisted by Fathers Willie Frank Lukati, CSC and Cornelius Ryan, CSC. Holy Cross seminarian Comfort Agele has been assisting at the parish during the current academic year as part of his post-novitiate formation program. (The pastoral year generally comes after the second year of study at Tangaza College for all Holy Cross religious - brothers and seminarians - who are in the Nairobi post-novitiate formation program at McCauley House.)

In 1978, the District of East Africa took responsibility for establishing a parish in ‘Dandora Estate’ in Eastlands of Nairobi. Dandora is a community that sprang up as a result of a program initiated by the Kenyan government with assistance from the World Bank. Residents were given a plot of land and the basic elements to start constructing a home. The ‘Estate’ began as a middle class settlement, but it rapidly turned into a slum. It currently has a population of approximately 400,000. Most of the population is young and poor. Unemployment is high.

In 1979 the first Holy Cross religious who went to Dandora (Fathers James Rahilly and William Blum) constructed a community residence there and conducted services in a tent in 1979. A substantial, though temporary church, was constructed in 1980. A permanent church building was dedicated 1998. Holy Cross parish is the only Catholic parish serving the area. The faith of the people is strong as is their dedication to parish life. But like any urban area anywhere in the world, poverty and social problems abound.

Arlene Kyenze serves as the Director of Peace and Justice for Holy Cross Parish. I had a chance to visit with her during my visit to the District of East Africa in late March 2001. Getting an appointment to see Arlene takes time because of the large number of people that she sees in the course of her day.

One of the components of Arlene’s work for peace and justice deals with counseling refugees. Dandora has become ‘home’ to people who have been displaced due to the wars and turmoil in Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo. Arlene is an advocate for the refugees and she assists them in getting needed resources for their daily lives.

The elderly residents of Dandora are also served by the parish Justice and Peace Office. Arlene’s work with the elderly also focuses on advocacy and provision of access to resources. Since most of the elderly have limited sources of income and are without pension income, the assistance that is provided through the Justice and Peace Office is essential to their maintaining their well being.

At this time Arlene is organizing a campaign around a specific justice issue that is of utmost concern to the residents of Dandora. The municipal dump for the City of Nairobi is located in this community. The location of the dump in this highly populated area is a health hazard and an environmental problem for the Dandora residents. Plans have been drawn up by the City of Nairobi to move the dump out of Dandora. However the chosen site for a new dump in close to the Kenyatta International Airport. This has not gone unnoticed by the various airlines that serve Kenya through this airport who are opposing the new location.

Arlene is organizing the residents of Dandora so that they can make their voices heard with the City Council of Nairobi. The residents of Dandora have the right to housing that is safe and sanitary and the right to live in an environment that is not hazardous to their health. The organizing efforts of the Holy Cross Parish Peace and Justice Office will be crucial to the peoples’ struggle against the efforts of the airline corporations to block this move.

Arlene's efforts are typical of the many local justice efforts made by Holy Cross members and their collaborators around the world.