Preparatory Visit to Chukudum

The tree-lined road leading to the parish church.

This past Sunday, Maynor, Dennis and I left very early in the morning to drive to Chukudum. The early morning departure had two motives. One, the roads are safer; Two, we had to get to the parish before the Sunday morning Mass at 10:00 am. Previously the road into Chukudum was a nightmare, especially during the rainy season. It could take 3-4 hours to cover the distance. The road was repaired last year, though, reducing the dry season driving time to 30-40 minutes. Now that the rains have returned, though, the road is beginning to deteriorate. There was a noticeable difference for the worse even in the one day between our arrival and our departure. We’re hoping it won’t get much worse before the mission team arrives there in a week and a half. It was beautiful, though, to see the early morning sun shining on the green Didinga Hills as we approached the village. One of those really glorious moments when you are so happy to be just where you are.

Sacred Heart of Jesus parish church in Chukudum.

We made it in plenty of time for Mass, which gave me the hoped-for opportunity to speak with Fr. Dario Arite, the pastor, about the possibility of the visiting mission team doing two days of evangelization in the community. Fr. Dario is a cheerful, humble and affable man, and he responded as I thought he would: very positively. We had also been able to bring some supplies (mostly food) designated for the parish, which he was grateful to receive. Fr. Dario very graciously allowed me to preach at the Sunday Mass, and the congregation was exceptionally attentive and responsive. The choir was fantastic, too; I asked them to please sing the same Allelulia they sang before the Gospel again during the upcoming mission – it really moved, and made you move, too.

Thanks to recent rains the waterfall at the base of the mountains has begun to flow again.

Although there has been rain recently in Chukudum (including a very heavy downpour that swept away newly planted seeds and claimed the lives of a few small children), people there are still suffering terribly from hunger. One man at the river crossing lifted his shirt to show me how thin he had become, and the skin was literally hanging from his bones. One of the seminarian candidates who lives with Fr. Dario was noticeably thinner than when I was there in February. Fr. Dario is concerned that some people could die of hunger in the remaining difficult months before the next harvest in July; he said the grain we brought earlier had been a huge help. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do at the moment to help. However, I did find out that because the embargo on exporting grain from Uganda has been lifted, truckloads of maize (corn) have been arriving in the village from there; the grain is completely sold out right off the trucks shortly after they arrive. Fifty kilo bags are selling for 50 Sudanese pounds a piece, and the trucks carry 200-300 bags at a pop. I asked Fr. Dario to please check into the possibility of arranging the purchase of a truckload of grain. It would cost between $3650 and $5500. I don’t have that money yet, but God can provide in surprising ways. It would be wonderful if we could combine a delivery of food for the hungry with our evangelization efforts, uniting the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

 A girl of four looks after her little brother of three while carrying an infant sibling, too.

We had planned to show a film on Our Lady of Fatima (in view of her upcoming feast day on Thursday) in the evening, but as we were preparing we received some very sad news. A man arrived with the body of his high-school aged daughter who died suddenly just a few hours before. In the morning she seemed perfectly healthy when she went to bring water from the stream, but she fainted there and died shortly after. The body was waked in the church while the family prepared the grave. Without skipping a beat, Fr. Dario immediately celebrated Mass for the girl with the many villagers who gathered to pray. During Mass a passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans was read: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will he not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things” (Rom 8:31-32). It struck me at that moment that the grieving father had something that united him with God the Father: they both experienced the loss of a much loved child.

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