Our Apostolates in Kenya
Oyugis Integrated Project (OIP Kenya)
Oyugis Integrated Project (OIP Kenya) has been a Catholic apostolate of the Brothers of Our Lady Mother of Mercy (C.M.M.) in Oyugis, Homa Bay County, since the mid‑1990s. Operating just across from St. Peter’s Catholic Church, OIP began as a response to multiple interlocking community challenges; HIV/AIDS, poverty, isolation, and educational disruption. Rooted in the C.M.M. charism of “mercy with meekness and strength”, the Brothers established the Shirikisho Dispensary, youth programs, and livelihood initiatives as a visible expression of Christ’s compassion in their local neighbourhood.
At the heart of the ministry is Shirikisho Dispensary, which offers free outpatient medical care, including HIV treatment, antenatal/postnatal services, and chronic wound support, to an average of 100 clients per day. Over 2,000 people living with HIV receive care annually without charge. The dispensary anchors OIP’s integrated approach, blending healthcare with community outreach, counselling, and preventive education.
The Home-Based Care (HBC) programme extends this care beyond clinic walls. Dozens of trained volunteers visit bedridden and isolated clients, providing palliative care, nutritional support, psychosocial counselling, and referrals. In January 2025, over 50 volunteers attended a training session on managing opportunistic infections (TB and shingles), enhancing their ability to support early detection and referrals. Simultaneously, Shirikisho staff also launched a school-based HIV sensitization campaign targeting youth, in response to the reality that 38 % of new adult HIV infections in Kenya occurred among people aged 15–24 in 2024. Designed as interactive sessions within schools, the campaign aims to dispel myths, teach prevention, and offer support.
Shirikisho Crafts complements healthcare with empowerment. Geared toward girls affected by early pregnancy or school dropout, the programme teaches tailoring, beadwork, and artisan skills while coupling these with group and one-on-one counselling and spiritual formation. Every Friday, girls come together for peer group reflection, while trainers provide mentorship throughout the week. The goal is not only livelihood creation but also restoration of self-confidence and community integration.
In June 2025, OIP unveiled its Reusable Sanitary Pads Department, a pioneering initiative tackling menstrual poverty through dignity. The programme distributes washable, eco-friendly pads that can last up to two years, reducing school absenteeism and eliminating transactional risks associated with seeking sanitary products. Importantly, pad-making is integrated into the tailoring curriculum, enabling beneficiaries to learn income-generating skills while promoting sustainable hygiene.
OIP also sponsors 50+ orphans each year, providing uniforms, books, school fees, and mentorship; and runs a bi-weekly food aid programme for elderly and disabled community members. Every shipment of books, clothes, textiles, or sanitary supplies is acknowledged in newsletters and gatherings, with coordinator Br. Michael Mbogo expressing heartfelt thanks in Issue 295 (August 2024).
To date, these services have reached thousands of individuals in and around Oyugis, combining medical care, psychosocial support, vocational training, and sustainable interventions. Together they reflect the C.M.M. philosophy of “helping others help themselves”, embodying mercy not as charity alone, but as holistic restoration of dignity within a caring Christian community.
Prison Ministry: Restoring Dignity and Hope
Fr. Grol’s Welfare Trust, commonly called the Prison Apostolate, is a celebrated C.M.M. mission founded on the conviction that “prisoners are people too.” It operates as a registered charitable trust in Kenya, led by the Brothers of Our Lady Mother of Mercy (C.M.M.), and strives to restore human dignity through social welfare, education, vocational training, and community reintegration for incarcerated individuals.
The initiative was launched in 1984 by Fr. Arnold Grol, a Dutch Catholic priest stationed at St. Teresa’s Parish in Nairobi. Initially working with street-living youth who later became inmates, Fr. Grol was moved to follow them into prison and began offering skills training so they could regain a productive life. In 1997, the work was entrusted to the C.M.M. Brothers, primarily coordinated by the late Bro. Linus Schoutsen, who have since expanded and sustained the project.
Based in Nairobi, the Apostolate today covers approximately 110 prisons across Kenya and has impacted more than 20,000 inmates by 2019. The Brothers have established around forty library rooms in correctional facilities, which serve as the backbone for all education and rehabilitation work.
Since 2000, the Apostolate has supported inmate students preparing for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), and briefly extended to secondary-level (KCSE) and accounting certifications. In 2008, Kenyan women inmates were registered for education as well, though the KCSE programme was short-lived due to logistical limitations.
Beyond classrooms, Fr. Grol’s Trust runs tailoring, carpentry, welding, and metalwork workshops inside prisons, supplying tools and starter kits to inmates upon release. To foster psychological well-being and community, the Apostolate organizes sports tournaments and recreational festivals, notably netball and rugby, across prison populations.
Post-release, the Apostolate works with social workers and local partners to provide reintegration support. Graduates of vocational programmes often receive sewing machines or welding equipment to start small businesses, helping break the cycle of recidivism.
In March 2018, Fr. Grol’s Welfare Trust received the Makini Award for improving prison conditions, a national honor recognizing excellence in correctional rehabilitation through holistic community engagement.
The spiritual ethos of the Apostolate is rooted in the Gospel call of Matthew 25:36 – “I was in prison and you visited me,” complemented by the ministry motto “Prisoners are People Too.” It reflects C.M.M.’s charism of “mercy with meekness and strength,” emphasizing human dignity over dogma. The introduction of prison rugby stemmed from a suggestion by Pope Francis, an initiative embraced by the Brothers in hopes of channeling inmates’ energies positively.
Today, Fr. Grol’s Welfare Trust is viewed as one of the C.M.M. Brothers’ most significant apostolates, highlighting the congregation’s ability to enact mercy through tangible services, education, vocational empowerment, spiritual care, and the changing of hearts within prison walls.
Cardinal Otunga Library (Cardinal Otunga High School, Mosocho)
The Cardinal Otunga Library, housed at Cardinal Otunga High School in Mosocho, was taken over in 2011 by the CMM Brothers as part of a broader revitalization of diocesan education initiatives in Kisii County. The library is named in honour of Kenya’s first cardinal, His Eminence Maurice Cardinal Otunga, whose legacy of Catholic education and social welfare resonates with the order’s educational mission.
Designed to serve both form 1–4 students and the broader community, the library provides free reading space, exam-preparation materials, and digital access for young people unable to afford tuition. It serves as a community reading room and study hall, offering mentorship in literacy, exam skills, ethics in education, and career guidance, all conducted in a spirit of Vincentian concern for the poor and marginalized.
Structured as a mini‑Vincentian formation centre, the library hosts monthly “Mercy Book Club” sessions, where sessions on social teachings of the Church, service practices, and invited guest‑speakers (teachers, alumni, lay leaders) converge with readings or testimonies from gospel-driven community leaders. Through this apostolate, the Brothers underscore their teaching and spiritual charism: education as a vehicle for transformation, hope, and mercy.
St .George’s Mixed Secondary School (Sikri)
Established by the same Brothers’ mission in Sikri parish, St George’s Mixed Secondary School continues the CP (CMM-preferential schools for needy youth) school model in Oyugis, offering day-time secondary education with subsidies for children of the poor in that sub-county. Like the other schools under the Brothers CMM umbrella, it prioritises form 1 intake from orphans, refugees, slum-dwellers, and families affected by HIV/AIDS.
Its curriculum places equal weight on science and the arts alongside catechetical formation. Students are exposed to community outreach projects, e.g. home visits to the elderly, Mercy Day celebrations, environmental cleanups, and paediatric care programmes in partnership with local clinics. Over 80% of its graduating classes earn the national certificate for university admission or technical diploma entry, thanks to subsidised tuition fees, student mentorship, and boarding support during exam seasons.
Spiritually, St George’s embodies the CMM Brothers’ Vincentian mission of service beyond loss, instilling in students a deep awareness that education is not entitlement but a conduit for transforming their families, neighbourhoods, and future generations.
St. Vincent Mixed Secondary School (Oyugis)
Originally launched in the mid-1990s as an outreach from the Christian Awareness Programme, St.Vincent Mixed Secondary School in Oyugis quickly became one of the three directly-administered CP schools (CMM-preferential schools for needy youth) by the Brothers of Mercy in Kenya. The school admits students at reduced fees, giving priority to orphans, HIV-affected students, and children from extreme poverty.
From its early years, the school has embraced a model of holistic Christian education with strong academic and pastoral support. Students participate in morning liturgy, mercy service clubs, and Skills-for-Life workshops (agriculture, tailoring, drama), co-led by Brothers and trained lay staff. Its form‑4 performance consistently ranks among the top in Homabay and Kisii counties, with graduates entering national universities and vocational training programmes—a testimony to the realisation of the Brothers’ vision: empowerment through education.
Key to its identity is collaborative openness, the inclusion of committed lay collaborators in leadership, teaching, and student welfare is a hallmark of the school’s success.
St. Vincent de Paul Boys Boarding School (Mosocho, Kisii)
Initially established as Mosocho Girls Academy, the school was transformed into St. Vincent de Paul Primary School in early 2011 when the CMM Brothers assumed responsibility for its operation under diocesan auspices. It began that year with classes 5 and 6 and around 80 students; since then, the Brothers have expanded and refurbished classrooms, expanded the boarding dormitory, and integrated Mercy-based catechetics into its curriculum.
Located 7.5KM from Kisii town, the school’s primary form ensures co-educational access and scholarship placements for high-potential students from low-income families. In the 2021 KCPE examinations, the school achieved a mean score of 380, securing 4th place in Kisii County, its best result in history and a testament to educational quality without high fees.
A notable feature is the Caritas-style lunch programme for orphans and children living with HIV/TB, run in partnership with OIP Kenya and local parishes. Students also participate in yearly supply collection drives in Nairobi, and clean-water outreach in Kisii’s informal settlements. Through all this, the Brothers reinforce the belief that primary education is the essential seedbed for mercy-inspired citizenship.
Molo Farm, Molo
Nestled on the fertile slopes just outside Molo town in Nakuru County, the CMM Molo Farm is a community-run agricultural initiative rooted in the Brothers’ longstanding commitment to community development and sustainable agriculture. Since the congregation arrived in Kenya in the late 1950s, agricultural work and food-security training have featured among their key ministries. Drawing on Molo’s reputation as one of Kenya’s most productive highland zones, especially for potatoes and dairy keeping, it serves as a living demonstration centre and a hub for local cooperation.
Operating on several hectares, the farm supports both livelihood training and community outreach. Weekly field sessions combine instruction in agronomic best practices with Vincentian spirituality, bridging technical instruction with the language of service expressed in humility and compassion. Surplus produce is shared directly with vulnerable families in nearby parishes and also sold in community cooperatives to fund school fees and healthcare needs.
Spiritually, the Molo Farm offers a tangible expression of the Congregation’s charism of mercy. Rooted in the belief that “what you do for the least of Mine, you do for Me,” the farm is both a teacher and a healing presence, offering abundance in service rather than profit. Volunteer “training teams” of Brothers, lay specialists, and alumni come together monthly to reflect on agrarian ethics, community solidarity, and care for creation, thereby embodying the simplicity and social justice espoused by the congregation.
