Two Kenyan Assistant Numeraries in Spain currently...

[alizaracelis]

Two Kenyan Assistant Numeraries in Madrid now, learning bindery, in order to teach it to companions in Kenya:

On the photo you find Auma and Willo, Kenyans from the region near the beautiful Victoria Lake. These 2 Assistant Numeraries are in Madrid currently, learning bindery, so they could teach it to others back in Kenya. Auma (second from left on the photo), who shares her personal account fluently in Spanish, is the first African woman to have asked for admission in Opus Dei as Assistant Numerary. She is of the Baluhya tribe. She is the youngest in a big family --the "most caressed girl", as Willo wittily puts it-- when she was invited to work at Strathmore College. She speaks fluent Spanish.

At Strathmore, she noticed the small chapel, where she liked to go and attend daily Mass, from the first day she arrived. She also liked the abundant work: 300 students.

A few days later, she started wondering what Encarnación and Rosario, two Caucasian Assistant Numeraries from Spain, were doing there, working so much. She asked Encarnación the outright question. "To do Opus Dei," was her answer. "Really?" When she understood -in her mind- that answer, "then, yes, that's what I also want to do." And then she discovered the first obstacle: It was a vocation, given by God.

When she decided to ask God, seriously, even though she didn't like so much work, she saw she wanted to be a member of the Work. She had to obtain the approval of the head of her family, her older brother, as her mother was a widow. And she was worried sick: "He won't understand..."

She got an approval, but "No, no, your brother did not understand. You have to explain further." She returned to talk to him, and his only concern was: "All right. But it is a commitment for the rest of your life. You can't say yes now, and after a year, say no." Auma adds, "All this was the work of God's grace, the result of all the prayers people were offering for me, because my brother was not a Christian."

And she, who had been born in a small African village, went to Rome.

Willo is a Watusi, very charming and lively. She also speaks fluent Spanish, and tells that, by the time she would take over from those first ones four years later, Auma and Mumbua -who later went to Zaire to begin Opus Dei there- had already prepared the way, she laughs wholeheartedly, showing her teeth, almost the only visible thing in her face, apart from her shining and laughing eyes.

After a few years she also went to Rome, where she is remembered because of her very lively spirit during get-togethers with Saint Josemaría: She would start asking a question from the back of the room, and walk towards our Father, who would turn to answer her: "Yes, my child, Willo, tell me..."

Our Father was totally enchanted with his Kenyan daughters: he constantly told them how elegant they were, with their colorful dresses, and Willo would show a photo of her parents and siblings in order to prolong the meeting.

Original Spanish posting @: http://www.opusdeialdia.org/20100308312 ... l#comments

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