Catholic Church Good Shepherd Parish Kassala Sudan

25 Eritrean refugee-families from the group of the Habescha-tribes (each of them having up to
6 children) are members of the parish. They live in the surroundings of the centre and belong
to different tribes
Further 100 families that belong to the tribe of the Kunama, live in some distance. (The
Kunama are a group coming from the southwest of Eritrea, ethnologically and linguistically
however they differ quite a lot from the Habeshagroups
in Eritrea). The Kunama still are a very
original people-group, that still has a big desire for
development. Above all among the women, the need
of catching up education is big. There are several
women-groups that meet in the "class-room"
regularly to be instructed in sewing, cooking, and
house-keeping in order to be able to provide the daily
needs of the family independently. The Kunama-men
work mainly in the fields of the surrounding
plantations.
An important concern of the parish is the education of
children and teenagers. In the year 2005, the schoolbuilding
on the place collapsed. Up to 500 students
until that time visited this school. At the moment only
a rubble-pile can be found at this place. Only 13
children are taught in the shelter (without walls)
beside the church in three school-steps momentarily.
There are still newcomers, who are taken in here. A
cook is responsible for the feeding.
Twice weekly, Fr. Ghebrai comes to Wad Sherife, in order to take care of administrationworks,
to accompany pastoral-work and to coordinate the social activities of the centre.
The chairman of the pastoral-committee of the Centre of the Holy Savior is Ghebrezghi Fidel.
He lives with his family near the pastoral centre.
As Sunday is a working day, the mass is celebrated on Friday because that is the Muslim
week-holiday. In the damaged chapel, the masses are celebrated for smaller groups. Most
services and all sacred holidays are celebrated outside because the chapel is too small.
Because there are many different groups of believers, the celebrations are apportioned. Fr.
Ghebrai says the mass in Tigrinya (the official language in Eritrea) and in the Kunamalanguage
according to the same-named tribe differing fully from Tigrinya.
The most urgent measures that have to be done
The chapel must be repaired. Reparations having been carried out are destroyed again during
the rainy season, however. Every year, 2000 New pounds (=800 €) are spent for mending the
damages. This is always too little, however, so that the parish has to add the open amount.
For a final repair better material would have to be brought here: e.g. a new corrugated ironroof
for the chapel (instead of the present thatch) is urgently necessary so that the damages
could be stopped done by the water during the rainy season. The costs can be determined
however not yet, but there will be a calculation soon.
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