Loa boasts of a beautiful, stately church and rectory, but has also been the victim of violence and destruction perpetrated by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), based in nearby Uganda. Just a few years ago the LRA torched one of the parish's vehicles, robbed sacks of food and shot holes in the roof of the rectory.
To get from Loa to Nimule we had to cross this bridge over the Aswa river (a tributary of the Nile). During our stay in Nimule an overloaded tractor trailer caused the bride to break in half, making it impassible, and creating a major traffic crisis for both South Sudan and Uganda, since the bridge lies along the major supply route linking the capitals of both countries.
Further on we drove through a game reserve (shown below) and then over the highest mountain in the area.
Our first view of the Nile was from near the peak.
At the summit is a radio tower built by an Evangelical Protestant organization from the US that wants to expand its broadcast power from a smaller and lower tower several miles away to this new, higher and stronger but not yet functional tower near Nimule - a reminder that there are others who are laboring with great effort to present their alternate version of the Gospel to the people of South Sudan.
Nimule is located right on the Nile (to the west) and the border of Uganda (to the south). It is served by St. Patrick's Parish.
The occasion for our visit was the Diocese of Torit's Annual General Meeting, in which almost all of the priests and personnel of the diocese participated. There were reports from the different parishes and programs of the diocese, a projection of future activities and a discussion of difficulties. It drove home to me again the incredible challenges the diocese confronts in fulfilling its mission in a post-war situation of extreme poverty and underdevelopment. It was also amazing to see what the diocese has been able to accomplish despite some significant obstacles.
In addition to the social/training center in front of which we are pictured above (I'm in the last row, to the right of the center column), the parish is also in the process of constructing additional facilities to accomodate the many visitors that pass through the border town, as well as personnel from the UN and different NGOs which operate nearby.
Because our way back to Torit was now cut off by the broken bridge, we had to take a detour through Uganda (which took a little negotiating, since most of us did not have our passports with us). Below is the Uganda immigration station at Bibia, followed by some rural Ugandan children we met at a stop along the way.
After several hours of driving east through the beautiful northern Uganda country side we came to the next official (if remote) border crossing.
On the Sudan side, behind the two huts which house the immigration and customs authorities, is a health clinic being constructed by the Diocese of Torit to help serve the many thousands of Sudanese refugees who are returning from Uganda where they fled during the war.
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