ON the northeastern part of Lake Albert, saddled on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), lay a colonial government post called Koba, in 1910. Here, on February 17, Comboni missionaries, who had all along been working in Sudan, landed at the post to start a task that would soon spread Christianity in the north of Uganda. (Left: Fr Centis)

Bishop Francis Xavier Geyer, third successor of Bishop (Saint) Daniel Comboni, the founder of the congregation of Combonis – Verona Fathers/Sisters – with colleagues, Bro Augustus Cagol and Fr Albino Colombaroli, was the first to enter Uganda, whose reach Daniel Comboni had missed, due to ill health.

By 1846, when the Pope, then Gregory XVI created a vicariate apostolic of Central Africa, the territory Uganda and others were little known to Europeans. In 1878 however, the Italian Bishop Daniele Comboni, then working in Khartoum, planned to extend farther south to spread the gospel.

His plans were, however, foiled by several hurdles including famine, disease and death, which decimated the number of his missionaries. Bishop Comboni died before reaching Uganda. So did his successor to the leadership of the missionaries, (the servant of God) Bishop Antonio Roveggio, whose demise came in 1901.

It was, therefore, with delight, that Bishop Geyer finally made it to Koba, on February 17, 1910. Koba was a small village tucked away in the wild corner of the land. It was bound in the south by the Nile flowing into Lake Albert and in the west, by the same river pouring out of the lake, northwards.

A Comboni priest, who is the current superior of the Angal community in Nebbi Diocese, Fr Gino Stocchero, 68, says Paul Hannington, son of the Anglican Bishop Hannington murdered in 1885, in Busoga, on the orders of Kabaka Mwanga, was the British commissioner at Koba. “He received our missionaries very kindly, and welcomed their proposal to start a mission there.” Fr Stocchero states that Hannington had at first declined to allow the missionaries into Uganda, because they lacked an entry permit. They only had a recommendation from the governor general at Khartoum.

But, by telegram, the colonial authorities at Entebbe nodded to the missionaries’ petition, after Geyer informed them of an official permit they had been granted as far back as 1906. Chiefs of Acholi and Alur, the main peoples in the vicinity of Koba at the time, converged to greet the missionaries, a few days after their arrival. (In the picture: Fr Centis, with some children, at the spot where the original cross stood

Told by Geyer of the intentions of the missionaries, the chiefs were so pleased. They promised to send their children to learn to read and write. The chiefs offered the missionaries also an opportunity to look around for a suitable area to set up their mission station.

A few miles north of Koba, Bishop Geyer decided to establish the first one. This was a place among the Alur. They were mainly refugees of the West Nile Banks, from which the Alur had fled vexations of Belgian rulers in the Congo.

They were under the leadership of Chief Omach, who gladly provided them land at Omach, in present day Pakwach Parish. Stocchero says that the bishop chose an elevated place some 600meters from the Nile and with the help of some two porters, who were interestingly Baganda, and some local workers, “the missionaries began to build their house.”

He states that in a short time, a hut was put up for their residence. “a chapel was added to the main house and the Blessed Sacrament kept in it.”

According to another priest at Angal, 90-year-old Fr Felice Centis Teodoro, on March 3, 1910, the missionaries planted the cross of the first station of the Comboni Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Uganda, in the village of Chief Omach. Bishop Geyer blessed the cross, a huge rough trunk.

Filled with tears of joy, Bishop Geyer, Bro Cagol and Fr Colombaroli raised high the cross, as a sign of faith and hope. Within a couple of years, the Combonis had further established missions in Gulu and Palaro, says Fr Centis.

By Stocchero’s account, “in a few years, most of the people of northern Uganda, namely the Alur, Acholi, Lugbara, Langi and even Karamajong, would benefit from the redemption, which Jesus Christ brought to all humanity, through the cross.” He says, though that the missionaries at the time would not imagine how many trials they would have to go through to achieve that task!

In March that year, there were a few more missionaries from Italy, to reinforce the team. They were Frs Pasquale Crazzolara, Luigi Cordone and Brothers Clement Schroer and Benedetto Sighele. Geyer appointed Fr Colombaroli superior of the enlarged community, whose fruits today are being celebrated.

According to the Pakwach parish priest, Fr Santos Constantino Wapokurwa, plans to celebrate the Centenary of Faith in northern Uganda have gained great response. Celebrations will take place in each of the four dioceses making up today’s Ecclesiastical Province of Gulu, starting in March 2010, at Pakwach, in Nebbi Diocese.

Next year the celebrations will be organized in Gulu Archdiocese, followed by Arua Diocese in 2012 and Lira Diocese in 2013. In Nebbi, Fr Wapokurwa says the festivities will start in earnest on March 16, 2010, with different functions leading to the D-day on March 20, 2010, when the main events of the celebrations for the Centenary of Faith, will be hosted at Pakwach Parish.

“We have got some sponsors towards these celebrations, such as Centenary Bank. We have already embarked on the renovation of the Church, but it requires a total of sh75million, which is not yet realized. We also expect to fit new pews for the faithful,” reveals Wapokurwa. The Comboni missionaries at Angal and different local and international well-wishers are providing other assistance. Wapokurwa says the organizing committee, which is led by Uganda’s State Minister for Finance (General Duties), Fred Omach, has lined a choir of 225 members.

Fr Richard Lino Opio the Nebbi diocese pastoral coordinator said, one of the functions during celebrations will be to kick-start a fundraising drive for sh500million, to build a multi-purpose diocese centenary memorial hall. Nebbi still depends on the hall at Angal, which is the only modern conference facility in the vicinity. “Preparations for the celebrations started in the Pauline year, with the setting up of committees for specialized tasks. All is being done hand-in-hand with the Combonis, who started virtually every parish in Nebbi, before handing them over to the diocese.” Under the theme, ‘You will be my witnesses, from the families to the ends of the earth, like Daniel Comboni’, the centenary celebrations in Nebbi have already had parish visitations for hands-on activities, he says. It has three meetings at provincial level and nine others at the diocesan level.

The diocese approved a prayer for the success of the festivities, centering on love and faith. “It is very important for us because we are just recovering from conflicts and a rebellion that lasted for close to twenty years,” said Fr Opio, adding that many of the activities, like sports, are targeting young people such as children and youth, who bore the brunt of war. He attributes most development in northern Uganda to the Catholic Church, by especially the missionaries. Because of the coming of faith, the diocese can now boast of two mission hospitals, Angal and Nyapea. It also has Radio Paidha, an FM station and is connected to the Internet, for its social communications programmes.

The pastoral coordinator adds that Nebbi is blessed with 60 priests, 53 of who are diocesans, including Bishop Martin Luluga. The rest of priests are missionaries, with the highest number being Combonis and others Apostles of Jesus.

Priests are assigned to different institutions and chaplaincies, but mainly in the 16 parishes of Nebbi Diocese. These are Pakwach, Angal, Parombo, Orussi, Akanyo, Nyapea, Warr, Zeu, Paidha, Panyimur, Wadelii, Rhino-camp, Uleppi, Kango, Zombo, as well as Nebbi, which hosts the Cathedral.