By Paschal Norbert
NAIROBI, JANUARY 9, 2024 (CISA) – Friends, family and confreres of the late Fr Josiah Asa K’Okal, IMC have eulogized the late priest as a man of the people and a jovial priest who never shied away from living his missionary life as a Consolata, especially in his mission of evangelizing the people on the margins of society.
In an interview with CISA, Fr Peter Makau, IMC, the regional superior of the Consolata Missionaries Kenya/Uganda region, hails the missionary as a talented and brotherly man with a heart for the missions.
“One clear thing is that K’Okal was a missionary par excellence, a missionary par excellence in the sense that he identified himself with Consolata missionaries in that he was a religious Missionary and a priest and he really loved being a Consolata and also with the charism that we usually say it is mission ad gentes, ad extra and ad vitam. You can see that he fit that qualification,” said Fr Makau, who reminisces how Fr K’Okal welcomed him into Venezuela in 2005 and later guided him as the superior of the delegation in the country for six years. 
Fr Makau also poured cold water on the speculations surrounding the sudden death of the Consolata priest while informing the people that a comprehensive report on the cause of his death is yet to be availed by the authorities in Venezuela.
“It is unfortunate that he passed on in these very circumstances that nobody knew really. It is not yet clear. We are still waiting for the official communication from the authorities in Venezuela to give us a comprehensive report about the autopsy,” he said.
“Let us not concentrate more on what might have happened because, at the end of the day, we are not going to bring him back to life. However, it is going to be difficult on that front. It is unfortunate that we don’t have him but the most important thing is the teachings that he taught us, this I think is what we need to do. We need to stress the fact that he was an all-around missionary in that whenever he has been he always had a kind of effect on the life of the people,” appealed Makau.
The late Fr Josiah Asa K’Okal was born on September 7, 1969, in Siaya, Nyanza (Kenya). He entered the community of the Consolata Missionaries where he made his religious profession in 1993. After completing theological studies in London (England), he was ordained a priest on August 9, 1997.
In the same year, 1997, he was commissioned to Venezuela, where he worked in the Missionary and Vocational Animation (AMV), in the Afro and parish pastoral in Barlovento, in the pastoral and AMV in Barquisimeto, and the Indigenous Pastoral in Nabasanuka and Tucupita. He was also the administrator, counsellor, vice-superior and superior of the Delegation of the Consolata Missionaries in Venezuela. 
Since 2006, his great dedication to the Warao people led him to study their language and culture, even accompanying their migration to other regions of Venezuela and Brazil. This dedication to the causes of the Venezuelan people earned him citizenship of the country.
In 2022, he completed a master’s degree in research in anthropology at FLACSO in Ecuador, on the Waraos who migrated to Brazil. The title of his research was: “Between Vulnerability and Strategic Resistance: The Case of the Displaced Warao in Boa Vista.”
On January 1, 2024, Fr K’Okal was reported missing and on January 2, his lifeless body was found hanged on a tree in Guara, in the state of Monagas, Venezuela. He was 54 years old and had been in the religious profession for 30 years and a priest for 26 years.
According to Fr Paul Otieno, IMC, who also worked with Fr K’Okal in Venezuela, “he was a man who loved the people, and especially the poor, the marginalized, the weak ones, and K’okal will do anything possible in his powers to be a sign of hope to these people. K’okal loved the people and especially the Warau people, the indigenous people of Delta Amacuro, he gave his life to them all, and the love – the people that feel that they are not valued in the society, K’okal valued them.”
“A man who loved to share, share his life, share his thoughts and share his friends. These three things: a man of the people, a joyful priest, and a man who loved to share, marked Fr Josiah K’okal. Josiah is a man who would rather suffer for you than you suffer for him. And as we always say, he kept the faith, he reigned the race, and may God now crown him according to his Holy will,” eulogized Fr Paul.
The requiem Mass for the late Fr. Josiah K’okal, IMC, will take place today at 10:00 am (5 pm EAT) in Venezuela and will be presided over by Bishop Ernesto José Romero Rivas, OFMCap, the Vicar Apostolic of Tucupita, Venezuela.
His body will then be transferred to the Parish of San José, which is run by the Capuchin friars after Mass -where he will be buried. In Kenya, there will be two funeral Masses as follows: Thursday, January 11, 2024, in Gem-Malele (his home) at 11 am and Friday, January 12, 2024, at Consolata Shrine Westlands-Nairobi at 3 pm.
