A New Year in Sudan

Panoramic view of Lake Victoria from St. Catherine's Home

(click to enlarge)

I was blessed to spend Christmas and New Years with the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne (NY, USA) at St. Catherine’s Home (their hospice for cancer patients) in Kisumu, located on Lake Victoria in western Kenya. It’s a wonderful place for rest and prayer, and I left feeling spiritually refreshed and restored. The sisters offer marvelous care to the poor Kenyans who spend the last days of their lives with them, preparing to enter eternal life. The presence of those who are nearing the end of their earthly journey is an amazing stimulus to think about one’s own life and eventual death. I was particularly moved by the example of Onesimus, a name taken from St. Paul’s Letter to Philemon (many Kenyans have biblical names; one of the gatekeepers at the home is called Titus, from another letter of St. Paul). Onesimus is 28 and was studying civil engineering when he developed a brain tumor; it had already caused blindness by the time I met him. He is facing his terminal illness with uncomplaining acceptance and peace. I was also privileged to anoint Leonard, an older man already very near death when he arrived during my visit.

On my way back to Sudan I passed through Nairobi, which gave me the opportunity to celebrate Mass for a large group of friends from Communion and Liberation. Twenty-five gathered on Epiphany Sunday at Regina Pacis, the Diocese of Torit’s guest house. Fr. Martin Ochaya, a priest of the Archdiocese of Juba but originally from Torit, concelebrated. While in Nairobi I was also able to see the recent animated version of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. It is an incredibly well-done depiction of a classical story of the hardening of a human heart caused by the love of money that strangles all other loves and shrivels ones heart and humanity, and the breaking of that heart of stone and the restoration of that humanity by the confrontation with ones final destiny in death and the suffering of others.

Aerial veiws of Torit:
the UN compound on the outskirts of town above;
below: residential section,
new State Ministry of Education building at the end of the airstrip,
the town market composed of stalls topped with tin roofs

I arrived back in Torit last Monday, and spent three busy days catching up and preparing for the mission trip which begins next week. Just before leaving yesterday I was able to sign the contract for the next phase of repairs on Mercy House. The residence should be ready to occupy in a matter of weeks.

Women harvesting and carrying sorghum.

I write from Nimule, Sudan, on the Uganda border. I arrived here this afternoon with eight youth from Torit. On the way I took a detour to Palotaka to check on the purchase of food supplies for round two of the hunger relief effort. The sorghum harvest is in full swing in Magwi County, and we’re hoping to make another delivery of food to suffering communities in early February.

Lunch at the Gloryland restaurant in Magwi for less than $2 each for the Torit youth mission team.

First thing tomorrow morning I meet Dennis Kiyimba (the Ugandan lay missionary) on the other side of the border and we head to Kampala to meet the mission team arriving from the US and Honduras. Stay tuned for a stream of postings in the next two weeks as our evangelization activities move into full swing.

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