This past April, we were blessed to welcome Fr. Aloys Okumu Mwai and Salome Ayugi Okuku as they visited our parish community. They are both delegates from our sister parish, St. Joseph Catholic Parish, in Migori, Kenya.
Fr. Aloys will be celebrating 20 years of priesthood this August. Salome is a retired schoolteacher, mother of six, and grandmother of five. She has been part of the Sauk-Migori committee since 2006 when the partnership was formed. We were happy to have both with us in our faith community from April 14 to May 5.
During their stay, Sara Goellner and her family hosted the two delegates for a visit in her home.
“I am a part of the Migori ministry and we homeschool, so Kathy Knoblach had asked us if we would be interested in hosting the delegates as they wanted to learn about homeschooling,” Sara says.
The Goellner family has been homeschooling since the fall of 2020 — in Kenya, homeschooling is not allowed. “Children have to be sent to school,” Sara says. “They were both very interested in the way we homeschool and what our regulations are in America for homeschooling.”
We recognize Hospitality as the first of the Four Pillars of Parish Stewardship, and the Goellner family experienced this firsthand by offering their time to our visitors. They cherished the opportunity to host Fr. Aloys and Salome, and all enjoyed such a valuable opportunity to visit and share fellowship together.
“I felt this experience was a once-in-a-lifetime chance,” Sara says. “It was very interesting to learn about their way of life and a lot of fun to have them in our home. Fr. Aloys and Salome were very kind and gracious. They even brought us a gift from Africa.”
Sara’s oldest son, Raphael, said the visit was “enlightening.” He has since joined the delegation committee and hopes to be able to travel to Africa in the next couple of years.
