“The Lord is merciful to me and enables me to open my heart, to be more flexible with reality, and to adapt to it creatively.” Sr. Andrea Velasco Urueña, a Comboni Sister, shares her missionary life.

Our community in Adu is located near the coast, about a 12-hour bus ride from Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. We are four Comboni missionaries from four countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Italy, and Colombia, where I am from. Our presence here began only 10 years ago and remains a place of first evangelisation.

Most people are Muslims or Christians of various denominations, while there are only a few Catholics. At first, the challenge of adapting to the climate, culture, and language was enormous. These were challenges I had to overcome in a very short time, but now my soul overflows with joy every time I have the opportunity to share details of my life with the small Christian communities I frequent.

In my desire to share my life and serve these people, I began to pray to the Lord if I would be able to understand these people, listen to them, and express myself in languages so different from Spanish.

Furthermore, the Gospel tells us that we must be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and every day I ask myself how we can be that in this place. After almost a year in the Adu community, I can say that the Lord is merciful to me and shows me, with great love, the answers to all these questions. He enables me to open my heart, to be more flexible with reality, and to adapt to it creatively. My schedule varies greatly due to my diverse commitments. Sometimes it’s tiring, but I’m happy.

In the mornings, I coordinate an agricultural and water supply project for the local community, so I spend most of my time with shovels, goats, and crops. In the afternoons, I am a catechist at the parish and lead faith formation in local schools for elementary and middle school students. On weekends, I work with a group of young people from the parish, in addition to my duties within our religious community.

Little by little, I’m realising that more than simply doing many things, or speaking Swahili or English, the important thing is being able to let people guide us and being humble enough to grow in faith with them.

In this way, we are light and salt for one another. In everyday life, people have become salt and light for me. God never ceases to amaze me with the depth of faith, love, and hope that the children, adults, and elderly of Adu carry in their souls. It’s wonderful to be welcomed into their home anytime with a smile and a “karibu” (“welcome” in Swahili).