All hope was not lost as we committed to prayer, asking God to intervene and let corona leave the face of the earth. We also encouraged the families to pray at home. Many of our Christians were saying the lockdown was the work of the devil to stop prayer, but we tried to help them take this as an opportunity to reinforce family prayer which is fast disappearing in many Christian families. We also encouraged them to see this pandemic as an opportunity to build the family bond and unity as many of them have not had this opportunity to be together for long.
On our side, we continued with daily Masses in our chapel where, united with all our Christians in spirit, we continued to pray for our Christians in their everyday challenges and especially for the world to defeat Covid. In the same vein, we asked for the wisdom of God to discern what message God has for us amidst this pandemic, so that we can learn and respond positively to God’s call. To reach out to all our Christians we also resorted to radio Masses as well as to give the gospel readings and reflections in Facebook and WhatsApp, in this way continuing to nourish the spiritual life of our Christians.
We continued to visit the sick, and administer the sacraments of anointing of the sick, the viaticum, and of reconciliation, and to give counselling in various degrees for those who came to the parish. I can say our Christians really stayed with us during these trying times, as many of them were very much concerned about our upkeep. They came to greet us and find out how things were going; some came with food items; others with their offertory and tithes, etc. to ensure that the parish would continue to run.
Also, we continued with those programmes which were still possible such as the 3-classroom block we were building in Kaikamosing outstation, the construction of the last ring beam of the church, the tiling and other finishing touches of the toilet in the church, etc. More interestingly, we did some farming as a way of encouraging our people that if all other things have come to a stop, farming can go on, as we will still need to eat. Thus, we had a garden of pawpaws, vegetables, matoke, groundnuts, etc. It made as busy and fit enough to fight the virus as we wait in joyful hope to harvest. We also engaged in sports: football, basketball, etc. with our youth to improve the body fitness too.
In addition, we planted some trees and flowers around the house and the new school. And plans are underway to plant trees around the newly constructed church. We give credit to our predecessors who have planted a lot of trees around the parish, which we enjoy today in their absence; maybe if all of us did the same, the world would not suffer Covid-19 today.
In conclusion, we say, though the pandemic has devastated the world, there are so many good things the world can learn.
Mostly, we need to think of the effects of many things we take delight in doing. We pray for all those who have died due to Covid-19 and its affiliated causes. May they rest in peace and may the Lord save the world from this and other pandemics.
Josephat Diyuo (A Missionary of Africa from Ghana, on mission in Uganda)