With the Institute on its feet, and the missionaries ready to go, Fr. Allamano was a contented man. The comprehensive training that he demanded for his missionaries was aimed at ensuring that they would be jacks of all trades once in Africa. The Institute was a reality, but mission had not started in Africa. The post foundation period was not an easy one too. It was accompanied by a number of difficulties. The following are some of them.
(a) Change of plans from Ethiopia to Kenya
Fr. Allamano had been inspired greatly by Cardinal Massaia, who had worked in Ethiopia. Fr. Allamano had planned to send his missionaries to the Galla people in Ethiopia, but circumstances would not allow them in the territory. He thought of shifting slightly downwards, to the Galla lands under the Britons and partly under Italian control. Bishop Andre Jarosseau, a French Capuchin who was the vicar Apostolic of the territory and who supervised missionary activity in the territory agreed to host the Missionaries of Fr. Allamano on a trial basis. He even indicated where they would settle – near Lake Rudolf. Things seemed set, but it turned out that they would not work there because the British and Italian authorities could not guarantee the safety of the missionaries, and as such would not allow Europeans into the region. Fr. Allamano’s project had begun well, but things were not going according to plan. With plans to settle in Ethiopia hitting a snag, there was a need to go back to the drawing board. Luckly, with the help of Bishop Emile Allgeyer of the Holy Ghost Congregation, who was also the Vicar Apostolic of the territory of Southern Zanzibar including Kenya, Fr. Allamano managed to secure a territory of apostolate for his missionaries in central Kenya. With that the dais was cast: Consolata Missionary activities would start in Kenya and not Ethiopia. Now we can narrate the episodes in few lines as if they took just a few days. In truth however, all those movements required a lot of consultation, planning and evaluation, in addition to money and time. At the end, they were long protracted processes of discussions between Turin, Kenya and Ethiopia, which left the Founder drained.
(b) Limited Space
We can almost touch the feeling of contentment of Fr. Allamano when everything got set. He must have been very happy that things had finally straightened up. However, there were still a few hurdles to jump. Just before the Founder could send anyone, Bishop Allgeyer informed him that he did not need many missionaries at the time. He only needed a few. In fact, he would only receive four. You can imagine the disappointment of the Founder and the young zealous missionaries who were waiting to be sent. Left with no option, Fr. Allamano in silence and prayer chose the four: Fr. Tommaso Gays, Fr. Fillipo Perlo, Br. Luigi Falda, Br. Celeste Lusso. To commission their mandate on 3rd May Fr. Allamano gave them crucifixes in the chapel of the Consolatina. Four days later they went to the Archbishop to say goodbye, and on 10th May they departed for Africa.
(c) Mistrust among the whites
After a long tedious and boring journey of travelling by ship, on 28th May 1902, the four first Consolata Missionaries arrived in Zanzibar, where Consul Giulio Pestalozza was waiting them. On the evening of 28 June, after a train journey and then one in a caravan with porters, the four arrived at the place which would be their mission to the Kikuyu people: Tuthu. The following day, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the first Mass was celebrated on Kikuyu soil. One cannot miss the coincident symbolism: Peter represents tradition in the Church, and Paul represents dynamism. Maybe this showed that the missionaries would have been required to maintain the good aspects in the Kikuyu culture, as they tried to instill transforming evangelical values into it. Unaware to them, the Kikuyu territory was dominantly a protestant territory, with the Presbyterian Church of East Africa being very strong. At the time, the relationship between different Christian denominations was not very rosy. As such, a few days in the territory, the four missionaries were visited by an official of the British Government. His visit was followed by a report of wild accusations against them, and a recommendation that they were supposed to leave. In truth, an order to leave arrived, but the four missionaries acting on the advice of Bishop Allgeyer decided to stay put. They would learn later that the natives had nothing to do with the issue. The whole matter was about mistrust of the Catholic missionaries by their fellow whites.
(d) Empty House
Having an empty house is not really a problem, especially when it is new and one is slowly putting furniture in it. An empty house is however a shock when one had things or people inside, only to find it empty. After the departure of the four missionaries to Africa, seven other men remained in the Consolatina. The action of being left out must have created deep disappointment, resentment and anxiety among them to an extent that they could not hold any further. The result was that Fr. Allamano arrived to the Consolatina to visit them as usual, only to find an empty house. Closing the house, the Founder took the key with him to the Shrine and said to the Consolata: “I have done my best. It is your problem now”. Like Jesus who respecting people’s right to choose and did not call them back when they began leaving him (Jn. 6:66,68), Fr. Allamano in silence and prayer left everything in the hands of God. He knew that although the episode was discouraging, it could have been God’s way of saying that they were not really called to be missionaries. Remember, just before some people left Jesus when he spoke of himself as the bread from heaven, he himself had said that he was aware that some of them were following him just because they “had had all the bread they wanted to eat” (Jn. 6:26). In other words, he was aware that some people were following him for the wrong reasons. This explains why, when they began leaving him, Jesus never said “please don’t go, let me explain this in another way”. Instead, he respected their right to choose and left them to go. Similarly, although Fr. Allamano was deeply dispirited by the departure of the seven young missionaries, aware that nothing just happens by chance, he left them to go away.
(e) The rise of doomsayers
There is nothing more humiliating like meeting doomsayers after a failure. In an instant they become heroes. They show how they had seen everything from a far, how you had been short sighted, arrogant and stubborn to advice and how you will end up badly. Having been told about Fr. Ortalda the missionary zealot who became a failure, Fr. Allamano knew that the pessimists would come yapping. The departure of the seven aspiring missionaries was a real blow. Someone would certainly tell him “we told you about this, and you refused to listen”. Worse still, if a young man went to ask for advice anywhere about entering the Consolata Missionary Institute he would automatically be discouraged to the end. Someone would openly tell him that joining the ‘empty Institute’ would be foolishly taking himself where there would be no future.
Fr. Allamano knew that the departure of those boys had a deep negative impact on the young Institute. However, putting his trust in God, he simply said, “those boys have gone away, but others are coming”. His calm meditative character was never in vain – he saw the hand of God where few did. He was sure that everything, whether good or bad, happens for a reason. He did not need to be told that as human beings we may never understand the reasons why some things happen, but he who makes them happen knows not only the reason but also the goal. With that, in silence and prayer Fr. Allamano went on working. He knew that there was no need of blaming someone for what had happened, even if there might have been mistakes here and there. He was sure there was no need of complaining to God. He did not need to be told that God was in control. True to his gut feeling, the hand of God began revealing itself sooner that he expected. In the December of 1902 twenty new candidates enrolled for missionary training. Among them were two priests: Fr. Antonio Borda Bossana and Fr. Gabriele Perlo (the brother of Filippo).
(f) Challenging reality on the ground
The arrival of the four in Kenya revealed realities that had not been expected. We should not forget that even evangelization takes place within social structures. The four found themselves in front of men and women, young people and children who needed their attention. As men they could only deal with issues that touched men or all people in general. They could not go deep into issues of women and children. That meant that they needed female counterparts. Where were they to come from? That became another headache for the Founder. By all means, he had to look for a solution. As time progressed, Fr. Perlo kept insisting that the need for sisters could not be ignored any longer. Fr. Allamano had to look for sisters who were professed. But from where? He didn’t know. The solution was to communicate with as many religious Institutes as possible. Maybe someone would understand his predicament. Finally, after several efforts, Canon Giuseppe Ferrero, the superior of Cottollengo Congregation at the time, came to his rescue. Fr. Ferrero managed to gather a group of Vincentian sisters, who were ready to join and collaborate with the Consolata Missioanries in Kenya.
(g) Death of some initial Sisters
Around April 1903, another group of missionaries was sent from Italy. With the help of Fr. Ferrero, they included 8 sisters, 5 priests and a lay brother. They arrived in Murang’a around 23rd of July. Unfortunately, three months later, the reality of being in Africa revealed itself. As Br. Luigi later noted, “this third expedition seems jinxed, especially on the part of the sisters. Two have died, two are sick, two have gone back to Italy and the other poor souls are just young girls”. The death of the two sisters motivated more sisters to come from Italy. This must have been a difficult moment for Fr. Allamano, especially because he had been accused of starting a project that would see people go to their graves in Africa. He must have been suffering inside, as the events threatened to conform to the fears that had been alluded even before he began the Institute. It was his meditative character that saved his sanity. As usual, in silence and prayer, he left everything in the hands of God.
(h) Discontent begins among the Missionaries
Every beginning is always heavy. Barely a year after arriving in the missions, discontents began. It is understandable that having entered the Institute as adults who had different vocations from the beginning (some were lay while others were priests), and having received a short formation before they were sent to Africa, difficulties were bound to happen. In addition, the action of finding themselves in a totally different environment from the one they were born, brought up and formed contributed to the disgruntlement. In times of crisis, the real personality traits, character and temperaments of people come to the fore.
As the Missionaries settled, it was not difficult for them to discover that Fr. Perlo would be a difficult man to live with. Although he had been commissioned as the bursar of the group, he ended up taking its leadership from Fr. Tommaso Gays who was a calm and serene person. Fr. Allamano from Turin had to look for ways of calming the whole group by reining on Fr. Perlo’s authoritarian personality. Naturally, you don’t cool anger by more anger and outbursts. That is why Fr. Allamano’s character served him best in solving wrangles that arose in his young Institute. As usual, he would go in the Church, present the issues to Consolata and wait. Later, after the period of silence and prayer he would write a letter to his Missionaries. Surprisingly that way of approaching things always did the trick.
(i) Other operational difficulties
Naturally, it is not only the beginning that is hard. The beginnings of everything are always hard due to the lack of stability, and usually that challenge dies away as time goes. The real challenge ends up becoming the sustenance of the stability once it has been achieved. On 12 January 1904, other 12 Cottolengo sisters arrived in Kenya led by 3 priests, 2 brothers. At the time there were 16 sisters in the field, working side by side with Consolata Missionaries. In other words, it was a situation of people of two different congregations having different superiors, trying to coexist and work together towards a given goal. Before them was a language they did not know, distances to cover on foot, hunger, children to teach and sick people to treat, in addition to the usual social difficulties and embarrassments that come with living together. These operational challenges could only be solved on the ground. However, Fr. Allamano’s advice offered great relief, because they were always fruits of silence and prayer.