African Witness: South Sudan, Father Barnaba Deng
The soldiers grabbed him. Fr. Barnaba did not resist. He asked to be allowed to take his cassock and pray. He put it on, made the sign of the cross, and recollected himself in prayer while the soldiers released the safety catch on their rifles. “I am ready,” On 3rd September 1965, Hassar Dafalla, Commissary […]
Oral Literature: How fire came to stay with man
In the distant, dim past, when the world first began, there lived a powerful family of witches. There were many lesser witches, but the mother of them all was the ruler as well. All the other witches feared and obeyed the mother witch because she had a secret weapon more powerful than any other- fire. […]
Herbs & Plants: Beans, a rich plant
Cauliflower Phaseolus vulgaris (Family Fabaceae), also known as the common bean, French bean or green bean, among other names, is a herbaceous annual plant, grown worldwide for its edible seeds or immature fruits. In Uganda, it is the most important plant based protein source for the people, providing between 20-25 % of proteins of the […]
Statistics of the Catholic Church 2019
The latest edition of the “Church’s Book of Statistics” have been just published (updated to 31 December 2017) regarding members of the Church, church structures, healthcare, welfare and education. Increase or decrease, emerging from last year’s figures, are marked with “+” or “–” in brackets. On 31 December 2017 the world population was 7,408,374,000 with […]
New Catacombs Pact
More than a half century after a group of bishops at the Second Vatican Council made a solemn pledge “to live a simple lifestyle close to their people”, a group of participants from the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon signed a new pact in the Catacombs of Domitilla. On 16 November 1965, just a […]
African Witness: Mahmoud Taha
In the troubled waters of Sudanese politics during the 20th century, Mahmoud Taha stands out as one of the most prominent representatives of a mystic movement fighting against religious fundamentalism and repressive political tendencies. We look at his life and his political legacy. Ustazh (Master) Mahmoud Muhammad Taha was born at Rufa’a, a small village […]
Herbs & Plants: Sugarcane, a wealth of nutritional and health benefits
It is one of the species of tall perennial true grasses belonging to genus Saccharum and is scientifically called Saccharum officinarum. It is a tropical, perennial grass that produces multiple lateral shoots at the base and grows up to 3-4 meters high. It is cultivated throughout the world for a number of reasons especially for […]
Unicef: “If children eat poorly, they live poorly”
According to the UN children’s agency (Unicef) across the globe, at least one-in-three children under-five are malnourished and not developing properly. Around 200 million children under-five are either undernourished or overweight, while one-in-three globally – and almost two-thirds of children between the fragile ages of six months to two years – are not fed food […]
Uganda: Comboni Missionaries empowering refugees
They are running many projects including; carpentry workshop, fabrication and welding workshop, Bakery, cooking oil refinery and a farm. When the civil war broke out in 2017, they left Lomin and settled in Moyo. While in South Sudan, they run a number of projects to help the people in Lomin improve their livelihood. Not even […]
African Witness: Julius Nyerere
Julius Kambarage Nyerere was born in March of 1922 in the village of Butiama near Musoma on the shores of Lake Victoria. He was named Kambarage after an ancestral spirit who lived in the rain, and because it was raining very hard on the day of Julius’ birth. He took the name Julius at the […]