Hello Unitarian Universalists, colleagues from around the world. I am Justine Magara from Kenya. I'm the Minister of Kisii North Unitarian Congregation and Maasai Unitarian Universalist community. I live in Ngong, Kajiado West, where I serve the Maasai Unitarian Universalist community.
Many people have asked about our Unitarian Universalist faith, how it landed in Kenya, and I'm giving you a brief history on how the Unitarian Universalist faith landed in Kenya and how it has been doing since it was first introduced up to now.
The Unitarian Universalist faith was introduced in Kenya by Reverend Patrick Magara, who is my dad, in early 2007. The introduction followed by several e-mail correspondences with international organizations such as ICUU, UUA and many other international organizations, who then sent their representatives to Kenya to give us more information about the Unitarian Universalist faith.
The first two visitors from the United States were Janice Brunson [former member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix] and Randi Hetrick [from L.A., now member of UUCF in Fullerton, CA] accompanied by Fulgence [now Mwibutsa or Mwibutsawineza F. Ndagijimanayburundi]. They visited us in Kenya and in our rural areas in Kisii, and they shared information and materials they had about Unitarian Universalism. That's when we learned about the liberal faith, the values of UU faith, and also Singing the Living Tradition and the chalice lighting during UU gatherings. So we got a glimpse of what Unitarian Universalism is from the materials that they shared with us.
Then later on, Reverend Gordon Oliver from Cape Town, South Africa, visited us and gave us more training on leadership and also ministerial service, and we learned more on how to conduct services and how to manage our organizations and how to stay organized as a Unitarian Universalist society in Kenya.
Later on there was an organized seminar for one week in Nairobi in early 2008, which was organized by ICUU, UUA and UUPCC and it was very successful. Many, many people had an opportunity to attend from Kenya and also from other countries in Africa to deepen their understanding and information about Unitarian Universalism and also to forge a brotherhood within African Unitarian Universalist members and member congregations.
And there were many, many visitors from US and UK. I cannot name them all but the most important thing, they were all geared towards lifting our understanding concerning the Unitarian Universalist faith and also serving the desire, which was in Kenya, to accept or to receive Unitarian Universalism in a more welcoming manner.
There were a number of congregations which were started between 2008 and 2017. There were congregations from Kisii South, which were led by Reverend Patrick Magara and Alice Magara, there was one congregation in Kisii North, which was led by me, Justine Magara, and there was a congregation in Kitengela, which was led by Josphat Gesimba, there were congregations in Nairobi led by Ben Macharia and another one in Rwai by Kevin Ragira. There were congregations in central Kenya led by John Mbogua and Henry Mugo.
Coming to 2017, that's the time there was a change in ICUU leadership when Steve Dick and Jill McAllister stepped down for Sara Ascher as the executive director of ICUU, and a number of changes happened then. That's in terms of funding, in terms of gatherings, funding gatherings and main activities which were carried out by the previous leadership of ICUU. That caused a number of congregations to shrink. I was left with my congregation in Kisii North Unitarian Universalist congregation, and I later founded a new one: Maasai Unitarian Universalist Community in 2020 during the COVID era.
Last year, in 2024, during the visit of Reverend Dr. Qiyamah A. Rahman, I shared with Dr. Qiyamah the history of the entire Unitarian Universalist faith in Kenya, and she asked me if I can reach out to the leaders who are leading the congregations, and if possible meet them and see if we can reconcile the teamwork that we had and the UUCK fraternity that we had. I managed to reach a good number of the UUCK leaders, and we met in Nairobi. And since then, UUCK members have been meeting to forge a new leadership within UUCK, and also to support congregations in different parts of the country and to welcome new members, help them learn more about Unitarian Universalism and also help them learn more skills in leadership.
We are experiencing a challenge of gathering platforms. We're trying to use WhatsApp for online meetings to avoid expenses of in-person gathering. We are also trying to use other platforms like Zoom to have our meetings and also get more interactions. Interacting with foreign Unitarian Universalist organizations helps our new members and the members who want to deepen their understanding about Unitarian Universalist faith.
We are looking forward to a future where the Unitarian Universalist faith will spread in Kenya and will be well understood by many as we are trying to contextualize Unitarian Universalism into the African context so that it aligns well with the culture and traditions of Africans, especially in Kenyan communities.
Last year I was able to travel to Bujumbura, Burundi to attend and also help with a seminar, a gathering, which was sponsored by the UUA through Fulgence, the founder of the Unitarian Church of Burundi [who now lives in Canada]. Also last year, one of the women ministry leaders from my congregation, Siro Kwamboka, travelled to Romania to attend the International Convocation of UU Women’s fourth global meeting. So we've been involved in one way or the other in the activities and events happening around the world concerning the growth of Unitarian Universalism faith in our country and also gaining more knowledge from outside and implementing back here in Kenya.
We really appreciate the support we've been getting from our sister organizations from different parts of the world, that's the UUA and also UK and other individual congregations who have been supporting us, such as the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tallahassee in Florida that has been our church partner for more than 10 years and we've been having an outstanding good relationship for many years. We've been blessed to get knowledge and information to reach many people in our communities so they enjoy the freedom of worship and find a religious home in the Unitarian Universalist faith.
It's my desire and wish that our vision and mission to expand the Unitarian Universalist faith to different parts of Africa and also especially in Kenya can be achieved amicably with the help and support of our sister organizations from different parts of the world. Thank you, and you are welcome to contact me for more information about Unitarian Universalism in Kenya.
Justine Magara
May 2025
nyakwaramangiti at yahoo.com