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April 17, 2019Mount Saint Mary High School's "Mercy in Action," is now stretching over 8,000 miles through a loving outreach for special needs elementary students in Kenya. More than 120 students study there in a Catholic Don Bosco School.
In June, the program will return to Kenya with nine students and four teachers to help build a library for the school. This past year, a contingent traveled there and built three much needed classrooms.
The effort called Rehema Na Vitendo (Mercy in Action), is led by Brent Rempe and his wife, Beth, a math instructor at the Mount in Oklahoma City. The program came about after Rempe visited Africa in 2017 as part of professional development.
Brent Rempe, a Bishop Kelley graduate, made the trip and saw the needs first-hand at the school in Likuyani, Kenya.
"Some of the children who needed wheelchairs didn't have them," Rempe said.
Rempe explained he believed God was leading him to the special mission.
"Over the years, I see how God has been active in my life and has given me the conviction to do something," he said.
That message was driven home in 2017 when a priest at the school, Father Peter, met him and said, "You, sir, are going to teach Catholic education."
It's that call to service that also inspires Beth Rempe.
"God has called and is calling all of us every day to be his hands and to be his help and mercy and service," she said. "Mount Saint Mary hears that same call today to reach out and teach and love the students at the Don Bosco special school.
She went on to note the call to students and staff members to serve outside the walls of the high school much like the Sisters of Mercy did more than 100 years ago when they came to Oklahoma.
"This project aims to provide resources and hope for a better education for these beautiful children," she said. "The project also aims to educate and unite the students at the Mount with a culture and community different than their own."
Rehema Na Vitendo also impresses Mount Saint Mary Principal Talita DeNegri.
"The impact our Mount students are making is tremendous!" she said.
"They are truly taking mercy across the world, just like Catherine McAuley intended when the sisters traveled to the United States in the late 1800s. Our Catholic schools are built upon the foundation of serving others, and it's exciting to see how our students are intent upon giving back, whether it be in our local communities or half way around the world."
In addition to building a library in June, the team also will participate in service learning as well as cultural immersion, which they will bring back to the MSM community.
"We look to our friends in Likuyani and say ‘nakupenda’ or Swahili for ‘I love you,’" Beth Rempe said.
Fundraising continues for the upcoming venture. To learn more about or to support Mercy in Action in Kenya, visit www.mountstmary.org and click on the “giving” tab.
Photo: The Mount Saint Mary team in June 2018 from left to right: Judith Dickson, Brent Rempe, Rachel Jones, Magi Whitaker and Beth Rempe. They are standing with the teachers of Don Bosco Special School for elementary students. Photo provided.
