Meeting with Bishop Sanctus Lino Wanok

My first appointment to (Tuesday 30 August) was a meeting with Bishop Sanctus.  Bishop Sanctus was appointed as Bishop of Nebbi on 8 February 2011, having served as the Diocese's Vicar General for the five previous years.  He was born and spent his early years in the far north of the Diocese in a village close to the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Today's meeting was my "official" introduction to Bishop Sanctus but I have spoken to him informally on several occasions since arriving in Nebbi, including at the Requiem Mass for Father William and last week' priestly ordinations.

He is a very approachable man and clearly somebody of deep faith.  Having listened to him preach on several occasions he is not somebody to pull his punches or to pretty up the reality of the challenges we all face on a daily basis in serving God.  But he is a man of great compassion and understanding. A good shepherd and teacher for his Diocese and the Church.

Bishop Sanctus, Father Denis from Caritas Nebbi and myself

More celebrations in Nebbi Diocese

Sunday 28 August 2016 saw a further round of celebrations at Mass when four young seminarians - David, Felix, Fredrick and Patrick - were enrolled as "Serious Candidates" for the priesthood.  This stage in their training for the priesthood marks the commencement of the final year of their formation before they are ordained to the Diaconate next summer.

Their families presented them to Bishop Sanctus and were warmly thanked for their generosity it supporting their sons in their vocation to the priesthood.  Their "gift" was received with huge applause and singing from the congregation.

"Serious Candidates" Felix and Patrick are presented to Bishop Sanctus by their families

Bishop Sanctus prepares to give the "Serious Candidates" his blessing

As seems to be the case with any important event in Uganda, the presentation of certificates forms an important part.  This tradition was followed on Sunday with the four "not so serious" Serious Candidates (Bishop Sanctus made this comment as the candidates were clearly delighted to have reached this stage in their formation and smiling and enthusiastically applauding each other).

Choir robes Ugandan style

On Sunday, the choir at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were sporting their new choir robes. Quite different from what one may usually associate with such robes but very Ugandan ...

Responding to God's Call

Yesterday I posted about my trip to Panyimur for the Ordination Mass of Fathers Aloysuis Oryem and Kenedy Kermu and Deacons James Jacan and Ronald Okweda.  Overnight, I read the Order of Service which rather helpfully includes some biographical details about the four young men and some personal reflections from each of them about the response of God's call to the priesthood.

Each of them comes from what appears to be a typical family and each has experienced the pain of losing a close family member through the death of a parent or sibling. Father Kenedy is from a family of 10 children but sadly 1 of his brothers and 2 of his 3 sisters have died. Father Aloysius is from a family of 14 and his mother has died. Deacon Ronald is the only surviving child of 4 in his family and his mother has also died. Finally, Deacon James has lost both his parents and his 2 siblings.  Despite these losses in their lives, they have not rejected God's love and have responded to His call with great generosity.

Father Aloysius wrote the following piece for the Order of Service,

"The first condition for seeking God is to have found Him. This paradox only emphasises the starting point of our search, the Alpha and Omega of all Christians' experience. Our searching cannot start from zero. "You would not seek me if you had not already found me" wrote Paschal inspired by St. Bernard. The desire for God comes only from God Himself and He alone can lead us to search for Him.

God precedes those who search for Him and He shows Himself by letting Himself be found in an absolutely gratuitous way, even by those who were not looking for Him.

To me the journey in this vocation at the beginning was unpromising and cloudy due to external forces that almost overpowered me. The lucrative options search as well paid jobs and taking courses would last for a few years, enjoying myself just like any other secular would do etc.  but now it is clear that Almighty God had a plan for me which He wanted to unveil at the opportune time.  This elevation to Priesthood to me is a starting point to a new life, animated by Christ Himself who instituted the Priesthood.  Therefore my dear brothers and sisters, your prayers, advice, directives, corrections shall be of great help for me in my journey in this ministry that I have chose.

I would love to remember my parents, especially my late mother who initiated me so well in the Christian way of living. May her soul rest in eternal peace. Amen."

Deacon James wrote the following about his call to enter seminary,

"I was in Primary 5 in 1997 (aged 11 years) when Father Aladino Mirandola, my Parish Priest, told me "Jal, inen calo padhiri" ("Young boy, you look like a priest"). That statement disturbed me for a while since I was an orphan worried about who would take care of me during my studying dues, but thank God who is always close to all who call upon Him. From then on my prayer has been "Deus, Fiat voluntas tua." God, let Your will be done). God bless those people who took care of my studies abundantly."

Responding to God's is difficult for all and the call to priesthood in the Catholic Church is especially challenging for the family as his parents know that their son will commit not just to serve God as a priest but to do so leading a celibate life.  They therefore not only offer their son but also the hope of grandchildren in the future.

At home, the cost of studying for the priesthood is largely met by the Diocese sponsoring the candidate and so cost is rarely an issue for the seminarian or his family.  Things are very different here and seminarians rely on their families and parishes making huge financial sacrifices as this letter from the sister of Father Denis clearly shows ...

Please remember all those you are discerning a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, that they may have the courage to say "Yes" to God's call and will be blessed by the support of family and friends...

O Holy Spirit, Spirit of wisdom and divine love, impart Your knowledge, understanding, and counsel to all that they may know the vocation wherein they can bes serve God.

Give then courage and strength to follow God's holy will.

Guide their uncertain steps, strengthen their resolutions, shield their chastity, fashion their minds, conquer their hearts and lead them to the vineyards where they will labour in God's holy service.

Amen.

Lake Albert

Lake Albert borders Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  It is about 160 km (100 mi) long and 30 km (19 mi) wide, with a maximum depth of 51 m (168 ft), and a surface elevation of 619 m (2,030 ft) above sea level.

Panyimur is located at the northern most tip of the lake.

The lake provides a valuable source of income and food for those communities bordering it.  Tourism is growing and fishing remains important.  Recent geological surveys suggest that oil deposits are found below the lake.  One can only hope that if the oil is extracted the beuty of the area will not be spoilt and the benefits of this resource will be used to improve the lives of those living along the shores of Lake Albert.

And now for a few pictures ....

Daytrip to Panyimur

Today (Thursday 25 August 2016), together with colleagues from Caritas Nebbi and many others from the Catholic community across the Diocese of Nebbi, I set off for the small town of Panyimur on the shores of Lake Albert for the ordination to the priesthood of Deacons Kenedy Kermu and Aloysius Oryem and to the Diaconate of two seminarians, James Jacan and Ronald Okweda.

 Deacons Kenedy Kermu and Aloysius Orgen presented to Bishop Sanctus Lino Wanok

Newly ordained Deacons James Jecan and Ronald Okweda

And finally, the two newly ordained deacons relax after the great ceremony and embrace family, fellow seminarians and priests ...

Father Willam Jupalwonga, RIP

On Friday 19 August 2016, the parish priest of Zeu Parish in the Diocese of Nebbi was found dead.  He was only 55 years old and a dedicated and caring priest.

The outpouring of grief but also of love, respect and great affection was palpable when his body arrived at the Cathedral on Sunday evening. Hundreds of people had waited for over two hours to receive his body into the mother church of the Diocese.

Father William's Requiem Mass was today (Monday 22 August 2016 - Feast of the Queenship of Mary (marking the octave of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven).  It lasted just under four hours.  The Requiem focused on the role of Father William as a priest and also the suddenness of his death and the need for us all to be prepared for the Lord's call.  Throughout he was accompanied by his family, his brother priests and perhaps between 2,500 and 3,000 people from the Diocese of Nebbi, neighbouring Dioceses, other faiths and civic leaders.

May Father William rest and peace and may his Mother and six brothers and sisters be comforted in their grief.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs receive you at your arrival and lead you to the holy city Jerusalem. May choirs of angels receive you and with Lazarus, once (a) poor (man), may you have eternal rest.

When I learned of Father William's death, I was reading the late Bishop of Derry's, Edward Daly, autobiography Mister, are you a priest? (Bishop Daly is probably best remembered as the priest, waving a blood stained handkerchief, who  on Bloody Sunday helped carry a dying young man through the streets of the Bogside in Derry to an ambulance) .  At the end of the book, Bishop Daly had included the following prayer written by the Jesuit Karl Rahmer.  It made me think about how much we ask of our priests, our clergy, how quick we are to criticise and so often how slow we are to love and value them...

THE PRIEST
The priest is not an angel sent from heaven
He is a man chosen from among men,
A member of the Church, a Christian.
Remaining man and Christian, he begins to speak of you the Word of God.
The word is not his own.
No, he comes to you because God has told him to proclaim God’s Word.
Perhaps he has not entirely understood it himself.
Perhaps he adulterates it.
But he believes, and despite his fear he knows he must communicate God’s Word to you.
For must not some of us say something about God,
About eternal life; about the majesty of grace in our sanctified being?
Must not some one of us speak of sin, the judgement and mercy of God?
So, my dear friends, pray for him, carry him, 

So that he might be able to sustain others by bringing to them
The mystery of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ.

Mission Sunday

Today, Sunday 21 August 2016, my home parish, Our Lady and the Saints of Guernsey, marks Mission Sunday.

This year, the annual appeal is being made by the Dominican St. Martin's Missions (names after St. Martin des Porres).


Last year, the appeal was made by the Voluntary Missionary Movement (VMM) (www.vmminternational.org) and it was during this appeal that Our Blessed Lord called me to His service as a missionary.  Before that appeal, I had not heard about VMM and suspect that most following this blog are in a similar position.

VMM's website sets out the history of the movement:

VMM has a unique identity and history in both faith and development within the lay missionary movement and wider family.

Our membership network identifies VMM within our peer group and distinguishes it from other non-faith based development organisations. Founded as a lay Christian development organisation in 1969, VMM has placed over 2,600 specialist personnel, such as doctors, nurses, surgeons, anaesthetists teachers, engineers, agriculturists, accountants, builders and mechanics and many more diverse skill sets throughout Africa on a range of projects. Each volunteer has had an untold positive impact upon the lives of those who are descriptively labelled as ‘the marginalised and the poor’. We have done this through our commitment to a ‘life shared’ expressed through a willingness not just to meet the specified purpose of any given project but to fully integrate and share one’s life in a given community.

VMM has in many respects always worked towards contributing to “A world where we live in the shelter of one another” through the very personal ethos, “to share who we are and not just what we have”

In effect we recruit, train and support qualified personnel to work, usually for a period of two years, in areas of great need in developing regions of Africa, including Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia . More recently in a partnership with the Missionary Sisters of St Columbanus we are also looking to work in Myanmar. VMM aims to help reduce poverty by supporting community and diocesan initiatives, primarily.

We continue to maintain and build new links with diocesan organisations and others that are responsible for the health, education, development and empowerment of communities and its people. The same is true of the many other organisations (NGO’s and charities) we work with that have a passion for improving the living conditions, health and education of those they seek to assist in areas of great need.

We have however reflected upon our vision and mission and responded to the changing global environment we are part of. To support this shift we have also looked with a critical eye upon our organisational values and behaviours to more clearly define and determine our culture to deliver our new vision to work towards a ‘one world conscience’. In many respects we have returned to the founding charism defined by Edwina Gateley in 1981 which is as relevant today as it was then. That is not to say that we underestimate or are not part of the wider international development movement as indeed we are, but we have our niche offer that is the belief in the power of a life shared, “to share who we are and not just what we have” that defines our unique and compelling reason to exist in many positive and sometimes immeasurable ways.

In ensuring that our organisation is a relevant and a contributing member of both the faith and secular development agendas we have also restated our commitment to performance with our sustainable organisation values. This is not in any way a drift from our core values, but rather an affirmation that we will do everything we can to support them. The role of the VM has evolved over the years and will continue to do so whilst maintaining its market difference through our values and behaviours. Equally the needs of donors and partners evolve as the performance and value for money agendas call for greater outcomes at less cost to the public and private purse.

And so VMM will continue as long as there is a real need that gives the call to which we respond. We are not a recruitment agency, we are a development agency that works with partners to enable them to develop their capacity to positively change the life chances of the many beneficiaries we are here to serve and this is part of our unique and compelling reason to exist and that is about redressing the imbalance that exists within the world we share.

But this is just a strategic framework, which without the commitment, expertise, experience, love and faith of our VM’s would not amount to anything worthy of the foundation it has been built upon.

Reinforcing our future; building resilience

A new strategic framework is one thing but in tough economic conditions, with a keen public eye upon the performance of the charitable sector generally and rightly increasing levels of regulation, we now work in a challenging environment.  This current climate is not without opportunity for VMM as we look to build resilience in all aspects of our operations by using our own area of expertise to generate a surplus to continue our given mission. This strategic framework is very clear in that VMM’s purpose goes much deeper than simply running a sound and viable organisation. However, by reaffirming and increasing the viability of VMM, we have preserved and sustained a vital platform upon which we can deliver our unique contribution to mission development.

As part of our future and in a competitive market VMM is currently piloting a short term placement programme that will:

• respond to a clearly articulated need from existing and new partner organisations in Africa
• build upon our reputation and network
• recruit a new cohort of VMs for the future
• promote the concept of mission in a positive light in Ireland and the UK
• create a designated surplus for mission investment
• enlighten and involve volunteers on Development Education issues

The proposed short term programmes will provide the capacity to meet a now well-articulated need from many of the partners we have established close and continuing links with. Equally a number of new partners have emerged that are very open to receiving short term volunteers as part of a longer term relationship. Although a new aspect of our mission purpose, this proposal does not represent a significant divergence from our founding charism, as the proposed programmes will be a joint response to a definable need (SDG linked) with existing and new partners. This process of ensuring that outcomes contribute to the current theory of change we measure ourselves against will enable each volunteer be part of making a lasting positive difference in the lives of others while assisting the longer term objectives of our partners and VMM.

This is not just about VMM, it’s our service contribution to the wider mission family in responding positively to real need and in so doing reinforcing and developing the role of lay mission in international development, providing the opportunity for a new generation of VMs to share their life in doing good by living out our vision mission and values.

Please keep all missionaries in your prayers

God our Father, you will all men and women to be saved and come to the knowlege of your Truth.
Send workers into your great harvest that the Gospel may be preached to ever creature and your people, gathered together by the Word of life and strengthened by the power of the Sacraments, may advance in the way of salvation and love.
I ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen. 

Brother Michael Burke, RIP

My day at Adraa Agricultural College was overshadowed by the sad news that the Franciscan Brother's Minister General, Brother Michael Burke, has been killed in a road traffic collision in Galway the previous evening.

 



Brother Michael is in the centre and Brother Tony Dolan, Andraa's Director is on the far right.

Please keep Brother Michael in your prayers, his family and the Franciscan Brothers.

Meeting with Friends of Londiani

Yesterday, Friday 19 August 2016, I travelled about 25km to Adraa where the Franciscan Brothers run an agricultural college (www.adraaunganda.com).  The primary reason for my visit was to meet with a Kenyan charity the Guernsey Overseas Aid & Development Commission are supporting in Londiani in Kenya in a water and sanitation project.

Martin and Maria from Friends of Londiani (www.friendsoflondaini.com) have a long friendship with Brother Tony, Adraa Agricultural College's director, from his many years in Kenya.  They had been invited to deliver a week long course to representatives from four villages about how to build sustainable and healthy communities.  This course is part of a pilot project they are looking to run in the Diocese of Nebbi.

I joined the course for the final day when the participants worked in village groups to bring together all they had learnt and present how they planned to ensure their villages become healthy and sustainable communities and exemplars for other villages.  The energy and enthusiasm for the course was clear and the presentations were excellent and showed how well that had applied all they had been taught to their own villages.

 

 

 

The course ended with the presentation of certificates and it was clear that the week had been a great success and the start of an important new project to improve the quality of life of many in this remote and poor part of Uganda.  The desire to change was clear for all to see and the engagement of these communities will undoubtedly bring success.

Everything stops for football

Last night Nebbi came to standstill as there was a key home game in the local football league.  The visiting team was from Uleppi. 

I couldn't get close enough to watch the game as it was only out of curiosity about the noise I could here from my base at Caritas that lead me to investigate ... No parking restrictions here as would be the case at Footes Lane!

Nebbi were eventual 5 goals to 3 winners!

Work and Play

Sisters Maria and Betty are Daughters of Providence and having been working here in Nebbi Cathedral Parish since 2006, helping young people who have finished school to learn vocational skills. Their work is much needed with may youngsters, especially girls, leaving school without formal qualifications and so little prospect of employment. The Daughters of Providence have their roots in St. Brieuc and the religious order was established to live amongst and support 15 to 25 year olds who had either dropped out of school or finished school without qualifications.  Their mission here in Nebbi is true to their founder's, Pere Jean Marie de la Mennais, original mission.

The small vocational training school the Sisters run offers training opportunities in dress making and tailoring and hairdressing for the girls and carpentry and basic mechanics for the boys (yes, training and employment opportunities continues to follow traditional geneder stereotyping).

Here, the number of girls out numbers the boys. I understand that this is for two reasons. First, girls leave formal education earlier than boys. The Ugandan culture strongly favours boys and so the limited resources availible for school fees, etc. is invariably directed towards sons rather than daughters. Second, in adulthood it is the women that are invariably the main earners.

The training programme the Sisters run focuses on balancing work and play. The following pictures show the girls at work (Sister Betty is repairing one of the Singer sewing machines) and at play (Sister Maria is enthusiastically referring the netball game, despite the challenges the football game going on alongside as the boys cut across the netball pitch to gain possession of their football).

 

More on South Sudan - message from Bishop Hiiboro of South Sudan

Following my earlier post about the unfolding humanitarian crisis in South Sudan (the world's newest country having just marked its fifth birthday), I have just received an alert from the Catholic Truth Society drawing my attention to a pastoral letter from Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro, a South Sudan Bishop. 

The letter speaks for itself and so I am posting it in full ...

Not too late to love, forgive and rebuild whole, our South Sudan
 Dear my beloved Sisters and Brothers,

"Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you"  (1 Pet. 3:15)

As Christians we must remain steadfast in this time of trial, just as we have throughout the centuries before and now in South Sudan, through the long terms of struggling to survive the ever-changing succession of states and governments.

Be patient, steadfast and full of hope so that we in turn might fill the heart of every one of our brothers and sisters who share in this same trial with hope. Be active and provide the comfort of love to those where "gentle cry out" asks you to help overcome this present travail pain and suffering. Participate in that sacrifice.

My country, South Sudan, is only five years old, yet many people are questioning whether it should exist at all. I can understand why they might think so, when there is constant fighting resulting in huge loss of innocent lives and millions of people being displaced, fleeing into neighbouring countries as refugees putting them at risk of starvation.

I happened to be in the capital, Juba, when the latest violence broke out, between 6 and 13 July, 2016. For five days I was trapped as the city suffered heavy artillery bombardment and attacks by helicopter gunships for the first time in its history. I went to the mortuary at Juba’s civil hospital, and wept at the sight of the hundreds of government and opposition soldiers, whose bodies had been dumped in piles on the ground for relatives to claim for, their own, if they risked coming out at all.It would be easy to despair of South Sudan, yet I tell my people that we must have hope.

We need to remember that despite the country’s many complex political and ethnic divisions, those taking part in the fighting are a very small minority. This conflict has attracted little attention in Europe, the Americas or Asia, which are dealing with their own crises, such as mass shootings and the Bastille Day lorry attack in Nice, the murder of a Catholic Priest, shootings everywhere in major cities in our one planet.

But if South Sudan is ignored, the tide of refugees reaching Europe’s shores could swell. The international community must continue to play a pivotal role in persuading President Salva Kiir and former Vice-President Riek Machar, to return to the negotiating table and implement the power-sharing agreement they signed last August.

With international support, and that of the Catholic Church and other members of the South Sudan Council of Churches, as well as the aid agencies, such as Cafod and Trocaire, Caritas, and other humanitarian agencies which are helping people stay alive, we can make sure that our country has a future.

South Sudan does not have to remain poor. It has agricultural potential, minerals and oil, but development has constantly been hampered by conflict. Oil production, the source of most of the country’s earnings, has fallen by more than half from the peak reached shortly before independence. Most people want nothing more than the chance to make a better life for themselves and their families, but for that to happen, we need to overcome the culture of violence that is tearing our society apart.

Respect for human life is the starting point.

On the road to independence for South Sudan, the Catholic Church has always been present, upholding the value of human dignity and peace. Sometimes our message has been understood; at other times we have been dismissed, or pushed to the periphery. But the church cannot ignore the moral and human costs of so much violence in our midst, and is working in dioceses, parishes and schools to bring a change in people’s hearts.

I know this article I am writing is not enough. Words cannot stop weapons; statements will not contain hatred. Yet commitment and conversion can change us, and together we can change our culture and communities.

The best antidote to violence is hope. People with a stake in society do not destroy communities. Both individuals and institutions should be held accountable for how they attack or enhance the common good.

Today we all face a way that is blocked and a future that promises only woe.
My word in this brief article is a word of hope, patience, steadfastness and new action for a better future As Christians we are obliged by our faith in God to carry a message, and we have to continue to carry it despite the thorns, despite blood and daily difficulties. We place our hope in God, who will grant us relief in His own time. At the same time, we continue to act in accordance with God and His will, building, resisting evil and bringing closer the day of justice and peace.

More than any other times in South Sudan: this is a time for repentance. Repentance brings us back into the communion of love with everyone who suffers, the prisoners, the wounded, those afflicted with temporary or permanent handicaps, the children who cannot live their childhood and each one who mourns a dear one.

The communion of love says to every believer in spirit and in truth:
if my brother is a prisoner I am a prisoner;
if his home is destroyed, my home is destroyed;
when my brother or sister is killed, then I too am killed.

We face the same challenges and share in all that has happened and will happen.

Perhaps, as individuals or as Churches, we were silent when we should have raised our voices in faithful prayers or also to condemn the injustice and share in the suffering. This is a time of repentance for our silence, indifference, I do not care attitudes, lack of communion, either because we did not persevere in our ministry in this beloved South Sudan and abandoned it, or because we did not think and do enough to reach a new and integrated vision and remained divided, contradicting our witness and weakening our word.

Repentance for our concern with our institutions, sometimes at the expense of our ministry, silences the prophetic voice given by the Spirit to the Churches.
What is so consoling is the love in practice we continue to receive from many of our brothers and sisters around the world, by and large of those who have refused to leave South Sudan at this time. Our beloved missionaries from several congregations. The ‘magic’ word –SOLIDARITY with South Sudan – influenced all our friends who have refused to leave South Sudan, ‘thank you! I am thankful equally to those who have left the country but are fully in solidarity with us – be blessed by our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Please our word as South Sudanese is first and foremost; gratitude for the solidarity you have shown toward us in word, deed and presence among us. It is a message of solidarity with those who have suffered because of their services, advocacy for law and justice. I recall here with anxious soul Rev. Sr. Dr. Veronika Teresia Rackova, SSpS in Yei.

Hope and faith in God. In the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope. We ought to believe in God, good and just. We must surely believe that God’s goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land.

My prayer is that, we will see here "a new land" and "a new human being", capable of rising up in the spirit to love each one of his or her brothers and sisters.

Amen may His will prevail!

 

 
 

A saluatory reminder

Yesterday evening as I strolled back from The Gaf (now my local bar/café in Nebbi), I was reminded of the desperate humanitarian crisis in South Sudan.  A convoy of trucks from the World Food Programme had stopped off in Nebbi en route to the border with South Sudan,

I have been moved by the poverty here in Nebbi and the surrounding areas and the commitment of the people to improve their lives.  The people I have met have hope.  Uganda has a stable government and the people enjoy a safe and peaceful life and are able to grow crops and raise animals to feed themselves.  Sadly for the people of South Sudan five years of civil conflict means they have little to be hopeful about.

This article published in the Guardian last week sets out in stark reality a desperate humanitarian crisis which sadly is going largely unnoticed by the world's media - https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/aug/09/untold-devastation-in-south-sudan-triggers-grave-humanitarian-crisis-un.

Sponsorship comes in all forms

Mindful of the challenges faced in balancing the books - whether that be at home, here at Caritas in Nebbi or within the public sector - this sign on my walk into Nebbi to do some shopping left me wondering whether other public sector organisations could learn something from the police in Nebbi ...

Youth Ministry in Nebbi

Yesterday, Father Albert invited me to speak to the 350 plus young people who gathered in the partially completed Parish Centre opposite Nebbi Catholic Cathedral.  The young people had come from the various Catholic schools within Nebbi District and participated in the praise and worship with great enthusiasm.

Click here to watch short video of the youth singing praise to God.

The building was packed to overflowing (no health and safety issues to limit the numbers here) and outside curious onlookers sought any advantage point to see what was happening ...

Offertory procession at Nebbi Catholic Cathedral

Last week I posted about the fantastic offertory procession at the Cathedral Church of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady here in Nebbi.  This week I went prepared with my video camera.  Sadly there are no goats but there is a hen decorated with the most elaborate ribbons!

The files size limitations of the blog mean that I have had to upload the video to YouTube but simply follow this link to watch the offertory procession - Watch Here.

Enjoy!

 

Special post for the Parish Schola at church of St. Joseph & St. Mary, Guernsey

Choir practice Nebbi Cathedral style ...

Nebbi market

Ventured down to the market in Nebbi yesterday.  It is an amazing mixture of traders selling everything from apples to wellington boots!  Great colours, sounds and smells (well some of the smells not as great as others!) ...

Healthcare provision at Pakwack Mission Health Centre

The Pakwack Mission Health Centre offers a range of in and outpatient services to over 10,000 women and children in Pakwack and the surrounding villages and settlement as far away as Wadelai and Pawor.  The centre offers maternity services, including a delivery room and post natal ward, minor surgery and post-operative care, immunisation clinics and HIV/AIDS clinics.  It also offers natural family planning in accord with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

However, the fascilities are poor and cramped. The clinic is unable to offer all the service it would wish and has sadly had to refuse offers of equipment simply because it has nowhere to use or store the kit and not through a lack of need.

Perhaps the following photographs cause us all to stop and think next time we are having to wait, thumbing through a pile of out-of-date magazines to see a GP or be treated at A&E ... At Pakwack the waiting room is outside in the grounds and if ou are fortunate you may be able to shelter under a mango tree.

The exterior of the clinic

The HIV/AIDS clinic

The single consulting room and minor surgery unit

The post-natal ward

The delivery room

The ward (not great on privacy leave alone space, so guessing infection controls are impossible)