To Uganda with love and cows

Catholic New Times, Sept 26, 2004 by Ted Schmidt

Emmanuel Walakira confessed he was nervous about his task. He wondered how he would be received? Where would he go? Would he be understood? What clothes would he wear? Would anybody talk to him? And would the food agree with him?

It was a huge leap from rural Uganda to the booming Canadian metropolis of multicultural Toronto.

Walakira's task was simple: he was coming as a mendicant priest to ask for financial support. A missionary appeal for the very poor Ugandan diocese of Lugazi.

Uganda is a poor land-locked Central African country, on the Equator and just south of embattled Sudan. It is sandwiched between the Congo and Kenya, with a population of 23 million. Formerly known as "the pearl of Africa," Uganda, blessed with fertile ground, and turbulent politics was granted independence in 1962 from Britain, only to fall in 1971, into the corrupt hands of one of the worst thugs of the twentieth century, Idi Amin. It is still suffering from the residue of Amin's regime and is currently under a military dictatorship.

Uganda's many material needs have driven Walakira, a smiling 36-year-old priest, to put on his begging cap and try to tap into the abundance of the super-developed West, the North American body of Christ, which is struggling in its own way with the wasting disease of consumerism.

The Catholic Church in any major diocese has a protocol when requests for help arrive. Headquarters informs pastors that their time has come and would you please do what you can for the needs of this poor diocese?

Emmanuel Walakira didn't know it, but he hit the jackpot when he drew St. Wilfrid's Parish in northwest Toronto. It was his second last stop on his one-month journey to Ontario.

The problems are monumental in Walakira's two parishes: Our Lady of Fatima, Kayunga and St. Matthias, Kitimbwa . Foremost among them is the HIV and AIDS pandemic (an astounding 23/100 infection rate). Male breadwinners succumb to the disease, leaving large families (average size, eight). Often, the mother dies soon afterwards, and the parish tries to care for its orphans.

Walakira is responsible for 20 children. Then there is the problem of the affordability of medication. Along with direct need to families, money is needed for AIDS education, that is how to take precautions, while promoting chastity. According to Walakira, the most affected are youth, to whom he is chaplain.

Poverty is a third major problem. Forty-four per cent of the population lives below the poverty line. People work from morning to night for less than a dollar. It is impossible to meet their nutritional needs.

Fourth, Walakira says, "We must teach people sustainable agriculture. Although we are blessed with fertile ground all year round, to our surprise people are dying of hunger. We used to have natural manure from our livestock but they are dying and artificial manure is so expensive. We need good agricultural colleges. Before the crisis of AIDS and the civil war, wealth was measured in cows.

"Illiteracy is still a terrible problem, particularly among women. Ninety per cent are not literate, and unable to help their children. We still use fingerprints on marriage documents, for example."

Lastly, Walakira said that there is no cathedral. In Uganda, a big church where people can gather, costs about $350,000 U.S.

These were his heartfelt pleas for his people, who are obviously suffering greatly.

Walakira's simple words touched one of his hosts, Fr. Massey Lombardi. Hence his own pastoral plan. "I asked Manny (Fr. Emmanuel) what he would like to take back as a gift to his widowed mother and he told me, a cow," Lombardi chuckled. "When I asked him why--more milk for the village's kids, manure for the fields and a few dollars for his heroic mother, it made perfect sense. He told me a cow cost $200."

Lombardi, a creative, street-wise priest with a big heart and a lot of friends, started working the phones It took little to browbeat his friends and parishioners into 67 cows, farm utensils, a 100 chickens and a windup radio.

Before heading out in late July with Lombardi to the Beaches Jazz Festival in Toronto, Manny said what struck him the most about his trip here was the abundance. "Fr. Massey took me to a place called "The Mandarin" to eat. You can eat as much as you want! I wanted to take a picture of all the food because my people would not believe it."

In late August, Walakura called Lombardi and told him that when he told his mother about the cows, she got up and danced and sang. Lombardi plans a Christmas trip to check up on the new St. Wilfrid's "farm," transplanted to Uganda with love.