Prester John


The ordination









Sunday 18th July

Well, what a day we have had. E------ and I were invited to the ordination of a priest in Rumbek; why not?? I will never get another such invite again, I am sure. He was to be the first new indigenous priest in South Sudan for 29 years. He has been studying in Rome for the last three years, and now has got a degree in theology and masters in divine something, not sure what. He has now returned to his home town to serve the people. It was such a big thing, the people really seem to respect him and are so proud ‘he is one of us’.

His life story was read out from the altar, both in Dinka and English.
He was caught up with the war and found himself in a refugee camp in Ethiopia, where he got a few years of education. He then worked in the cattle camps, then in a shop and studied at night. Both parents had died, so he was helping to feed the other children in the family. He then went to the Comboni School in Rumbek, showed great promise, and joined the seminary. Next, he was sponsored to go on to university in, I think, Kenya.

There must have been at least 1000 people there. Lots of blessings on the new priest John by many, including the bishop. People had come from USA, Canada, and Rome. His sponsor family were there, a middle aged couple from Italy, the smile on their faces said it all.

It was a lovely service and they included his remaining family, who found it hard to accept that this is what their brother wanted to do, be a priest instead of looking after the family cows.

The service started at 10am, so we were up early. The car left at 6-45 am; the problem was that there were only 3 cars going, but there were about 50 people waiting to leap in to the cars as soon as the doors were open!! We had been booked into the brothers’ car, so they made sure we were squished in first. Each car managed to get in about 15 people.

There was a lot of water on the track, as we have had a lot of rain lately. All cars got through, although one got a puncture, one was leaking oil, and our dynamo needed attention when we arrived. The cars have to be so strong on this type of ‘road’ here!

We managed to find a seat under some shade, as it was all outdoors in the grounds of the local school. The excitement in the air was electric, carnival-style. There was a man walking around with a long cow horn with a piece of garden hose on the end of it, blowing it and trying to get a tune out of it (Sudanese version of the vuvuzela!!). Lots of coronation-like flags and plenty of very smart plastic flowers decorated the large stage, which was the altar for the day.

There was quite a lot of laying-on of hands, and blessings from all the saints. This took up about 3 hours, then there were the speeches, another hour. So at about 2pm there was a break to have a feast. We were all allocated classroom numbers where we could get food from.

Guess what was on the menu? You got it!! BEANS and RICE! But there was also beef in a stew and a chapati each, very tasty. I had a chat with the Bishop, who seemed very happy to meet me, with the remark ‘Anne, my special goalkeeper, good to see you again’

After our meal, it was marching bands, hallelujah dancers, choirs, plays, all took place around the altar in front of the new Priest John, who kept jumping up and joining in the dancing, much to the locals’ delight. By 5pm we hit the road home; luckily there had been no further rain, so the track had dried up a little. Late to bed that night, let’s hope that the good priest John can bring some harmony and peace to this country - it sure needs it to face the years ahead.