A Centenary Happening:

In early August, Marion attended part of a “Symposium on the Centenary of Faith in Northern Uganda.” Representatives from Gulu, Arua, Nebi, and Lira dioceses were there.

Dr. Fr. Fidel Gonzales-Fernandez, Comboni Church History professor from Rome, presented early evangelization to Africa. Sr. Kathryn Pinkman told about the sisters coming from Khartoum by camel - 90 days of travel! (And we think the 24-hour plane travel is an ordeal!)

Auxiliary Bishop Sabino listed current challenges, including new colonialism, economic exploration, war, under-development, tribalism, nepotism, witchcraft, superstition and corruption. He called for responding in the missionary spirit of Daniel Comboni which includes inculturation. At the Mass Archbishop Odama announced that he has sent a letter to Rome asking for additional missionaries.

Our Gardener

Since the previous installment about our carbon footprint and the garden in Gulu, you can see from the photos how much God (and humans) has done to our earth! In the picture is our chief yard man, Obita Charles. This young man has a wife and four children, three of whom are in school. The five year old has had malaria twice since Obita started working for us. …And, yes, they do use bed-nets, but they are outside all evening UNTIL bedtime.

When our house was in the finishing stages and most of the workers had completed their various tasks, Obita was faithfully leveling the part of the yard nearest to the gate. He worked very hard in the hot sun, all by himself, to finish the task given to him. We were impressed with his work ethic. His work day began at 8:00 AM and finished around 6:00 PM, with about an hour and a half for breaks.

As we moved into our new house, Obita approached us and asked if we would consider hiring him during the three months that Brother Mike, his boss, was out of the country. He would have no employment during that interim period. After the three of us talked it over, we agreed that there was much to be done in the yard to make it the way we would like to enjoy it. We only have him working about five hours a day, but we are pleased with the results. Just keeping the grass slashed is a major work! But Obita’s first love is gardening.

Obita has many good ideas that we might credit to education; with him it seems to be just common sense. When his five-year-old refused to take his malaria medicine, Obita told him a story about two children who got malaria…. One boy refused his medicine and died; the other took his medicine and grew up to be a doctor (or some fine profession). Obita’s son immediately chose to take his medicine. Obita is also involved in working with the youth in his village. He and a group of the adults are attempting to gather the young people in their village who are not in school and are not working, to help them see what they can accomplish and why they should be working at making their village a pleasurable place to be.

We really do appreciate his efforts in our yard as well as in his village. He attempts to share his knowledge of plants, creatures around us, and even helps us “read” the sky when we try to decide whether or not it is safe to put out our laundry. He certainly has added a lot to our lives!