September 20, 1995: Pope John Paul II bade Kenyans an emotional but memorable Kwaheri ya kuonana at the end of his eventful visit. “The time for me to say goodbye has come. The time for me to end my beautiful journey is here,” the Pope told the hundreds of faithful, other Kenyans and foreigners who saw him off at the Jomo Kenyatta International airport. Hundreds of men, women and children of the Catholic faith sang kwaheri as the 75-year-old pontiff boarded a special Kenya Airways airbus plane for Rome. The Pope who has been in Kenya for three days during his one week tour of Africa, paused to make a sign of the cross, waved and smiled at the crowd. He walked slowly up the plane, paused again and performed the traditional papal blessing of the city and state. The crowd roared the Kiswahili words for farewell. Others sang and danced to the Luhya tune of mwana wa mberi (praise to a first born child). Scores wrestled with security men to have a better glimpse of the pontiff. At last the leader of the Roman Catholic Church entered the plane at 10.44am.

Photo|Nation Syndication