MISSION IS FUN

“GO TO UNIVERSITY AND GET A DEGREE: IF YOUR VOCATION IS TRUE, IT WILL NOT DIE”

BY Fr John Bosco Mubangizi MCCJ | ST ANNE’S PARISH, BELGRAVIA

I ENTHUSIASTICALLY accepted the vocation promoter’s invitation to teach catechism in St Kizito’s parish. A few weeks later, I told him I wanted to do more. He introduced me to some of his confreres, and I was assigned to teach catechism in Mbuya Parish and to care for the sick people of the parish community. After a period of intense prayer, I left this service and was admitted to the Comboni postulancy. On 3rd December 2011, I was ordained a priest in Bubagizi parish, in Mbarara Archdiocese. In 2017, I was appointed provincial bursar of the Comboni Province in Uganda. Although I accepted the appointment, I chose not to restrict myself to an office buried in accounts and financial reports. The superiors were good to me and assigned to me the additional job of assistant parish priest in the neighbouring parish, Our Lady of Africa, Mbuya.

I had a good time working with the Karamojong people in Matany. The last thing I organised in Matany was the celebration of the golden jubilee of the parish. To solemnise the event, I invited Monsignor Michael Blume, the then Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda, as guest of honour. The last words of his incisive homily cut into my heart like a double-edged sword. He said: “It is wonderful to celebrate this jubilee of your parish, and you should all be proud. Yet, in this ‘golden’ day of Matany, I feel the need to draw your attention to a problem that I meet every day in Kampala. There are hundreds of ‘golden’ children of Matany, trying to make ends meet along the ‘golden’ streets of the capital, in search of ‘golden’ sweets they will never find… Do not ignore this challenge, if you want your jubilee to have real meaning.” I promised myself that I would accept this challenge.

The following day, I went to Moroto to see my bishop Damiano Guzzetti, and told him what I intended to do for those children. He encouraged me and promised his support. He spoke to the Archbishop of Kampala, Cyprian Kizito Lwanga, about my desire to launch some initiatives to meet the needs of the Karamojong children roaming the streets of Kampala. Mgr Cyprian was totally supportive and in favour of any projects that my confreres and I might launch for the good of those children.

Consequently, I embraced three very interesting jobs: provincial bursar, assistant parish priest, and ‘elder brother’ of hundreds of Karamojong Street children. In Katwe slum, on Sundays, I celebrated Mass for the Karamojong community in a temporary structure, made of eucalyptus beams and polythene sheets. In the same structure, we started literacy and feeding programmes to provide education opportunities and food for the hungry children. When they fell sick, I gave them medicine. All these recollections fill me with a deep joy for the opportunity of having served the people of God in Uganda.