The town is Nebbi (hence the name for this blog!) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebbi) and I will be working alongside Caritas Nebbi (http://www.caritasuganda.org), which is a Catholic charity working in Nebbi to provide social care and educational services to the people of that region.
I have lost count of the people who have asked me why I have decided to embark. The answer perhaps falls into two parts. First, I am of an age that when I finished my first degree "gap years" hadn't really been invented and my priority on graduating was finding a job. As inevitably happens, once you start work plans for overseas travel have to be fitted into two or three weeks slots and so the opportunity to spend time overseas volunteering isn't easy to arrange. More recently, since taking on responsibility for Guernsey's Overseas Aid & Development Commission in 2012, I have been humbled by the huge contribution volunteers make in helping some of the world's poorest communities and how important the difference their time and willingness to share their skills and knowledge can have on the lives of some many.
On Sunday in August 2015, like other Catholics in Guernsey, I listened to a speaker at the end of Mass making the annual Mission Sunday appeal. The speaker was making the appeal on behalf of VMM and whilst listening to her telling us about her experiences when volunteering with VMM, I found myself thing, "I could do that". Over the weekend, I realised that not only could I do that but that I felt I was being called to "do that". I kept finding myself coming back to the these words from Pope Emeritus Benedict address at the Prayer Vigil in Hyde Park in September 2010, when he spoke of Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman,
"Dear friends: only Jesus knows what "definite service" he has in mind for you. Be open to his voice resounding in the depths of your heart: even now his heart is speaking to your heart. Christ has need of families to remind the world of the dignity of human love and the beauty of family life. He needs men and women who devote their lives to the noble task of education, tending the young and forming them in the ways of the Gospel.
He needs those who will consecrate their lives to the pursuit of perfect charity, following him in chastity, poverty and obedience, and serving him in the least of our brothers and sisters. He needs the powerful love of contemplative religious, who sustain the Church’s witness and activity throughtheir constant prayer. And he needs priests, good and holy priests, men who are willing to lay down their lives for their sheep.
Ask our Lord what he has in mind for you! Ask him for the generosity to say "yes!" Do not be afraid to give yourself totally to Jesus. He will give you the grace you need to fulfil your vocation."
By the Monday, I had recognised that it was God who was calling me to this service and so I sent an initial email to VMM. And so the journey began...
Many emails later, a placement was offered to me in Nebbi and my three month unpaid sabbatical from work approved and so the serious planning commenced.
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