Mission Trip 7: Iboni

Last Friday we journeyed to the parish community of Iboni. I had been in contact with Fr. Lucio Izama, pastor in Iboni, for several months prior regarding the possibility of a visit. This was necessary because Iboni has no cell phone network and so I had to speak with Fr. Izama when he was passing through Torit and I happened to run into him. For this same reason we experienced a little confusion as we were preparing to make the trip. I had set up with Fr. Izama that either he or someone from the parish would meet us in Torit on Thursday to travel with us the next day to Iboni. When no one showed up on Thursday I attempted to contact him by two way radio at one of the local NGOs. When that proved unsuccessful the bishop helped us to locate someone from the Iboni parish council who happened to be in Torit. So, we set out a few hours late on Friday with Louis, Iboni parish council secretary.

It's a rough, three-hour ride to the village. It would have been a lot worse if there had been rain recently, but - unfortunately for the local community - there has been none for the past three weeks. Our fully loaded Land Cruiser pulled into the parish house at about 4:00 pm. Fr. Izama was pleased to see us; he said to the others who were present when we arrived: "I told you they would come somehow!"

One of the first tasks was to fill a large barrel of water from a bore hole (well) a few kilometers distant from the house; the closer bore hole requires much longer pumping before the water reaches the surface. We happened to arrive at the other well at the hour when many of the women from that village were drawing water for cooking, bathing and other purposes. It was fascinating for me to watch their interactions and get a little glimpse of one of the daily activities of their lives. It was one of those moments when I realized that I had the privilige and amazing experience of being in a rural village in the heart of Africa, seeing life there first hand.

The following morning we visited another of the many villages that comprise the parish of Iboni. A group of children immediately gathered when Josh pulled out his guitar and began to sing. Iboni and the villages nearby are terraced into hillsides, giving them a very charming appearance. The surrounding countryside and scenery are amazing, including multicolored grasshoppers that feast on local crops.

We returned to Iboni itself late in the morning and made a quick pass through the village of about 1,000 residents to invite them to an afternoon program of evangelization. Once again it was the children who led the way; about 200 of them turned up at 4:00 pm when we began to sing and pray. Gradually some adults joined us as they finished the work of the day. We separated the adults and children; Carol and Etel spoke with and coordinated an activity for the children ,and several of the friars gave short sharings on the theme of prayer, the topic Fr. Izama asked us to focus on for the day. As evening approached we reunited the two groups and gave everyone a holy card with a photo of St. Bakhita as we prayed several decades of the Rosary together.

Once it was dark enough we began the showing of the Jesus film in the local language. People were glued to the screen, actually a bedsheet that allowed the video to be viewed from both sides - a trick we learned at the UZIMA! retreat in Kisumu two weekends earlier. The head teacher told us that it was the first time that any film had been shown in the village, as well as the first time anyone there had seen that kind of visual presentation of the life of Jesus. It's amazing what can be done almost anywhere with a generator, speakers and a projector. During the viewing a full moon rose from behind the hill on which the village is built, illuminating the clear night sky and bright enough to cast shadows.

The next day a large crowd (someone said the largest ever) showed up for Mass, which is celebrated under a tree for lack of a church. People came in their Sunday best, which for one little boy meant an Hawaiian shirt with a necktie, and there was singing, clapping and - of course in Africa - plenty of dancing.