COMMUNITY AND APOSTOLIC EXPERIENCE AT POROLINYA IN UGANDA
By Post. Nelson Mandela James Lodu
Introduction
I am Nelson Mandela James Lodu, 25 years old, South Sudanese by nationality and birth. I am Pojulu by tribe, which is one of the 64 tribes in South Sudan under the Bari speaking. A third year Comboni Postulant studying philosophy at Tangaza University. Following the tradition of the Comboni Postulancy, that at the end of the second year postulancy, all the candidates are sent for a two-months mission and community experience in one of the missions of the Comboni Missionaries in order to experience more who the Comboni Missionaries are and what they do in their missions. The expectation is that at the end of the two months’ experience, the candidates will make both community and mission experience while immersed in one of our communities. For that reason, I was assigned to the community of Parolinya in Uganda.
My Journey to Palorinya in Uganda
I left Nairobi on Saturday 11th May 2024 and after two days I arrived to Gulu where I stayed for four days with my aunty Agnes Konga, my mentor who sacrificed a lot to educate me from kindergarten till my secondary school level. Later I proceeded with my journey and I arrived at Palorinya community in Uganda, Obongi District Ukuni village on 16th May 2024. The community consists of five members namely; Fr. Janvier from Congo, Fr. Abraham from Ethiopia, Fr. Paul Idra, from South Sudan, Br. Lawrence Okello from Uganda and Br. Erick from Italy.
Community Experience
Four days after my arrival, I received an assignment to be the administrator of the Guest house within the community; my role was to ensure that I direct the visitors to their appropriate rooms and they had to sign in the visitors’ journal or else if there's any inconvenience in the rooms, they report to me and I forward the case to the administration. I also used to help the community in orienting the new catechists in preparation for pastoral in various outstations.
On 18th May 2024, the outstations of St. Mathew, St. Martin the Pores and Christ the King gathered in order to bid farewell to Novice Selestina Moyo who had just finished her mission experience proceeding to the next level of formation. It was a nice experience for me seeing young girls who have offered their lives for the service of the church and being my first Sunday was so colorful. During my free time, I used to get engaged in manual work especially cleaning the compound and washing the cars after pastoral work. I could trim the flowers and slash the grass around the compound. Then sometimes, I could go to visit the homes of the catechists and Christians which were adjacent to the community house.
Pastoral Experience
During this period of two months, often I accompanied the two priests whenever they went for Masses, I could go along with one of them to the outstations as well attend mass in the Refugees camps. Through this, I was able to create awareness of the Comboni missionaries as well to promote vocations. One of the enriching experiences I got during this missionary experience was that I could join one of the priests who is a psychologist by profession whenever he visited the outstations. Often, he accompanied and counselled those from South Sudanese who are traumatized due to the experiences they went through. The biggest percentage of the people are drug addicts and listening to the testimonies, most of them have the cry of not having enough food, land, good medication, lack of better education for their children in base camps has negatively impacted their lives.
My Visit to Sacred Heart Parish-Lomin
On 19th June 2024, the community asked me to offer a workshop to the Pontifical Missionary Holy Childhood (PMC) at Sacred Heart Parish-Lomin which is a Comboni Parish in Kajo-Keji county South Sudan. The main topic was on the roles of the PMC in the church. After my two weeks of being with the PMC, I realized that due to the conflicts in South Sudan they were left like sheep without a shepherd, therefore, at the end of the workshop, we chose leaders who were to continue with the PMC in order to direct them in their activities.
The two weeks I spent at Sacred Heart Parish were very nourishing to me, it has helped me to figure out and to see the need of more servants to help in the mission. What drew my attention was that Fr. Paul Idra at Sacred Heart Parish in Kajo-Keji county was the only Catholic Priest in that County. This called my attention to do my best in order to assist in the mission in the near future and appreciate the formation that I am receiving through my formators in the Postulancy.