Welcome Father Emmanuel Decontee Drubo

By Sr. Therese Wetta, ASC

This trinity of welcomes occurred for Father Emmanuel Decontee Drubo as he arrived in Wichita on May 9 in time to participate in the Baccalaureate Mass at Newman University. On May 10, Father Emmanuel, a priest of the Liberian Cape Palmas Diocese, was awarded a master’s degree in theology from Newman.

Through a gift from a U.S. donor, Father Drubo was able to complete the on-line only master’s degree despite the limitations of electricity only available for a few hours at night, the lack of Interconnect connections that sometimes required a 45-minute motorcycle ride to another town, waiting for scanned required articles to arrive from Newman’s library staff, Zoom limitations and his full-time role as principal of K-9 St. Patrick’s School. Father Emmanuel took one semester off due to the illness of his father and his job commitments. Textbooks were sent in two shipments from the USA via Fed Ex after Amazon delivered them to Wichita (no postal service in Liberia). Arrival in Monrovia meant another week for delivery to Grand Cess.

For Father Drubo, this was his first trip outside Liberia. On Memorial weekend, Father Emmanuel and Sr. Therese Wetta traveled by car to Belleville for a grand visit with five former ASC missionaries in Liberia – Srs. Evelyn Nagle, Rachel Lawler, Martha Wachtel, Janet Sue Smith and Raphael Ann Drone. Sr. Alicia Drone who had prepared Francis Sio (the Grand Cess boy who had foot surgery at Shriner’s in St. Louis) for his First Communion, also joined the group. Sr. Elizabeth Kolmer enjoyed luncheon conversation with Father.

Sunday evening Father Emmanuel and Sr. Therese met Srs. Michelle Woodruff, Barbara Jean Franklin and Kristen Forgotch at Ruma for a tour of the facilities followed by an enjoyable evening meal in Prairie du Rocher as sirens wailed. Thank God for safety.

Another blessing of Father Emmanuel’s time here was to meet and visit face-to-face with four of his professors. These occurred in four different settings allowing a leisurely approach to conversations. Father also joined in the Wichita Diocesan evening to honor its seminarians that included Solemn Vespers and a buffet. On another day, more time was spent visiting the Cathedral and its archival wall portraying the history of the Diocese. Father was impressed by the role of the Adorers in this history.

Father Emmanuel enjoyed meals with the sisters and co-workers, asking questions and learning about the school system here, our ministries and culture. He joined in the celebration for the jubilarians, visited several churches, spent an evening with the St. Maria Associates, and presided at Eucharist for seven days in Father Tom’s absence.

Ezekiel Ombati, Coordinator of Transportation and a Kenyan native, was most helpful in explaining practical matters such as how to use the shower and the washing machine. He took Father along when he went on shopping trips for the sisters, an experience of our abundance. Ezekiel was one of the co-workers honored for five years of service at a special luncheon in May and Father thoroughly enjoyed sitting at Zeke’s table.

Father Emmanuel had several tours of Wichita that included Old Town, the Spiritual Life Center and Catholic Care Center, the aircraft companies, other Universities, Botanica, the Art Museum, the Mid-America All-Indian Center, the lighting ceremony at the Keeper of the Plains statue, the River Festival with its carnival rides (amazing!) and hot air balloons and the Sedgwick County Zoo. And what would a trip to the USA be without a baseball game? And there was the Salt Mining Museum tour!

The CEO of the public TV station in Wichita is a native Liberian. He graciously spent three hours visiting, showing the new studios and treating Sr. Therese and Father Emmanuel to lunch.

A couple of trips to the country and a visit to the Wetta farm with explanations of equipment culminated with a wheat harvesting experience riding in the combine. Questions including, “How can these stalks of wheat be gathered up in front of the machine and I turn and see only grains of wheat going into the bin?” Very different from planting seeds by hand and harvesting the rice with machetes!

So many new experiences and so much to take back to Grand Cess to explain life as he experienced it. In addition to expressions of great gratitude the evening we Adorers gave him our traditional blessing, Father shared some of the surprises he experienced. One was definitely a surprise. “When I go back and tell them that I walked toward the door of a building and it opened before me, they will call me a liar. They just won’t be able to imagine such a thing.”

How much we take for granted!