Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Kampala (Agenzia Fides) – The situation in North Uganda is more stable, although high vigilance must be maintained to prevent further violence. This is what was mentioned by Monsignor Cosmas Alule, Rector of the Major Seminary in Alokolum, Diocese of Gulu (North Uganda), in a recent encounter with representatives from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
The district of Gulu, in the past two decades, has suffered the effects of the guerrilla warfare of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which has steadily moved the focus of its activity to south Sudan and above all, the Democratic Republic of Congo (see Fides 3/7/2009).
For some time, the inhabitants of Gulu have had to take refuge in refugee camps, to flee the attacks of the guerrillas on the isolated villages. With the progressive reestablishment of security, many people are returning to their homes. The refugee camp set up at the seminary during the Civil War is steadily emptying. “Around 80% of the refugees having returned to their home villages,” Msgr. Alule said. He said that “even though the final peace accord between the Ugandan government and the rebel movement of the Lord's Resistance Army has not yet been signed, the Civil War, which began in 1988, is now effectively over, and the situation is becoming steadily more stable. Even just a year ago it was not possible to travel safely on the roads. Today however this has already changed. Peace has finally arrived.”
The Rector mentioned that the situation is still a real challenge for the Church, however. The seminarians from the Alokolum seminary, who lived and worked side-by-side with the refugees throughout the civil war and cared for them pastorally, humanly and socially, will continue to support them. Now these future priests are going into the villages, helping the returning refugees to build a new life for themselves. Many of the seminarians are also teaching the children in the schools. These children, who in many cases have grown up in the refugee camps and have never known another life, are frequently disturbed and unruly and have never had the chance to learn the fundamentals of hard work, self-discipline and respect for other people and their possessions.
Many of the adults also have significant problems, Father Alule added. In the refugee camps they had in many cases forgotten how to earn their own living, and an entire generation has grown up not knowing a normal life. An important part is played here by the older generation, who have preserved their traditional values and are now able to pass them on to the younger people, he said. Many people also remain deeply traumatized, having witnessed such horrors as their own mothers, sisters and wives being raped, children abducted and their fellow humans murdered. In order to help such people, a number of pastoral workers are now specially being trained in a center set up for this purpose by the Diocese of Gulu.
Thanks to these initiatives, Msgr. Alule explains how the Catholic Church, by standing on the side of the suffering people throughout the most difficult times, has remained "the one and only trustworthy institution in Uganda." One reason for this was the deliberate decision to keep the seminary in Alokolum and not to move it to a less dangerous part of the country. The rector described this as a “prophetic decision,” adding that otherwise the faithful would have been given the impression that the Church was abandoning the suffering people in order to bring its own seminarians to safety. This decision became "an important signal for the future," showing "that the Church is on the side of the people in their joy and suffering."
Currently young men from all over Uganda are studying at the seminary in Alokolum. Those who are not from the Diocese of Gulu itself have consciously chosen to come to this region so scarred by the Civil War, Father Alule explained. None of the seminarians has remained unscathed by the war: Many of the seminarians had themselves been born in the refugee camps, and some of them had been among those abducted by the rebels.
During the last academic year there were 163 seminarians, while in the coming one there will be 206. Yet the building is only really suitable for around 140 students. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 22/7/2009)
