ARLINGTON Father Christopher Wanyonyi is starting to feel like an old hand at finding his way around Arlington.

Wanyonyi is the director of the Christ the King Parochial Academy in the Western Province of Kenya, and he paid a return visit to the city July 10 - Aug. 12.

Wanyonyi first visited Arlington nearly two years ago, a few months after Father Jim Dalton, of the Immaculate Conception Church in Arlington, visited the village of Siritanyi, near Bungoma Town in Kenya.

Since then, Dalton and Wanyonyi have forged a friendship, as well as a partnership between their parishes.

In his first trip to America, he thanked Dalton, the Immaculate Conception Church and everyone else in the surrounding community who contributed to the "Pocket Change for Lukelesia's Well" fundraiser, to help install two wells in Siritanyi, one for the village, and one for the family of Lukelesia Saiti.

Wanyonyi is a towering man with a gentle voice, whose calm tone belies the storms he and his country have weathered.

On the positive side, he spoke with pride about the kitchen that was constructed after his last visit, to serve approximately 900 students, plus 35 teachers and 12 workers, at the parochial academy.

At the same time, he acknowledged the recent strife that threw Kenya and its neighboring countries into chaos, when allegations of rigging in Kenya's presidential elections at the end of last year escalated into tribal warfare.

"The country was at a standstill," Wanyonyi said. "There was no travel, and people were sent out of their homes into camps where food and water were scarce."

This freeze on vehicular transportation in Kenya also impacted Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, since Kenya's seaport serves those countries as well.

Wanyonyi was one of many priests who risked his life to travel to the camps, providing supplies and preaching peace in the midst of violence.

While those sent to the camps were eventually able to return to their homes, Wanyonyi believes that there remain many reconciliations left to make.

In the meantime, Wanyonyi is already looking to the parochial academy's next immediate need a single school bus, something that most American schools take for granted, but a relative luxury for Wanyonyi's students.

"Our students must be in class on time by 6 a.m. and stay until 6 p.m.," Wanyonyi said. "Some of them are coming from 10 miles away. There are bicycle transports, but they cannot travel in the rain, so we have to have extra clothing in the morning for when they arrive wet."

Wanyonyi estimated that a minibus would cost approximately $30,000, which Dalton hopes the local community can help support.

Dalton praised the generosity of Atonement Free Lutheran Church Pastor Rick Long and Mike Zachman, pastor of The Point Church in Arlington, for their work on behalf on the Kenyan people.

"You often don't realize it until you get active yourself, but the generosity of the community is tremendous," Dalton said.

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