The inhabitants of Nyangatom region in south-west Ethiopia are agro-pastoralists. The biannual rainfall pattern in the area allows them to practice rain-fed agriculture during the two rainy seasons, ranging roughly from April to June and then from September to November. The main crops grown are sorghum, maize and beans. What is not a common agricultural practice is the cultivation of fruit trees and vegetables. Moreover, scarcity of water due to prolonged droughts pose a serious risk to subsistence farming and hence to food security.

In response to this problem of food shortage, members of the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) at the Prince of Peace Catholic Mission at Nyangatom have come up with pilot farms both at Kakuta and Naturomoe schools so as to help women acquire new skills in farming.

We use the drip system of irrigation at the farms, and despite the scarcity of water in the region, we are now able to produce vegetables and fruits on the farms. The fruit from the farms is enjoyed by many in the area, especially the children at both the schools.

By Kevin Rakara
MCSPA Apprentice
Nyangatom Mission, Ethiopia

Greetings from the Prince of Peace Catholic mission at Nyangatom, Ethiopia. It is our hope that everybody is happy with the celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are also very happy to share with everybody the great news of the opening of our newly built Assembly Hall, built on the top of Naturomoe Hill, and the dedication of the mission to the Prince of Peace and Our Lady of the Embrace. The new building has been blessed by His Lordship Markos Gebremedhin, Bishop of Jimma-Bonga Apostolic Vicariate. Also in attendance were the Apostolic Nuncio to Ethiopia, Archbishop Antoaine Camillieri, and Msgr. John Mbinda CSSP, Bishop of Lodwar Diocese, Kenya.

The name Naturomoe is a Nyangatom word that means “the enemies have escaped”, and indeed, up to recent times, this was a place of violent conflict and a corridor used by cattle rustlers from different communities such as the Turkana of Kenya, Nyangatom of Ethiopia and Toposa of South Sudan. They could meet in this place just to fight.

Thanks to God’s divine Mercy, this reality has been changing for the last two years.

Today we are so happy because the blessing of the new Hall and the dedication of the Mission to the Prince of Peace and Our Lady of the Embrace gives the peace of God a chance to be well rooted in this area where before nobody dreamt of building a permanent house.

The goal of our mission is evangelization and fostering peace and development.

It is our hope that with the new building of the local community will be able to gain cohesion and peace that comes from the heart.

Our sincere gratitudes goes to those who have helped us achieve such a milestone.

We wish everybody a very happy and blessed holidays and a prosperous new year 2024.

Greetings from Naturomoe Prince of Peace Catholic Mission. We wish to share with you the progress of the road construction to Naita. This is an essential connector project for the communities of southwest Ethiopia, northwest Kenya, and eastern Equatoria state in South Sudan. The main aim is to bring peace and development to isolated communities based around the Naita range that have suffered from conflict and marginalization for decades. This project has been one of our main priorities since the members of the Missionary Community of St. Paul started working almost 10 years ago in Nyangatom. We intend to give access to basic social-pastoral services to the people. The work is about to reach its goal, as we can see the Naita Mountain very close by.

Constant meetings with the local people and the leaders of the Nyangatom Woreda (local government) have been very important to ensure that the work is efficient, and security is provided for the sugar factory Omo 5 bulldozer and its operators. In a recent meeting with the local community of Lotuko, a Ngikoporea was very encouraging. The people are willing to cooperate with the mission and the local government in whatever it takes, to bring the road project to fulfillment.

One can tell from the excitement of the people that they have longed for something very fundamental in their lives. They are hopeful of getting socio-pastoral services with the completion of the project. The people believe that before the road was opened, they never existed. It is now that they know they exist because they are able to see people coming to them. Speaking in one of the encounters, an elder emphasized that the opening of the road will help to bring peace among three conflicting communities namely; Turkana (of Kenya), Toposa (South Sudan), and Nyangatom (Ethiopia). He said in a very emotional manner: “We have been hearing about the coming of the road for the past 10-15 years. Now I am very sure that we will have access to socio-pastoral services such as health, water, education, and pastoral attention. Before the road was started it was like we never existed. We were forgotten and is like we never existed. I am very happy today because I know that we exist as human beings. We can see people coming closer to us”.

We hope that once the project is finished, we will be able to reach out to them easily. We hope to open outstations and bring the Gospel to them, go periodically for mobile clinics, and provide them with water as it is one of the biggest challenges that the people face.

Daniel Jepter, apprentice of the MCSPA

Very recently we had the visit of the Asturian veterinarians David Iglesias, Esteban Iglesias and Carlos Iglesias to Nyangatom, Ethiopia. Their last visit was in 2019, since then they could not come due to the pandemic and local sociopolitical problems. Once again, they have resumed the annual deworming campaign for the Nyangatom animals.

The team has had the significant help of local veterinary assistants and the support of the mission team.

It has been about 10 days of intense work and more than 15,000 goats and sheep have been dewormed. Many more could have been done, but due to the severe drought that is currently hitting the Horn of Africa, many of the herds and their herdsmen have migrated to mountainous grazing areas located north of the Nyangatom region, within the Omo national park, where there is no accessibility.

Despite this, we are very happy with the result and with the good reception by many local herders. We have been able to successfully complete the areas of Kakuta, Lorau, Lomuria, Naturomoe and Kaderinyang, benefiting about 5,000 people.

In addition, the veterinarians were able to carry out castrations of dogs, which will help reduce diseases with a high incidence in the area transmitted by these animals to humans, such as tapeworms, hydatid cysts, rabies and others.

We have experienced a multitude of anecdotes in a short time, and we have had very direct contact in the daily life, both full of difficulties and joys, of this very authentic Nyangatom people.

We thank the veterinary team from Spain, and all those people and institutions that have supported this much-needed project, remembering that the health of human beings is closely linked to the health of animals.

Thank you very much!

Fr. Angel Valdivia. MCSPA

A day like today just 8 years ago, we blessed the Kakuta mission. It was the first Catholic mission in Ethiopia’s Nyangatom land.

From the year 2011 to 2013, Father David and I were often traveling to Nyangatom from Lokitaung, Turkana.

We usually came and went. Our stays were short and lasted as long as our drinking water and food lasted.

The year 2014 was when we would finally “burn our ships” and we would no longer turn back. After being camped for a few months in the compound of the government’s dispensary in Kakuta, and from where all our belongings were stolen in August, on November 24th we moved our large tents while they were set up, between 6 people, almost like a Holy Week processional image, from the dispensary to the mission.

After the blessing of the compound according to the Catholic rite, the elders blessed us in the Nyangatom style. We ate goat and drank the traditional epun (coffee husk infusion).

Today the Kakuta mission houses the St John XXIII – Ekisil mother and child center, where 50 preschool children learn hygiene habits, eat breakfast and lunch, in addition to receiving a quality education!

These last eight years have flown by. At the same time, it gives us the feeling of having already lived several lives here: both good and bad times! Always being grateful, with the firm hope that it was a mission from God, trusting in Jesus Christ, who from the first moment “guided our steps along the path of La Paz”.

Alakara lowoi!

Angel Valdivia MCSPA

MCSPA members of the Prince of Peace Catholic Mission, have joined representatives from the Nyangatom local government on Sunday, in order to show solidarity to the people of Kibish, who lost their homes in the recent fire this week.

This initiative is a real sign of love and peace between communities that are still in conflict due to cattle raid and excess of small-fire-arms.

We pray that such kind of signs will be the beginning of a real peace based on a mutual respect for the dignity of every member of the community across the divide.

Fr. Angel Valdivia