Following the request of our Bishop, Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, yesterday, 7th August, we have opened a new chapel in Navuru, half way between Ngboko and Source Yubu. We have celebrated mass and blessed the land that was donated for the chapel. 7th of August is, in the Roman calendar, apart of St Sixtus and several other saints appears St Afra. So, the new chapel is called St Afra.

Who was St Afra?
She was born sometime towards the end of the third century AD. Her mother was a Greek from Cyprus, her father was a Nubian. He could also have been a Nuer, a Dinka, a Balanda or a Zande. Why not? We do not know it for certain.

We only know that her father was really black, and Afra took the genes from him. She was born dark, and so they named her Africa, or in short Afra. Her mother was a prostitute, and Afra followed the trade of her mother. As it is customary with prostitutes, they follow the soldiers. Afra went to the north of the Empire, where there was a large military camp, Castra Augusta Vindelicorum, present day Augsburg. There, Afra was running a lodging / brothel, with a group of younger prostitutes.

It happened that in 303 there was a fierce persecution throughout the Empire. In Spain by that time, Christianity was already established. In Gerona, northern Spain, there was a bishop called Narciso, and together with his two deacons he tried to hide, and so he escaped to the northern part of the Empire where there were no Christians and where he would not be known.

When arriving to Augsburg they looked for a lodging. Afra welcomed them, offered them a room and supper, as well as the service of her girls. To her surprise, they were not interested in the girls, but prayed before the meal.
Eventually Afra was converted to Christianity and together with her were all her girls converted. From then on, they would continue running the lodge, but no longer offer sexual services.

A small Christian Community established in Augsburg. After some time the persecution seemed over and Bishop Narciso returned to Gerona. He left behind a small Christian Church and consecrated one young man by name Dionysius as overseer (Episcopus). On returning to Spain a new persecution started and Narciso was put to death in 304.

In the meantime in Augsburg, the soldiers in the barracks were very angry, as the girls would no longer follow their sexual advances, no matter if they were handsome and with money. So, they accused Afra of having bewitched them. She was dragged on to an island in river Lech and burned on the stage. Her girls collected the remains and buried them.

St. Afra is one of the patron saints of my home Diocese, Augsburg. Whenever I go to Augsburg, I go to pray at the tomb of St Afra.
There is also a shrine of St Afra in Gerona (Spain), and now a chapel of St Afra between Ngboko and Source Yubu.

St. Afra is also the patron saint of the repentant sinners. I think, we all need repentance. So, as a Saint, regardless if her father was from the Nubian Mountains or from Zande land (we only know he came from somewhere in the region), Afra is still a Saint that can appeal to all of us.

Fr. Avelino Bassols MCSPA

Edward and Theresa got married when they were young in a small village called Source Yubu in South Sudan, just at the border with the Central African Republic. The two were blessed with three lovely children whom they loved so much. Years passed by and their love grew weaker day after day until they divorced. Edward remained in South Sudan and married. Theresa on the other hand went to Central African Republic, and married there too.

Sometimes because of our youth we do things that we may regret when we are older. This happened to Edward, even though he remarried, he was not very happy and always thought of his first wife. One day he made a journey in search of his wife. They met, but Theresa was not willing to come back.

The years went by, and now they were both old and had lost their spouses. They did not know, but fate would bring them back together. They both fell sick and became blind. Theresa had to come back home and her daughter would take care of her. The two met again and love flourished once more between them, and they came back together. Though now both blind, and unable to see each other, they have reunited and are happily living together.

When he hear stories like the one, we realise that the most important thing in life is to be happy and united with our loved ones.

We would like to thank all those people who act as bridges, to try and bring people, who were once divided, together again, to find happiness with their loved ones once again.

Benjamin Khandi
Apprentice MCSPA

Dear friends,

I write to you from Ave Maria Mission in Mboko, Tombura-Yambio region in South Sudan. I came here to visit our missionaries and also to discover the possibility for mission work here. We were among the last persons allowed to enter the country just before it went into lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now there is no turning back, I will be here until the borders are opened again … God knows when!

At the moment there are apparently only 2 suspected cases of infection in South Sudan. I pray for many of you who are now either locked down or have your movements restricted. There are many who have lost their loved ones because of this virus. We pray that during these hard times, we may be strong and united in faith and spirit.

The few weeks that I have spent here in South Sudan have been wonderful and I am learning many things. I arrived with the preconceived idea that this was a poor country because of what I had seen in the media. During the flight from Juba to Yambio I could only see whole forests of mango trees laden with fruit. In Yambio town and later on at Ave Maria Mission, there were again plenty of mangoes even on the ground and no one even bothered to pick them!

As I am living in Turkana, I have the urge to pick the mangoes and carry them with me to the house to make mango juice or dry them and keep them for later. It is not good to let these precious fruits go to waste!

The most striking moments have been these last three days of the Paschal Triduum. We could not celebrate mass in the outstations because of the need for social distance. However many people have been coming to the mission, walking sometimes for 6 to 9 km, to see if perhaps the priest would allow them to attend mass at the mission. Some of the faithful cried when they heard that there would not be masses over Easter.

But we thank God that despite all this, they went back home affirmed in their faith.

Happy Easter of the Resurrection to all!

Lillian Omari, MCSPA

Happy Easter from Ave Maria Parish, South Sudan. As we could not celebrate Easter mass for our Christians, Frs. Albert and Avelino and the rest of us went around walking for some good five hours, to meet Christians at their homes.

We had short prayers and there was blessing of seeds and different stuff that is valuable to them. This is a tradition here in South Sudan. During Easter, everyone brings seeds, tools for planting or hunting, torches, books, logs for harvesting honey, matchboxes, firewood, and just anything you can imagine. So that soon after, when rains will come, their plants will do well and will have plenty of harvest.

We thank God for the privilege of being able to share with such a strong-faith people as these. Any opportunity of a priest visiting them is a big blessing.

While walking to the different homes many passerby stopped us for blessing. Others rushed home to bring their seeds, and along would come the whole family to receive the Easter blessing. It was a great joy seeing how people were singing and dancing after the blessings.

At least the people were able to celebrate Easter in a different way. Indeed, the light of the risen Christ has reached them today in spite of not being able to attend mass.

Lillian Omari MCSPA

The Source Yubu area in western South Sudan is an immense tropical forest. The annual rainy season lasts for about 8 months, approximately from March to November. And yet the inhabitants of the region endure a number of water-related diseases because many of them depend on open and contaminated water sources.

Following on Fr. Joseph Githinji’s footsteps who drilled several wells in this territory, Fr. Avelino has managed to secure funding for a second borehole at Ave Maria Mission. Today (February 20th), the water aquifer was struck at 92 metres, and the final depth of the well reached 135 metres. We expect a yield between 3,000 to 4,000 litres per hour. 

With the help of a submersible solar-operated pump, clean and sweet water will be brought to the surface for the nursery school, primary school, secondary school, vocational training centre, dispensary and several community supply points at Ngboko village. We thank our heavenly friend, Saint Scholastica, for regularly keeping an eye on our water needs down here!

Fr. Albert Salvans MCSPA

On Tuesday, January 28^th, groups of youth and choirs from all parishes of the Western Deanery of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio (South Sudan), arrived in Ave Maria Parish. In total they were 583 people from 8 parishes. Most of them arrived by foot, walking for 30 to 50 km, although some came by bicycle or motorbike. They carried their own food.

In Ave Maria we hosted them in the Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary school. This was the annual gathering. They came escorted by Fr. Mark, the Episcopal Vicar of the Western Deanery and Parish Priest of Tombura, and by Fr. Vairi, the Parish Priest of Mupoi. With them was also the diocesan youth coordinator, Sr. Irene.

During the days in Ave Maria, apart from the daily celebration of the Eucharist in the morning and the prayer of the Rosary in the evening that would take each day about one hour, there were talks during the day attended by all participants, on Peace and Reconciliation, Faith, Liturgy, HIV and self-reliance.

On Friday, January 31^st, there was the celebration of Saint John Bosco, their patron saint. It was celebrated open air with the attendance of government officials from Tombura and Source Yubu and more than 1.500 faithful. The day ended with dance until past midnight.

On Saturday, February 1^st, the various groups returned to their respective parishes.

Fr. Avelino Bassols MCSPA

On 5th October 1995, a group of young men from Kolping Vocational Training Centre at Kilimambogo (Thika, Kenya) were sent to Nariokotome Mission (in Turkana) to build some houses and I was among those who were selected for this work experience. I never thought that in my life-time I would leave Thika, my home place, and find myself in this semi-arid land which I had only learnt and heard about in school. I remember vividly my first night at the mission; I could not sleep because of the tremendous heat that had me almost surrendering and heading back to Thika. Only the lack of means of public transport made me change my mind and stay! 

A year later, in 1996, I found life totally different mainly because of the people working at Nariokotome Mission. For instance, Patrick Cheseto and Julius Wanyama together with their families were signs of humility for me and this made me feel quite at home. I also had several encounters with Frs. Avelino and Fernando. Through them I discovered that a priest can also work in the garden and irrigate the plants! All these experiences touched my heart and I found myself accompanying them whenever they would go out for masses on Sundays or any other activity. 

I was always silent simply because I could not express myself well in English, like most of my colleagues. This, however, did not keep me away from Avelino and Fernando, after a busy Sunday with masses at the outstations, they would give me a loaf of bread and a packet of milk to carry back to my room. They would also invite me to go for a swim whenever the opportunity arose. My relationship and attachment to the mission and the two priests grew stronger and it is through this that my vocation began. Eventually, I stopped working in the construction site and declared my desire to become a priest. 

My journey towards the priesthood started in January 1997, when I began studying Philosophy and Theology, and ended on 8th December 2008, when I was ordained a priest at St. Mary’s Catholic Parish, Tombura County in the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio in South Sudan. This was one of the happiest moments in my life. I shed tears of joy. I could not believe that my long and winding journey to the priesthood had finally reached its course. I shared my joy with those who spent seven days on the road driving from our different missions in Turkana to attend my ordination in South Sudan that is one moment I will never forget. 

Many people keep asking me: Why South Sudan and not Kenya where I discovered my vocation? My answer is al-ways the same: “God calls and sends, as we read from Scripture.” In this context, I therefore believe that He called, and later sent me to South Sudan in order to continue with His mission; I have no doubt about this. 

I only knew Sudan through the news about the war that was raging there and truly it was not easy for me to gather the courage needed to enter this country. But, as the saying goes, where there is a will there is always a way! And after crossing the two borders of Uganda and Sudan (before the South separated from Khartoum), the late Bishop Joseph Gassi, the first Bishop of Tombura-Yambio, received me. He thought I was mad when I told him that I wanted to remain in Sudan. I spent two years in the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio learning the Zande language and culture. This was the moment when I decided to leave everything and make my final leap towards the priesthood. I did not know anybody save the few seminarians I met in Uganda during my theological studies and the Bishop who accepted me as a candidate. That period of my life’s journey unfolded during the time when war raged between the two tribes in the region as well as the invasion by the LRA (The Lord Resistance Army) rebels from Uganda. 

When I shared about my going to Sudan with Avelino his feedback was positive and encouraging. It was then that the official settling down and taking root in Sudan began, in May 2005. I also thank Fr. Paco who neither objected nor raised any doubts about my going to this strange country. His acceptance was a sign of blessing to me. In one of our conversations over the phone, he gave me strong words of encouragement and he kept doing so whenever we met; this happened continuously until the day he left us. I realized about his passion for the mission in Sudan because of his insistence and optimism that he would be brought to visit me in South Sudan, even though he was sick and weak. May his soul rest in eternal peace! 

Some of my brother diocesan priests thought that I only came to be ordained and then leave the country. But after their visit to the mission where I had been assigned, and seeing the effort and work that had been done, they now realize that I came to stay as a missionary and not only to be ordained. This is Ave Maria Mission, the second oldest mission founded by the Comboni Missionaries in the diocese in 1922 after Mupoi Mission. Though little and with still a long way to go, we are happy with all that has been done and still being done in the mission. 

Agriculture is one of the ways through which our mission is growing and becoming self-reliant. Within the last two and a half years, the mission has supported the returnees of the LRA war and displacement with tools and seedlings, and by drilling 7 water points with the help of our partners: Adrian from IRT and Anne and Jeff from JUM TRUST, both from the United Kingdom. They also built a school for the children in the village of Ave Maria in order to promote early stages of education before joining primary school.

Accepting the call and leaving everything in order to follow Christ is not an easy task. Whenever I look at my background, I see many things that would have made it impossible for me to reach the priesthood. 

I knew that one of the requirements to become a priest was a high qualification in secondary school, which I did not have. With time, and after the doors were opened for me to begin my studies for the priesthood, I came to realize that when God calls you, He does not consider a grade or qualification. The first apostles of Jesus were men without academic grades, and this thought gave me courage during the time of my studies. The key I am totally convinced to this journey is the deep awareness that the mission I am carrying out is for Christ. He uses me as an instrument to accomplish his mission and therefore provides all that I need for the effective fulfilment of this very mission. 

I joined the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle (MCSPA) family without the grade that could allow me to begin my studies for the priesthood in any other religious congregation or diocese. The MCSPA, through Avelino, put their trust and confidence in me and that is why I am what I am at this very moment. The seed of my vocation was discovered, planted and nurtured and for that reason I consider myself fruit of the work of the MCSPA. 

Fr. Joseph Githinji, MCSPA 

Why take this way? This is a question I am often asked by many people, especially my former classmates. It is difficult for them to understand why I decided to do something so different in my life.

It all started on 28^thFebruary 2011, when I said “Yes” to Fr. Avelino, a priest and member of the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle. I remember vividly that day under a tree in Thika (central Kenya) when Fr. Avelino invited me to go with him to Turkana and to see for myself what they do. I had never been in that part of the country, but I had read, back in my school days, about the Turkana people who are known to be warriors. For this reason I did not share with many friends and family about my going there since I was afraid that they would discourage me from doing so.  

I was born in the central region of Kenya. The land is generally fertile and rain is never a problem. However when I reached Turkana, for the first time in my life I experienced extremely high temperatures. I started wondering if anyone could survive such conditions. What encouraged me was seeing the people of the land so happy and positive despite the harsh conditions under which they survived.

I was warmly welcomed by the members of the Community who come from different parts of the world, but who have formed a fraternal bond, guided by the same charism, and moved by people’s suffering. When I saw how the members were united, I immediately decided to leave my former life and embrace this new journey. I had also the privilege of meeting and staying with the founder, Fr. Paco. May his soul rest in eternal peace. I owe him my life here. He was the one who moulded me and showed me the realities of life.

I have usually been good at working with youth, and I have been doing so in Turkana for several years. It gives me joy to see the young people smile. In that way they are able to overcome all the trauma they have gone through. I stayed in Nariokotome for five years and then I went to our mission in Malawi. There, I was introduced to another life and culture. I was working with a fishing project, establishing fishponds in different villages, interacting directly with the people on the ground.

Again, I left Malawi and moved to South Sudan. We are trying to rebuild the mission of Ave Maria in the Diocese of Tombura Yambio. It was constructed by the Comboni Missionaries decades ago. It feels an honour to step into the shoes of these early missionaries. In South Sudan I often have to lead the Liturgy of the Word, visit remote villages and take communion to the sick and elderly.

It is now eight years since I chose this path and I have never regretted it a single moment. I look forward with zeal, as St. Paul says, to finish the race that I have started.

Thank you, Avelino, for inviting me to this life. Meeting you was the best thing that has ever happened to me. To all the members of this wonderful family, I thank you as you continue helping me to get up especially when I am down.

So going back to the question often asked of me, “Why take this way?” I guess its because I shall never pass this way again, and so if there is something good that I can do for others, I shall do it now!

In our youth group in my home parish we had T-shirts with the quote from Stephen Grellet printed on them: “I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” 

This quote has been for me an inspiration in my life and vocation. I find in it an answer, when I am asked why I decided to take this way.

Peter Chege, Apprentice MCSPA

Over the weekend we went on pastoral visitation to the villages around Dingimo, in Ave Maria Parish, in Tombura-Yambio Catholic Diocese, South Sudan.

Some in the group thought it was good to carry food if we were to spend the whole weekend. However, some of us knew better by experience that people would feed us and we would not be able even to finish all the food! Indeed, in every village we went people expected us to eat.

We were six in the party and they had arranged for us to sleep in the headmasters office in the Dingimo Primary School. In the afternoon we had a meeting with the school committee in the presence of the Sultan (chief). Then, towards the evening people started arriving with their sleeping mats. This is because, once the priest comes, people have to leave their houses in order to spend the night with us in the school and pray the Rosary together. We started with the Rosary at 9 pm, after supper, and it went on until almost 10:30 pm!

During this weekend we had baptisms in several villages, First Holy Communion and a Wedding.

People in Dingimo show that their Faith is Alive, since God is always with us in everyday life.

Fr. Avelino Bassols MCSPA

As in most of the rainy seasons, South Sudan’s roads become full of mud. This time the rains have badly affected the roads and streets of Yambio, capital of former Western Equatoria state.

The Bishop of a Tombura-Yambio, Msgr. Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, has decided with the Catholic youth of Yambio to repair the streets in this town.

He went personally into the mud and gave a personal witness on how a bishop can do manual work and in this way contribute to the reconstruction of his country.

Let us pray for him and for many to follow his example.

Fr. Avelino Bassols MCSPA