Palotaka was once a significant village in Magwi County, with a large church and stately rectory which also served as a formation house for seminarians. The parish is celebrating its diamond jubilee (75th anniversary) this year. But Palotaka suffered badly during the last civil war. The rectory was occupied for a while by the SPLA, but was later abandoned as the battle lines drew near.
Now the main street that passes through town is home to a few vender's stalls, and the ruins of the decrepit rectory loom in the background.
The battered church stands off to the left from the rectory, flanked by two large twin trees. The parish keeps the hope alive of having it restored some day.
There are still some rooms in the rectory, though, sound and secure enough to store the grain purchased for hunger relief from local farmers. Hopefully soon St. Joseph Farm, which formerly provided food to most of the diocese's institutions, will be fully functional again. Palotaka is famous for its fertile fields.
We journeyed to Palotaka last Thursday, February 11, to pick up the last installment of hunger relief grain from last year's harvest. The process was pretty similar to the first round, only this time I changed money in the market with Kenyans at a restaurant and a bar, and at a Sudanese vegetable stand. We loaded 10 metric tons (10,000 kg) into two of the diocese's lorries.
As always, the biggest suspense had to do with the vehicles, but the diocese's miracle mechanics are always somehow able to get them back up and running (there's a second mechanic barely visible under the truck), even if it means having to push the vehicle and pop the clutch.
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1 comment:
Hello Father Herald! I just found your blog through another Franciscan Priest's page which I follow regularly. I was amazed to find your blog, and find it both remarkable, uplifting and bittersweet for me. I am Italian, now living in the US, but also lived in Ethiopia long ago, before the political unrest. As we were leaving (forced) we had to go through Sudan, and since then I have prayed nightly for the safety and protection for the Christians and people of good will in Sudan. I was involved in many causes trying to raise awareness and money for relief for South Sudan during the civil war (which unfortunately never became a cause du jour like Darfur did) and met his holiness bishop Macram Gassis on one of his visits to the US (San Francisco) back in 1998.
When I was back in Ethiopia for the turn of the millenium (2007) I met with a family friend who had been working for UN in Juba and told us how he had a very bad feeling regarding the peace and independence process in South Sudan, which made me very sad to hear. Ever since, I try to scrounge and search for any and all information on South Sudan, which as you know is essentially off the radar for western media.
I apologize for this long post to you, Father. But rest assured, I will be following your blog religiously now. God bless you in your ministry and the people you meet and help every day. You have made me very happy. Keep up the blog, the beautiful pictures and above all, the gospel : )
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