St. Brendan Chepareria Parish

As the SMA unit in Kenya was growing, the then Superior Fr. Fabian felt the need of opening up new missions in some other Dioceses in Kenya. On the invitation of Bishop Maurice Crawley, Father Fabian decided to send an SMA team to work in the diocese of Kitale. Thus in 2010 late Fr. Peter Pandi and two seminarians on stage were sent to Kitale diocese to work in Chepareria Parish.

In 2011 Fr. Ashok Kumar joined Fr. Peter and together they served the Christians of Chepareria. In 2015 Fr. Dharmu Henry Daniel replaced Fr. Peter Pandi as the Parish Priest of Chepareria and continued the legacy of SMA. Fr. Amalraj Lawrence came to work in this mission in 2016 and later on joined by Fr. C J Antony. As of today, Frs. C J Antony and Amalraj Lawrence form a community and continue the Lord’s work in the vineyard of Chepareria.

The Mercy Sisters came to Chepareria in 1983 and under the leadership of Sr. Mary Harnett they started a School Health Programme. The sisters’ contribution to the Parish has been very great, deepening the faith of the people.

Today the Sisters of Mercy run a Polytechnic college here in Chepareria and offer courses in Catering and Hotel management, Tailoring, Fashion designing, Computer science and Hair-dressing.

Pokots are one of the largest tribes in Kenya. They belong to the larger ethnic group of Kalenjins but with their own distinguished traditions and cultural practices. They are also classified as Highland Nilotes.

Though Church and developmental agencies have been around this place for a long time, there has been lots of resistance to outside thoughts and ideas.

Chepareria is a big mission with 31 outstations and 37 Catholic Church sponsored schools. Some of the churches and schools are nearby and along the road and so reaching out to these places are very easy.

Most of the other outstations are scattered all over this Pokot county, farthest being 35 kilometers away from Chepareria. Rugged terrains with dilapidated roads and seasonal rivers pose serious challenges to our movements in this mission.

Though it is possible to reach out to most of these villages by motor bike, two villages built on hills in the Northern part of our mission can be scaled only by foot. As missionaries we give preference to the spiritual needs of the people by organizing masses in the villages and masses in the schools on regular basis.

As people of West Pokot were lagging behind development and progress, these missionaries decided to bring education to village children by establishing many rural schools.

They opened many new primary schools in Chepkobegh, Pserum, Kapchamogen, Senetwa, Plelekan, Chepturinguny, Nasakuta, Naramam, Priokwo, Kaikai, Tiriken, Shalpogh, Kamatira and Cheptuyis. These have all grown into out-stations of the Parish.

Other stations grew independent of schools like Yweleteke, Rekeret, Kosulol and Kortulpogh. Fr. Dilon helped the Christians in big stations like Chepkorniswo, Yweleteke, Kapchamogen and Pserum to build Permanent Churches.

In 1982 St. Cecilia’s Secondary school was opened. It is one of the well-known intra-County secondary schools around this place.

Chepareria is one of the missions in West Pokot County of Kenya. West Pokot is a semi-arid hill County, inhabited by Pokots who are Pastoralists in general.

Parts of this County has highlands where people rare milking-cows and cultivate potatoes and has freezing temperatures at times. The lower part of the county is generally very hot and humid.

High temperatures in these plains make farming a nightmare. However, they grow lot of mangoes and oranges around this place. Chepareria is in the middle belt and enjoys a moderate climate. It lies at an altitude of about 1765 meters above sea level.

People keep cows, goats and sheep of local breed and cultivate maize and finger millet for their sustenance. People are very cautious when it comes to farming as the climate here is very unpredictable.

Some years we experience serious droughts and the other times we are battered by heavy down pour of rain that leads to land-slides and floods in the lower parts of the county. Sometimes we are engaged in drought-relief work and the other times busy working for the flood victims.

Pokot people in general are very proud of using their language in their day to day activities and showcase their Pokot cultural attires especially during festivities and big gatherings. They are known for their hygiene and they keep their houses and surroundings very clean and neat. They love to welcome their guests with hot tea. They love their animals more than anything in the world.

It is a male dominated Society and every major decision of the household is made by the Father and uncles of the family. Though men possess too much of power, it is the women who manage the overall running of the family, starting from farming to finding school fees for their children.

Many men still follow polygamy and they are very proud of it. This practice is seen even among the educated especially the teachers, police officers and other government employees.