The Journey
A few days later, Fr. Colombaroli received a visit from two men coming from across the river. They said that they were Alur and were sent by chief Okello of Panyimur. One of the men had a rosary round his neck. He told the priest that his name was Areni and that he had been baptized in the south where he had lived some years. He added: “Chief Okello, too, is a Catholic. I baptized him together with his wife and sister when they were ill. All the people of the village want to become Catholic. I am instructing many of them in the faith and I lead the Sunday prayers.
Chief Okello invites you to his village; he will send a boat to fetch you and will prepare the house for you. Chief Okello wants a catechism in Alur, if you have one or in Kiswahili, and also a rosary, and also some medals for those who come to catechism…” The Father was delighted to hear all this, he gave Areni all that he asked for and fixed a day for his visit to chief Okello.
On the appointed day, “three Sundays plus three days” later, Areni arrived with the chief’s canoe. “Chief Okello is looking forward to seeing you, Father”, he said. The following day, Fr. Colombaroli embarked on the small boat with Areni and his men and after eight hours of rowing they landed at Panyimur. A little crowd watched while Chief Okello welcomed the Father. “Here is the man of God who comes to teach us”, they said. Father pitched a tent near the hut where Areni gathered his little flock. That same evening he assisted at the catechism lesson and prayers at which chief Okello, too, was present. It was all very impressive and promising. “You see, – Chief Okello told the priest – “my father is dead and I do not know where he is now; but I want to go to heaven after my death”.
Back at Omach, Fr. Colombaroli related all this to his confreres. “I am sure” – he concluded, – “that if we could open a mission station across the Nile, we would gather an abundant harvest of souls”. His dream was not to become true for several years yet, and only after many trials.
This episode, reported in some detail, showed that the Faith had already reached the West Nile; that it had been brought there through the work of zealous catechists, and it proved also just how precious catechists are in the work of evangelization in the Church.
Areni was a Ugandan Alur who was baptized by the White Fathers in Bunyoro. These missionaries had established many flourishing missions in the southern regions of Uganda since 1879 and in 1901 they opened their northernmost mission station at Hoima. From there they extended their missionary activities up to the Nile in the north and into the Congo, leaving well-trained catechists in important places, like Nyarambe. In 1903 they brought with them a native of the area, catechist Daudi LYENGA, and left him at Mukambo. He was very active and with the support of his relatives at Djegi and of chief Keta of Angal, Congo, gathered groups of catechumens in several places.
While the Comboni Missionaries were struggling at Omach we can see that groups of catechumens were being formed by catechists from Nyarambe or by zealous newly baptised in several places along Lake Albert and the west banks of the river (Panyimur, Panyango, etc).
The White Fathers opened the mission station at Nyarambe in 1912 (two years after the arrival of our Fathers at Omach), bringing with them seven Ugandan catechists, who stayed at Nyarambe a few months to learn Alur. Daudi Lyenga went around the chiefs convincing them to send their sons to the school which was started for them at Nyarambe. Among those who went to Nyarambe were: Emilio Opiyo, the son of Onega, from Paidha; chief Okello who took the name of Yohani, from Panyimur; one named Bibi (?), from Padel and others. Lyenga was sent also to build a chapel in several places which were still in the Belgian Congo.
So while the Comboni Missionaries were struggling at Omach we can see that groups of catechumens were being formed by catechists from Nyarambe or by zealous newly baptised in several places along Lake Albert and the west banks of the river (Panyimur, Panyango, etc).
In October 1910, Fr. Colombaroli went to Hoima to learn from the White Fathers how they established their missions. He stayed there one month, less than he wanted because he shortened his stay there because of a sudden bout of illness. However, friendly contacts between the two groups of missionaries in Uganda continued very usefully. On this occasion some catechists from Bunyoro – among them David BIKOMI – were sent to Omach and they helped establish a regular catechumenate there.
Missionaries from Omach could not follow the Alur people until 1917 when they established missions at Orussi and later Angal.
