Olang’ spearheaded many development projects in
the church, then known as Church of the Province of Kenya (CPK). The
projects included schools and hospitals. By the time he retired in 1980,
the church had grown to 288 parishes, spread over seven dioceses and
served by 374 clergymen.
Olang’ was elected archbishop of Kenya and bishop
of Nairobi and enthroned on August 3, 1970, at the All Saints Cathedral
in Nairobi. The event was presided over by the Most Rev LJ Beecher.
But the journey was not easy at the initial
stages. He had to maintain a delicate balance between his new faith,
family needs and the responsibilities required of him as a man in the
Bunyore sub-clan of the Luhya community.
While teaching at Maseno, he married Eseri Twera through an arranged union in 1937. They had 12 children.
Born about 1914 at Ebusakami Esabalu village in
Maseno town, Olang’ was still young when his parents moved and settled
at Nyamasaria in Kano area near Kisumu town. He spent much of his youth
grazing his father’s many cattle. The movement to Kisumu enabled him to
speak Dholuo in addition to his Luhya mother tongue.
The ability to speak two vernacular languages plus English and Kiswahili was later to prove very handy in his church ministry.
He began attending Kisumu Primary School, then
called Komulo School, in 1925. He sat for the Common Entrance
Examination at Maseno School in 1927, and was admitted in 1928.
Olang’s faith and career as a man of the cloth was
greatly influenced by the famous mathematician, Carey Francis, who was
then the head of Maseno School. Moving on to Alliance High School in
1931, Olang’ again encountered Carey Francis, and the mentoring
continued. After his teacher training, Olang’ went back to teach at
Maseno School for four years. In January 1940, he moved to Butere.
Come 1943, he received a letter from the principal
of St Paul’s Divinity School in Limuru, the Rev Martyn Capon,
requesting him to consider training for the ministry. He quit teaching
and enrolled at St Paul’s in January 1944. At that time, there were
only 36 African clergy and 18 Europeans in the whole country.
On December 9, 1945, Olang’ was ordained a deacon
by Bishop Crabbe at St Stephen’s Church in Nairobi. He got a scholarship
three years later (1948) from the British Council to study at Wycliffe
Hall, Oxford.
He returned to Kenya in 1950, and was ordained
into the priesthood at St Paul’s, Maseno, where he also became the
principal of Maseno Bible school.
In May 1955, Olang’ and Obadiah Kariuki were
consecrated at Namirembe Cathedral in Kampala by Archbishop of
Canterbury, Most Rev Dr Geoffrey Fisher, as the first African assistant
bishops in Kenya.
Olang’ presided over all of western Kenya while Rev Kariuki served central Kenya.
In December 1960, Olang’ was appointed bishop of Maseno, which covered Nyanza province and Western province.
The fast growth of the Anglican Church Province of
East Africa later necessitated its division into provinces of Kenya
and of Tanzania. Olang’ became the first to head the Province of Kenya.
He died in 2004 aged 90, but having showed by example, the values of humility, uprightness, and respect for human dignity.
source : daily nation
source : daily nation
