South Sudan: The land trodden by St. Daniel Comboni
The visit of Pope Francis to South Sudan, scheduled for 5-7 July 2022, has motivated fr Moise Etienne and fr Philippe François to visit this country in the footsteps of St. Josephine Bakhita (1865-1947) and St. Daniel Comboni (1831-1881).
St. Daniel Comboni, the founder of the Comboni Missionaries whose charism is to “Save Africa with Africans“, wrote to his parents in 1858 while he was a missionary in Sudan: “We will have to work hard, sweat and die: but the thought that we sweat and die for the love of Jesus Christ and the salvation of the most abandoned souls in the world is far too sweet for us to give up this great enterprise...”.
He was ordained bishop in 1877 and appointed Vicar Apostolic of Central Africa. He died four years later of an illness in Khartoum on 10 October 1881 at the age of 50 years.
Despite the cancellation of the Pope’s trip because of his knee, we decided to maintain our journey as we had already booked our plane tickets….. Despite several setbacks as soon as we arrived at the airport in Juba, the capital, our first impression of the reality of this young country was a feeling of wonderment mixed with dismay at the poverty. We were able to meet some religious communities in Juba (Fr. Richard, rector of the major seminary of Juba, Mgr. Eduardo Hiboro Kussala, bishop of Yambio, Fr. Luis, provincial of the Comboni Missionaries, Fr. Moses Raja and the community of Indian priests of the MMI fathers, Fr. Waldemar, responsible for the Salesian formation center at Gumbo-Juba) and visited some places (the Blue Nile, the city of ministries) while waiting patiently for the flight to Yambio.
The bishop of Yambio, Mgr Edouardo, whom we met in Juba on the occasion of the arrival of Cardinal PAROLIN, Secretary of State of the Vatican, spoke to us passionately about his diocese located in the West of South Sudan, close to the Congo DRC and the Central African Republic, and shared with us “the wonders of his land”. Barani Edouardo, as he is called, showed us the strengths and challenges of his diocese.
Have you ever experienced being greeted to the point where your knuckles hurt? Welcome to Yambio. Our departure was postponed several times due to a lack of space on the plane, but we finally landed in Yambio. We admired the beauty of South Sudan -forest and various market gardens with red dirt roads- during an hour-and-a-half flight at low altitude in a small Cessna 208 Caravan plane with 20 passengers.
As soon as we arrived, the warm welcome of the resident priests at the bishop’s house and of the laity allowed us to experience the Church family of God. With only two days in Yambio, the socio-pastoral coordinator, Fr Charles, had organized an intense program to visit part of this large diocese, starting with a meeting with Father Thomas, vicar general, and an interview with the Catholic radio station “Anissa Radio”
Everywhere we went, those we met – the Brothers of Christian Instruction in RimenzĂ©, the Sisters of NzanrĂ©, the hospital of Saint Theresa, the minor seminary, the philosophate, the diocesan retreat centre, the women’s promotion centre in Gangara, the NGO Solidarity – all let us know with the same refrain the deepest thirst of this part of Africa: “Our country needs education“.
During this short stay, we were able to discover the young church of the diocese of Yambio, alive and dynamic, acting with perseverance and hope in the face of real challenges.
Father Charles states: “The church is the main actor in the development of the region of Yambio“, in unison with this quotation from Populorum Progressio of the Second Vatican Council: “Development is the new name for Peace“.
We left full of enthusiasm despite the fatigue by the same plane to Juba on 9 July, the day of the 11th anniversary of the independence of the youngest country in the world, before returning to Addis Ababa on 10 July.
In connection with this trip and a Sudanese lay leader, Simon Dukpuro, Brother Philippe François organized in Addis Ababa on 23 July 2022 a day of sharing and training on the theme “Actors for Peace and Reconciliation in South Sudan” for 20 Sudanese Catholic students from 9 state universities in Ethiopia.
Following the example of Pope Francis who knelt on 11 April 2019 in Rome to kiss the feet of President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Vice Presidents Riek Machar and Rebecca Nyandeng to be peacemakers as brothers in their country, we are invited to pray unceasingly for Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation in South Sudan.