By Mary Grieco
Catholic Herald correspondent
Local Catholics mix fun and service in Uganda
HARRISON -- It was an invitation they couldn't refuse. Never in their wildest dreams did Michele Rein, parish director at St. Augustine Parish, and parishioner Carol Brotski imagine they would be traveling to Uganda to participate in a celebration like none they've ever experienced.
The occasion was the 25th anniversary of the ordination of Fr. Celestine Byekwaso, a priest from Uganda who is temporarily assigned to the Green Bay Diocese. When he traveled to Harrison on behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, Brotski, a former Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa, was intrigued by his message and the needs of his home diocese of Kasana-Luweero. After a lengthy conversation and subsequent communication, he extended an invitation to Brotski and Rein to attend his anniversary celebration.
"I knew we'd be able to do something to help over there," said Brotski. "This was a great opportunity."
Also making the trip last fall were Joan Bolle and Rachel Gunville whose parish Byekwaso has served in Sherwood, Wis.
"We were treated like celebrities," Rein explained. "We were always front and center, and everyone wanted to talk to us."
Thousands of people attended the celebration, which went on well into the night with singing, dancing and an elegant catered meal. Six weddings were included in the day's festivities.
In spite of the poverty in the area, this was an occasion with no holds barred, and everyone presented the priest with a gift. Some could afford no more than a stalk of sugar cane; others gave vestments and even goats. While staying in the diocesan complex, the American visitors had an opportunity to travel throughout the area to see first-hand the needs of the wide-spread rural diocese.
"The church there is involved in very practical issues: how to feed and educate the people and provide medical care," Rein observed. "That is very exciting to me. The church is really the center of life, like it maybe was here 100 years ago."
"I can't imagine what it would be like if the church weren't there," Brotski added.
One of the parishes they visited was St. Bruno in the Kikyusa district, which has 26 outstations (missions). Since there are only two priests serving 11,000 Catholics in this remote area, most of the responsibility for running the outstations falls to the catechists and the Holy Cross Sisters, who have a significant presence in Uganda.
Several new initiatives are being introduced in the Kasana-Luweero diocese, and that is where the American travelers are getting involved. "One of their goals is to construct several piggeries so the parish families can buy and raise pigs for their own meat or to sell," Brotski explained as she held a sketch of such a structure. "They have clay and access to cement and tin for roofing, so they can build something practical that can be sanitized and ventilated.
While the pastor of St. Bruno, Fr. Pontian Ssonko, has been working on designs with a veterinarian in Uganda, Brotski has been back home getting ideas from a local pig farmer and a county agricultural agent. She has already obtained a significant contribution for the project and plans to continue spreading the word.
"They are also starting a micro-finance system in the Kasana-Luweero diocese, which will provide a way to get cheap loans," Brotski said. The cost of a piglet is around $15, while a mature pig might be as much as $50--challenging amounts for most families.
Another unusual adjunct to St. Bruno's Parish is a fish pond, which subsidizes the priests and school.
Economic sustainability is at the core of these new projects, which include ways for the women to improve their quality of life and self-reliance by marketing their handiwork.
In addition to fighting poverty, the people of Uganda, and much of Africa, are dealing with millions of premature deaths from malaria and AIDS.
Rein explained that the diocesan elementary school has about 1,000 students, nearly 200 of whom are orphans and live in a boarding house run by the church. "Most have lost both parents or have been abandoned," she said. "Almost all the priests have orphan children that they support, many of them a niece or nephew."
A concerted effort is being made to educate all ages about HIV/AIDS prevention. "The word is out there," Brotski said, explaining that there are signs everywhere encouraging virginity and faithfulness to a spouse. "They know that HIV/AIDS has deeply impacted their society."
Brotski, who also spent time in Ghana as a lay missionary a few years ago, has every intention of returning to Uganda and seeing through the piggery project, among others. "There is so much we can do," she said. "I love adventure and getting familiar with other cultures. But the best part is that you receive so much--just looking at their smiles--and you learn about yourself, your resourcefulness. People emerging in each other's cultures is the best kind of diplomacy. When you can experience another culture, and they experience yours, you are both enlightened."
"You see the world and yourself differently," said Rein, who has also been involved in an outreach to Mexico for several years with her parishes of St. Augustine and St. John Baptist. "The joy I see in these people is an inspiration. They have that gift of support, warmth and sharing, no matter how destitute they may be." Brotski and Rein are available to give presentations on the Ugandan projects. Contributions may be sent to St. Augustine Church/Uganda Relief, N10090 Cty. Road B, Tomahawk, WI 54487. For more information, call 715 453-2561.
© Superior Catholic Herald, 2008