Isohe and AVSI Revisited

Right after the procession with the body of Fr. Saturnino Ohure to the monument in the town square that is named in his honor, and the celebration of Christian burial there, I rushed back to the bishop's house at the other end of town to catch up with a group of AVSI personnel who were arriving from Juba. Several of the long-term AVSI Sudan team members were present, as well as some visitors from the US and Italy. I'm posing above with (left to right) Chiara Savelli - AVSI administrator in Milan for their efforts in Uganda and Sudan, Ezio Castelli - vice-president of AVSI, based in Washington, DC (whom I met in New York in September of last year just before coming to Africa), and Chiara Mezzalira, an Italian pediatrician on a short-term AVSI assignment at the diocese's hospital in Isohe.

We journeyed together to AVSI's Sudan base in Isohe. Below is part of the "road" we travelled to get there, which at times seemed to disappear and reappear again in front of us.


Isohe is one of the most beautiful places I've visited in the Diocese of Torit. It is a small village nestled right up against the Dongotona Mountains, which surround it and shield it from behind. On a clear day the mountains are so vivid that they seem almost to jump out at you, close enough to reach out and touch. Their impressive peaks also seem to call out to you to scale them if you can. Isohe is approached from the plain that stretches out from the base of the range.




This is the second visit I've made to Isohe and the AVSI base there. It gave me the opportunity to explore the surrounding area a bit more, including the road to Ikotos below and the little village of Ichena on the side of the hill in the background.


Below, Federico Orciari of the staff of AVSI Sudan, shows Ezio and Chiara Mezzalira a well drilled by the organization to serve the people of the hillside village.


Women ascending the path that leads from the plain to their homes in Ichena:


Men assembling the frame of a roof for a new tukul:


A family sheltering themselves from the force of the hot Sudanese sun in the shade of their home:


In addition to St. Kizito primary boarding school, Isohe is home to a secondary boarding school also run by the diocese: St. Augustine's located behind the church and close to the mountains.


Beyond St. Augustine School are clusters of other huts surrounded by tropical folliage.

I came across these boys playing a game with stones under a tree.


Just before leaving this past Monday, I noticed in the parish compound an underground bunker that was used to provide protection during air raids in the war.


The words faintly inscribed over the entrance to the bunker are a quotation from the First Letter of John (1Jn 4:8,16) and the episcopal motto of Bishop Emeritus Paride Taban, who lead the diocese during the war years: "God is Love." A profound profession of faith and challenging thought: the last words that those fleeing from Antinov bombers would see before diving into the darkness and feeling the earth reel from the explosions taking place above ground that were intended by their enemies to destroy their lives.