Monday, October 25, 2010

52. A Slice of Ham - by Br. Bill Firman

52. A Slice of Ham

On Friday morning, 22nd October, our Solidarity with Southern Sudan community in Juba met at 6:45am in the chapel of the Daughters of St Paul community who live next door. At the request of the Pauline Sisters, our SSS Father Joseph celebrated the Eucharist in remembrance of Blessed Timothy Giaccardo, the first priest in the new congregation of the Society of St Paul which began in 1914 and a man who dedicated his life to teaching and spreading the Gospel message. Not that I knew anything about him until this mass!

One very noticeable fact about living as a religious in Southern Sudan is the great interaction and support the members of the various religious congregations and the priests offer to one another. Social life is very limited indeed and one learns to enjoy simple treats that never seemed remarkable in the more affluent circumstances in which I have spent most of my life. Here I find myself living with humble and dedicated people who each display the gift of holiness in his, or her, own unique way.

I am convinced that none of us think of ourselves as ‘holy’. All of us live with the knowledge of our own human weakness that is simply part of our condition. All of us are tested by the struggles in life that can sometimes seem almost to overwhelm us. Some of the words of one of my great mentors and friend, Brother Damien, come to mind:

“We grow old not by having birthdays but by deserting ideals. Passing years may wrinkle the skin but lost enthusiasms wrinkle the spirit. We are old indeed when the central places of our heart are covered by the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism… … We Christians live with the virtue of hope, which is the ability to dream, and when we lose this we begin to die by centimetres."

I live with hopeful people, people who urge and pray for peace, who dream of a better future for the people of Sudan who have endured generations of subjugation. The paths we tread at times seem risky and potentially perilous but what better thing is there to do than journey in hope with people who have no other option? There is no snow of pessimism here although there are other elements that could make one shrivel and wither. Our principal gifts to the people here are encouragement and accompaniment.

This past week I have taught seven hours of theology to the third year class at the Catholic University. I have enjoyed the interaction, and I think the students have as well, even if they find some of the work difficult. The Catholic University was started by a Jesuit priest, Father Mike Schultheis, now in his late seventies. On Friday, before I gave out a multiple choice test paper, I wrote, perhaps a little mischievously, a sample question on the Board with the instruction that one has to circle the most appropriate answer. The question said:

Fr Mike is: A. handsome; B. athletic; C. funny; D. pretty; E. helpful.

The overwhelming, spontaneous class response was ‘E. helpful’. It was a clear affirmation of this humble yet persistent man who is trying to improve the opportunities for the people of Sudan at a time in life when many others would say: ‘Enough is enough’. Of course, enough can be enough. Perhaps one of the the biggest challenge in life as we approach the later years is trying to come to terms with our declining abilities. I am unashamedly practising avoidance behaviour for as long as I can.

After the mass of Blessed Timothy, we joined the Sisters of St Paul for breakfast where, to my surprise, they produced some humble, ham slices. No, it was not ham-off-the-bone nor smoked gourmet ham; just wonderful, packaged ham slices, the first I have seen in fourteen months. Breakfast of ham and eggs was a special treat. You appreciate what you have more when you have less. That’s something I am learning. If you have everything, what is there left to hope for?


- Br Bill

Thursday, October 14, 2010

51. Job's Apprentice - by Br. Bill Firman


51. Job’s Apprentice

I have always thought that the story of Job being tested by various afflictions is one of the most dramatic descriptions in the Bible. It has certainly not been on my wish list to be similarly tested. I don’t pretend to have the incredible integrity or patience of Job as he suffered his serious of afflictions but just lately I seem to be confronted by a series of problems that leaving me feeling a bit like Job’s apprentice. Unlike Job, however, my health continues to be excellent. So maybe I am just succumbing to the original ‘Murphy’s Law’, ‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong’.

On the plus side, Brother Jorge from our General Council from Rome has visited and brought me a fine new computer which I am now using. Even with an ‘Italian keyboard’ where not all the symbols on the keys match the underlying Australian set-up of keyboard functions, it is a good computer. Some of the software has instructions in Italian but I am coping and improving my limited Italian at the same time! Brother Jorge has taken my older computer to Rome where I think the installation of a new battery will restore to me the much wider range of software on that computer, not to mention some recent data I had not backed up.

I have been fortunate to be in Juba this past week where the computer works well. In Malakal the situation I described last week worsened. My SSS partners have had to cope with town power surges that not only burned out the power adaptors of their computers but also most of the light bulbs in our house. I heard only today that the situation has been rectified in Malakal but I am still trying to find and buy a suitable replacement recharger for my mobile phone which is now inoperable with a totally flat battery.

Unfortunately for me, I have now lost, without a trace, possibly dropped when returning from an outing, a small bag that contained my passport, camera, Sudan driving licence and a small amount of cash. So I spent a morning at the police station going from office to office, with the invaluable assistance of the Arabic-speaking logistician from the archdiocesan offices, and now have documents attesting to my losses. I refrained for a couple of days from reporting my lost passport, still hoping and praying to find it, because once reported, it becomes an invalid travel document. But I have now been on-line to report the loss and filled out an application for a new passport. My major difficulty is that there is no Australian embassy in Sudan. The nearest haven is the Australian High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya. Replacing the passport requires an interview but travelling to another country requires a travel document! I shall ring the High Commission for advice when I get my phone working again - or use a borrowed phone! (The Commission does not list an email number and we don’t have a fax.)

The passport application requires someone with an Australian passport to attest to who I am. The only possibility is Brother Denis and he is in Wau. They do allow the alternative of someone who has known me for than twelve months and qualifies to be on a list of occupations that I have not seen. Fortunately, I have known Father Joseph for just over 12 months and hope his attestation and status will be sufficient. The application also tells me that I shall need to show a driver’s licence as proof of identity. I do have a valid Australian licence but it is in Malakal. On the plus side, I have a photocopy of my old passport and an electronically scanned copy on my back-up hard drive, with attached colour photos.

So I shall be in Juba longer than planned but this will allow me to participate in a couple of education gatherings and I have agreed to teach some theology at the Catholic University while I am here. I’m not totally useless and I haven’t had malaria - yet!

- Br Bill




Traffic jam


Sticky situation


Spectators


Police band


Malakal road after the wet


Br. Jorge hands new computer fo Br. Bill


Br. Heldon marching

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Solidarity Unwanted - by Br. Bill Firman

50. Solidarity Unwanted


‘Solidarity’ is a great idea, standing together with the Sudanese people and journeying with them, and our fellow workers, toward our common goals. I am here as part of Solidarity with Southern Sudan (SSS). Our mission statement asserts our purpose: Solidarity with Southern Sudan is a project that seeks to promote the Kingdom of God in partnership with the local church and the people of Sudan through the establishment and development of teacher and health training institutes and those pastoral services deemed most urgent.’


SSS is the combined response of more than 150 Superiors General of religious congregations to the plea for help made by the Catholic Bishops of Southern Sudan. This is the first time so many congregations, forming mixed communities from diverse religious institutes of men and women, have responded collaboratively to such pressing needs as faced by Southern Sudan after more than forty years of wars and oppression. Our presence here helps build confidence and hope. Our combined endeavours bring great resources generated by the considerable efforts not only of the eighteen women and five men currently living and working in Southern Sudan but by many others planning, supporting and fund-raising in other parts of the world and coordinated through our SSS Board and office in Rome.


The way forward is being found not only with the Bishops and people of Sudan but in forming cooperative partnerships with other contributing organisations, both government and non-government. What seems to be the single, greatest, peace initiative across Sudan is the 101 Days of Prayer Towards a Peaceful Referendum. It is encouraging to know so many people outside of Sudan are also supporting this focus on peace, the campaign started by one of our SSS sisters, Cathy Arata, a diminutive figure in size but not in spirit, who was also one of the key pioneers who brought about the existence of SSS in the first place and promoted the value of such solidarity.


Someone said to me recently in Malakal: ‘We are with you Bill in solidarity’. It was a quip about an unwanted solidarity we have recently experienced. We have had power surges and burn outs, the product of faulty work and equipment in this region where shoddy standards of workmanship are all too common. Now, not only my computer was out of action but so were the power adaptors of every other computer in our community as well as the adaptor on our satellite internet modem and router. On the same day that we awoke to these computer problems, our water supply from the Nile cut out and we had been waiting three weeks for a new supply of gas bottles to arrive from Khartoum. We were not out of gas as we have a reserve bottle which would normally last a month. A few days later our phone rechargers ceased to operate. We try to plan ahead and ‘be prepared’ but even surge protector power boards don’t prevent mishaps. Our internet provider in Juba told me that a high intensity flash of power can be so fast it gets past a protector before it can trip.


So what do we do? Respond to the issues one at a time, share and help one another where we can and learn to be more patient and grateful for what we still have. The gas did arrive, I have a new computer to use, albeit with many instructions in Italian and a keyboard with buttons not always doing what they indicate and I have found another way to charge my phone. I am now in Juba and today sent our restored internet equipment back to Malakal. It is good to be alive even when the technology on which we come to depend is temporarily ‘dead’.


- Br Bill



Will of people for peace


Watch your step


Through the town


Soldiers for peace


Observers


Muslim prayer


Gathered


Children marching


Bishop speaks


Beginning peace march