My Experience in Dzaipi, Uganda
Our postulants spent one month serving in three different missions within the region. In this article, we hear from Rita Idoko. Originally from Nigeria, Rita is currently based in Eswatini for her postulancy formation, and she completed her mission experience in Dzaipi, Uganda.
My experience in the Ugandan community was filled with communal, missionary, and spiritual enrichment. I arrived in Kampala, Uganda, on the 6th of July and in Dzaipi on the 7th, and was warmly received while we formed a culturally diversified community for the next three weeks. I was already somewhat acquainted with the environment, having visited the community during my "Come and See" experience. Therefore, it was not difficult to settle in and feel at home.
From left to right: Aspirant Lemlem, Aspirant Elsa, Postulant Rita, Aspirant Bethlehem, and Sr. Rosa.
The daily schedule of the community was not much different from the one I was already used to in the postulancy. Schedules for prayer, meals, and mission were mapped out. In Uganda, I prayed in different ways, both within the community and with the people outside. It was interesting to pray with our identities, realities, and experiences. Even more beautiful was worshipping with the various chapels at the refugee settlement in Pagrinya. An opportunity to see how various tribes and individuals connect to the Divine Creator was enlightening regarding diversity.
In the community, I experienced a rich mix of cultures, with three Ethiopian aspirants, Sr.Joseane Cabral and Sr.Rosa Da Silva Sousa from Brazil, and myself from Nigeria. I experienced beautiful time building relationships, exploring life in the mission, helping one another, and sharing memorable moments of learning and leisure together. These three weeks were also an opportunity for me to get to know more about our mission in Uganda. I learned more about the identity, values, vision, and mission statements of Heart Ministries, the dimension and scope of carrying out our mission, and how to handle particular cases.
In the Cabrinian spirit, we extended the love of Jesus to the vulnerable through family visitations, where we met individuals with particular and heart-wrenching cases. We also brought the Body of Jesus to the very aged, elderly women and men who could no longer attend Holy Mass at the parish. In all, I saw how Jesus comes to His people, consoling them in their loneliness and helplessness, and being a mother, father, brother, and sister to the one who has nobody. Surely, it takes sacred love to give one's self for the mission.
