Summer 2012 - The Mill Hill Missionaries

Summer 2012 Advocate:Layout 1 19/07/2012 12:14 Page 13his last visit to the country Fr Tony Chantry,our General Superior, and the man I was replacingas Councillor for the Africa Mission,got caught up in a gun battle at our Missionin Malakal, and had to lie low for hours whilebullets whizzed over their heads.Now I was the one who wanted to visit ourmissionaries to reassure them they had notbeen forgotten – but also to ask them to reflecton their situation. I therefore cut short my stayin Cameroon and headed for what would soonbe Africa’s newest country, the Republic ofSouth Sudan. After 25 years of civil war thatpitted the largely Muslim North against a predominantlyChristian and animist South, inJanuary last year, the people of SouthernSudan voted massively in favour of independence.The post referendum enthusiasm wassoon followed by outbreaks of violence inseveral places in the South. Many think thatthe Khartoum government is behind much ofthis, as there remain several issues to besorted out, not the least that of oil – of whichthe South has about 80% of the country’s reserves.People relied on Church forhealtcare, education and foodAfter three days in Juba, the new capital ofSouth Sudan, I finally got a seat on a Kush Airflight to Malakal. There had been seriousfighting in Malakal on 12th March, includingthe airport, and few airlines wanted to flythere. From the air we could soon see theRiver Nile as it snaked its way up towards theNorth. I thought of Moses in the basket andsaid my prayers! The land looked arid andbone dry, the monotony only broken by herdsof cattle moving towards the river or the occasionaltin roof glinting in the morning sunlight.The two male stewards were notwearing any uniforms but they lookedfriendly as they served us breakfast and oneof them smiled at me as he noticed the cross I12was wearing. We were on the same side! TheCatholic Church in Sudan is generally held inhigh regard in the South because, althoughmany of the rebel SPLA who fought the Northwere initially Marxists, people relied onChurch agencies for health care, educationand food after the North tried to starve theSouth into surrender.Nearly all our Mill Hill peoplehave had narrow escapesThe first thing that struck me on arriving atthe Catholic mission in Malakal was how simplyour missionaries were living. Despite temperaturesof over 40 Centigrade, they had nofridge. The food was very basic – no supermarketsin that part of the world.I made the customary visits around thetown, stopping to greet Sisters and priests,catechists and lay Christians. I had a memorableencounter with Bishop Vincent Wojwok,the former bishop of the diocese, who beggedme not to take our Mill Hill Missionaries outof the country. We have been working heresince 1938 and we “belong”, especially nowthat the country was “coming to birth.”. Ontop of this, Malakal is one of the poorest diocesesin the world – the kind of place to whichMill Hill missionaries feel sent.I was quite touched by the bishop’s wordsbut nevertheless decided to gather our MillHill members and see how they felt. Fr Peterand Ben were in Malakal, with Fr Jacob whohad come down from Tonga. We waited onthe arrival of Fr Damian and Fr Elvis, bothyoung missionary Mill Hill priests fromCameroon. They had arrived from Tonga onSunday by boat, as the roads were not safe.Nearly all of them have had narrow escapesin the past. In the latest incident that happenedthe month before I arrived, over 200 hundredpeople were massacred at New Fangak, whenthe village was attacked by an armed group