The Kenyan Mission began on the 14th October, 1990, when the three pioneers of Kenyan Mission: Fr. Patrick Romeo Dsouza, Fr. Joseph Gnanam, and Fr. Albertus Toppo arrived in Kenya at the invitation of the Bishop of Meru to start a foundation in his Diocese of Meru at Iruma, a newly created Parish, formerly an Outstation of Igoji Parish.
In 1997, the Redemptorists bought 4 acres of land from the Dominican Cloistered Nuns in Karen, in the Archdiocese of Nairobi. Three blocks of buildings and a chapel were put up in this plot to house the students of philosophy and Theology and also a residence for the Mission Superior and currently COREAM Offices.
In 2017, a new foundation started at Kinungi, in the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru. A new parish was created by the Bishop of Nakuru Diocese and was handed over to us on a five years contract (automatically renewable). In this place we have now bought two and a quarter acre of land which can be developed into a Retreat Centre, Technical School, or Formation House in future.
So, at present we have three communities and one residence in the Kenyan Mission.</BR/>

1.PERS0NNEL
After the three pioneers, a number of confreres from India came to Kenya as missioners- some volunteered and others were sent by the Provincial Government. Some of them stayed for a short period- one or two years, and others stayed for a longer duration. At present only one confrere from India serves in Kenya- Fr. Albertus Toppo, one of the pioneers. Recently, Fr. Amar came to Kenya on sabbatical where he was tasked as the interim Novice Master for our Novitiate at Kinungi Parish.
In 1997 we decided to promote local vocation. In 1998 we had the first batch of candidates. Out of four, two remained and were ordained as priests. After that every year we used to get around six to eight candidates. After the Orientation Year in Iruma, some were sent to Harare in Zimbabwe and others to South Africa, and still, some to Philippines for Philosophy, Novitiate, or Theology.
At present we have twelve Kenyan nationalities as Redemptorist priests. In fact, it should have been 15. Three confreres left us and were incardinated in different dioceses.

2.FORMATION
In the recent years, God has blessed us with abundant blessings of vocations. This has led the Mission to reflect on the question: should we go slow on vocations or expand the formation structures in order to accommodate the increasing number of vocations? After discernment with the advice of the OPC, we have realized the current expansion of our two formation centers.
Holy Redeemer Iruma Formation House (OY)—initially, it used to accommodate around 8 students per year. The formation house has been extended in order to accommodate 15-18 students per year.
St. Alphonsus Formation House (Karen)—we have added one floor on the existing building which is complete.
Our Mother of Perpetual Help Theologate-currently, we have 26 professed brothers in Theology. The house in Karen cannot host them thus, we have rented a house at the Apostles of Jesus Seminary to accommodate them as we look the way forward to getting a piece of land and put up Our Mother of Perpetual Help Theologate.
Formation Stages
Currently we have three formation houses in the Mission.
Orientation Year—Each year we do conduct Vocation Camps to select students to be admitted in the Orientation Year. Every year we conduct vocation camps to choose best candidates. Before selecting the candidates, we visit their parish and families and admit only those who have met the necessary qualifications. Every year around five to seven candidates are admitted in the Orientation Year. Last year we received 14 aspirants in the OY. So far we are left with 11 candidates which is an increment from the usual 5-7 candidates. Thanks to the new facility that can accommodate such a number.
Postulancy in Karen--currently we have 15 students who are undertaking Philosophy at Consolata Institute of Philosophy.
Novitiate in Kinungi-Kinungi was temporarily erected as our Novitiate for 2024-2025. There are five novices from our Mission.
Our Mother of Perpetual Help Theologate-at the moment we have 26 students undertaking a degree in Theology at Don Bosco Utume Salesian Theological College. 17 from Kenya, 6 from Congo (DRC), 1 from Zimbabwe, 1 South Africa, 1 Mozambique.
In total we have 57 students in various stage of formation.
There is a request from other units in Africa-Madagascar to allow some of their students to do theology in Nairobi. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough rooms to accommodate them all. That is why at the moment KESAZI (Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe) are looking forward to purchase a piece of land in Karen and put up a house for Theology.
3.APOSTOLATE
Parish Apostolate-We have two parishes in Kenya in two dioceses. Are confreres do reach out to the parishioners by sharing our rich charism.
Parish Mission Preaching -We are involved in preaching Parish Missions reviving the faith of various parishes within our country.
Preaching Retreats and Recollections- the Redemptorists are involved in preaching retreats to various groups of students, laity, religious, and priests.
Formation Apostolate-some of our confreres are forming young confreres for the future mission.
Ethel Foundation-one of our confreres started ETHEL Foundation an NGO that cares for the elderly by way of providing essential items like food and clothing.
Water Project-we run a water project that supplies irrigation water within Iruma where more than 2500 families are beneficiaries to this project.
Apostolate of the Pen-We have a confreres who is teaching in some of our institutions and is also the Dean of Students at COnsolata Institute of Philosophy.
School Apostolate-Redemptorists run St. Alphonsus School in IRuma parish that confreres Catholic values to the local children.
4.PARISH APOSTOLATE
We take care of two parishes- one in Iruma, Meru Diocese and another in Kinungi in Nakuru diocese. Holy Redeemer Parish in Iruma was established in 1991. It has eleven outstations and 1500 families. Parish Council and other church associations are established.
Our Lady of Sorrows parish in Kinungi was established in 2017. It has nine outstations and 700 families. There are 34 Small Christian Communities and 11 schools around. Parish Council and other church associations are established. There are regular Masses in the prayer houses and schools around.
A formal application is made to the Archbishop of Nairobi to allocate to us a parish in the archdiocese. We are awaiting hopefully for the good news.

5.ST. ALPHONSUS’ ACADEMY

In 2009 the Alphonsus Academy was opened in Iruma with the intention of giving quality education to the poor and needy students of Iruma. Everything was going on well for some years. But by January 2019 the school was closed due to a number of reasons: default of payment by students, lack of funds to pay teachers, and lack of transport.
By December 2019 the Catholic Men Association (CMA) of the Iruma Center came forward to run the school. A memorandum of understanding was signed by the Mission with CMA. Due to Covid-19 the opening of the school was delayed. Now it is progressing well. The Redemptorists have now taken over the school since January 2025.

1.FUTURE OF KENYA MISSION
1.1Future of the Unit
Kenya is part of COREAM- the Conference of Africa-Madagascar. In the last Conference Assembly, it was decided that a new Region will be created, comprising of S. Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, which will be part of a wider Province, to be known as The Province of Eatern-Central-Southern Africa. And once this concept of a new Region is developed then gradually the Province of Bangalore will not have much role to play in the affairs of Kenya Mission.
1.2Lack of financial stability
The Mission in Kenya depends totally on the financial support of the province. From Solidarity Fund we receive every year certain amount for formation. Also, we used to get $5,000 every year from the Vice-province of Majella. One of the confreres from the vice-province used to come to Kenya for a duration of three months to preach retreat for our confreres and students.
The two parish communities are able to survive for their ordinary expenses. From the meagre income we get from retreats and Masses we can meet our daily food and maintenance. Otherwise, there is no stable income from any other sources. The big question is- how long can the Province support Kenya Mission financially and with personnel? There is an urgent need to invest in some projects that will fetch us some stable income.

In General

The confreres in Kenya are very grateful to the province of Bangalore for establishing a Redemptorist foundation in Kenya. Once we have sufficient numbers, we could extend our presence to other countries of East Africa (for eg. Tanzania and Uganda). We can also think of promoting vocation to the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer (OSsR).

In the present quadrennium the provincial government has shown much interest in the welfare of Kenya Mission and has supported us in various ways (getting Borehole, Solar power, vehicle, land etc.). We thank Fr Provincial and team for reaching out to us with fraternal love and concern and guiding us in different ways to fulfill our mission in Africa. We are happy to see that a special collection is taken in our parishes in India for Kenya Mission.

Every year one of our confreres is sent to Rome for the Spirituality Course. We are very happy to see that two of our young confreres were invited to Bangalore for the Golden Jubilee celebration of the Province. They came back to India with a wider concept of the Province and renewed enthusiasm. We hope that in future more confreres will get such opportunities.