‘I wanted to be buried in Kenya, but that may not happen’

While in high school, an anti-abortion docudrama video, Nakusihi Usiniue (Please do not kill me) by Ukweli Video Productions was shown to us. It had a strong message on the sanctity of life. I watched it in awe and its message remains etched in my memory to date.

Father Richard James Quinn was the director and co-scriptwriter. Years after I left high school, the name remained in my mind. I found myself staring at the door to one of the apartments that housed Ukweli Video Productions along Church Road in Westlands, Nairobi, one sunny afternoon.

I clenched my sweaty palms and rang the door bell. A smiling old man with wispy white hair, standing at barely 5 foot 5, walked to the door and warmly ushered me in.

I was awed by the size of the company he had single-handedly founded in 1981 to produce videos with the aim of evangelising through images. It looked like a small TV station with three state-of-the art studios and shelves upon shelves of tapes. He stopped what he was doing and walked to the living room to talk to me.

I had all along assumed that he was a tall, burly and intimidating figure. But sitting next to him felt like sitting next to a loving grandfather. I told him that I was researching my school project on an anti-abortion film and I needed his assistance. I handed him my write-up and budget and he was amazed that I understood production budgets yet I was barely out of college.

“Nakusihi Usiniue has saved many lives. I meet many women who tell me that their children are alive today because of the message on that video,” he told me.

He gave me all the support I needed and amazingly my school project, The Silent Holocaust, stood out among the works at the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication that year. It won special mention at students’ film festivals in Israel and Ghana. It even aired on Citizen TV in its nascent days.

Fast forward six months later. While working at a journalism college in Nairobi’s South B, I received a call from Fr Quinn. He told me that he had just come back from his leave in America, and since his producer was leaving, he wished to employ me. I was excited and shocked at the same time. “This was Ukweli Video Productions!” I said to myself.

LASTING FRIENDSHIP

I told him that I had no work experience. But he calmly told me, “Come my daughter, I will teach you.”

There began my six-year journey as a documentary producer, director and scriptwriter at the Christian production house. He inducted me, taught me, and showed me the ropes until I was able to stand on my own.

Today, I have more than 40 documentaries under my belt on various topical issues and some of them are references at top universities like Harvard and Yale in the US. I even produced two documentaries for CCTV-Africa.

Fr Quinn was born in the American city of Passaic, New Jersey, on September 27, 1926 to William John and Mary Holland Quinn. He had four brothers and one sister, who have all since passed away. He attended St Paul’s Grammar School and graduated from Pope Pius XII High School in Passaic.

He then entered Maryknoll Apostolic College (Venard) Clarks Summit Pennsylvania on July 2, 1945. At Maryknoll Seminary in Ossining New York, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy in June 1949, and his Bachelor of Sacred Theology in June 1953. In June 1954, he received his Master of Religious Education degree.

He was ordained a priest in the Annunciation Chapel at Maryknoll sister’s motherhouse Ossining on June 12, 1954. One of his childhood friends, who became a confidant, was Fr John Kaiser, a Catholic priest murdered in 2000 near Naivasha. Fr Quinn describes Fr Kaiser, a former military man, as a quiet gentleman.

“I hunted animals with Fr Kaiser. He was a quiet and positive speaker,” he says of growing up with a friend who eventually joined the Mill Hill Missionaries.

Following his ordination, Fr Quinn was assigned to the Maryknoll Mission Region in Musoma in then Tanganyika (now Tanzania) where he learned the Kengoreme language and then Kiswahili in Moshi.

He was appointed the assistant parish priest of the Iramba Parish. In 1962, he was made the parish priest of Komuge Parish where he ministered until 1971. He also learned the Kisimbeti language. He would later help to form the Mara Jazz Band, which at some point dominated East African music charts.

Fr Quinn went back to study Theology in New York from where he was assigned to Kenya to build a new parish known as Kebirigo in Kisii. He established the Viongozi Centre where more than 40 short courses were offered to both religious and lay leaders. It is at this centre that he met the current Bishop of Kakamega Joseph Obanyi as a young boy. Bishop Obanyi, who was a priest in the diocese before Pope Francis chose him to replace long-serving Bishop Philip Sulumeti in Kakamega, considers Fr Quinn a mentor — perhaps from the hard work that he saw him do in the five years that they interacted in Kisii.

While serving at this centre, Fr Quinn saw the need for developing audio-visual pastoral tools. He took a sabbatical between 1979 and 1982 to take an eight-week course in video production at the University of Missouri and a second course at the Fordham University, Bronx, New York. The skills he earned there saw him steer Ukweli to be ranked the first religious production house in Africa.

When he began video production, he says many people thought he was crazy.

“I bought my first camera at $43,000 (Sh4 million at current exchange rates). Today that is enough to open up a studio,” he says.

He credits the success of video production to Cardinal Maurice Otunga, who did not understand the concept but welcomed it and allowed Ukweli to operate under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Nairobi. He chuckles when he remembers how Cardinal Otunga, who died in 2003, once gave him audio tapes thinking they were video tapes.

For the six years I worked at Ukweli, it felt more like a family than an office despite the fact that we were more than 16 employees from different backgrounds. Every 12.30 p.m, Father rang the bell to signal the gathering at the lunch table to share a meal prepared by Joyce Auma, a chef he not only baptised as a baby but saw through school.

“Friday was Fr Quinn’s day. He loved his coconut rice and fish fillet in cream. I occasionally surprised him with matoke and peanut sauce, a dish that remains his favourite to date. He struggled with ugali though,” Auma told me recently.

Fr Quinn had a way with his employees. He would know whenever one was distressed. His fatherly approach to conflict resolution brought us together in an admirable way. None of us wanted to leave Ukweli despite being offered more lucrative opportunities.

Some of the notable professionals who went through Fr Quinn’s hands are the current Archbishop of Mombasa Martin Kivuva Musonde. The two met while shooting a documentary in Mombasa and the then Mombasa Archbishop John Njenga allowed the young man — who would later become archbishop —  to leave Mombasa and work at Ukweli.

HIS STUDENTS

Others are Mary Otuka (an independent producer), Thomas Kyalo (a cinematographer running his own company), Robinson Malemo (a corporate communication official at Kenya Airports Authority), Dickson Gitau (an editor and cinematographer), Phane Mochache (a senior editor at Protel Studios), Emmanuel Ortner (an editor and cameraman at Kenya Airways), Carole Gikandi-Omondi (a pioneer digital editor), and Leonard Kitili (who produces Churchill Show and Beba Beba for NTV) to mention but a few.

“He was so humble that he slept on a tiny bed in the office, right behind the main office door,” says Amos Ochieng’, an independent producer who runs his own successful video production house in Nairobi’s Westlands.

“I am who I am today because of the humility and discipline that Father taught me. Despite inviting me to Ukweli to repair his machines, he saw potential in me and introduced me to communication. I rose through the ranks to become an editor and soundperson. I learned from him that through asking one would go far,” says Amos.

He explains that Fr Quinn was never bossy.

“He carried the tripod (for the camera) on location, played darts with us and dined with us after heavy shoot days. We felt equal, accepted and respected. He indeed practiced his vocation of priesthood through humility and forgiveness,” Amos told me when I visited him at his studio.

FOND MEMORIES

My female colleagues who had babies while working at Ukweli had the best experience. One of the editors, Phane Mochache, who had nasty nausea, remembers this vividly.

“Father would offer me a spare mattress to rest in the studio and even dropped me at the stage (to catch a bus) before the official office hours ended so I could get home early and rest,” she says with a smile on her face.

Fr Quinn made sure that we visited the colleague and the new baby in turns both at the hospital and at home. Father loved babies so much that whenever he drove along Church Road and saw a baby being taken for a walk he would park his car and walk to say hallo to the baby — much to the amusement of many.

Fr Quinn had a nose for news and knew just what was right to cover. When Pope John Paul II died in 2005, Ukweli was the only one in Kenya that had the footage to compile his story. TV stations rushed to the studio in droves to buy the footage for their news bulletins.

One thing I will not forget is Father’s sense of humour. He loves a good laugh. One lazy afternoon at the office, Caroline Kung’u, the graphic designer, had a trumpeting elephant screen saver on her computer. Father was so disturbed by the sound as he thought an elephant had strayed from the Kenya Wildlife Service sanctuary in Lang’ata to his compound. His reaction left the office roaring in laughter.

When we were not so busy at the office, we gathered in one of the studios to gossip. He would be at his desk working hard at a documentary. Being a stickler for perfection and finesse, he’d time and mark every video clip that went into his documentary to the letter. Our roaring laughter in the studio would get to him.

He would occasionally turn to Sylvia Kayumba, a refugee from Burundi who worked at Ukweli, with the words, “Damn! Hear them laugh like hyenas”. Sylvia would come to silence us with the same words and we would laugh even more as Father ground his teeth at his computer. Later, he would make fun of his earlier reaction as he asked us to share the jokes that we were laughing at.

Fr Quinn believes in empowering people. His messenger Simon Rurinjah did not go beyond Standard Six but went on to become a radio evangelist — a job he did faithfully until he passed away on March 2, this year, after years of broadcasting various shows on different local radio stations. Fr Quinn says he lost a friend he had had for more than 30 years.

An ardent driver who has never been involved in any road accident on the tricky Kenyan roads for the 60 years he has driven around, Father is also a strict time keeper.

Whenever we had a shoot, he would be in the production van half an hour before the agreed departure time. He is a stickler for perfection, disciplined and neatness. To date, he never wears clothes with more than two colours and his favourite colour is blue. He, however, dislikes disorderliness, loud and over confident people. He also did not like clients who cancelled jobs on him in the last minute.

Fr Quinn retired from Ukweli on November 16, 2007 after producing more than 300 documentaries that included biographies as well as corporate and social videos on diverse topical issues. The documentaries saw him travel the world and there is barely a country in Africa that he hasn’t filmed in.

Some of his documentaries like The Power of Darkness; Is There Devil Worship In Kenya and Works of God, about Fr Alphonse Ouma, who performed miracles in Sega, caused friction between him and then Archbishop of the Diocese of Nairobi Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki who thought they were sensational and wanted them pulled off the shelves.

His retirement saw 14 of us leave Ukweli to pursue other interests. The new management could not keep Ukweli where it was in its days of glory. Fr Quinn now hopes Ukweli can regain its past reputation.

ENDLESS LEARNING

The lessons he taught inspired me to venture into broadcast television where I produce, direct and write TV shows, including Ndoa, a wedding show that airs on NTV, Mtaani and several others.

Since his retirement, Fr Quinn has been at the Maryknoll Missionary house in Nairobi ministering through his other project, the John Paul II evangelising team. He mentors Christians and supports the needy financially, including paying school fees.

Fr Quinn has never borne a grudge. When I started working at Ukweli, I was very temperamental and bore long grudges. Today, I don’t stay angry for long. I find myself forgiving because I saw the peace he had whenever he forgave someone. His generosity has over the years allowed him to pay for the education of more than 150 people.

Last month, Father had a backward fall off a stool and fractured two ribs, affecting his right lung. He also suffers from Parkinson’s Disease. He has been re-called to the US by his superiors.

“I was deeply hurt as it was my wish to spend my last days, die and be buried in Kenya,” he wrote in an e-mail.

He says he has accepted God’s will and, therefore, will leave Kenya on May 14 (Thursday), a date that will mark the end of his 60 interesting and eventful years in Africa as a priest, a mentor and a spiritual leader to many. Today, a farewell mass will be celebrated and later a party held at the Maryknoll House in his honour.

As he leaves Kenya, he says he will miss the great weather and the warm people. Many tears will flow because Fr Quinn has left an impact on everyone he has met.

The greatest memory I will, however, have of him is my trip to the World Youth Day in Australia in 2008 — which he and his colleague Fr Joe Healey financed. On that trip I met then Pope Benedict XVI, an experience any Catholic takes pride in.

“I am glad that I lived long enough to see the fruits of my works,” he signs off, quietly staring in a distance, reminiscing the journey of his life.

Kwaheri Father Quinn. We will miss you dearly!