May 30th was a parade day. It was amazing to see Grants Passers including visitors streaming from all corners of the city just to converge along the Sixth Street to parade or watch the parade.
Fr. Dominic Tumusiime, AJ.from Uganda and currently the parochial vicar at St Anne’s Catholic Church too was very enthusiastic when invited by his friends and St Anne’s Catholic school kids to the parade and he has this to share with you.Hearing of the “parade day”, I though of a match full of fun, jokes and music. On the contrary, it was a parade of “God’s Wisdom and Successes”. I may be wrong but that was my profound experience of the event and the day.
Arriving an hour and a half before the commencing time, we sat a long the street in front of a mini shop which later was said to be a bar. We eventually crossed over to the other side to find a more convenient and suitable place to watch the parade.
We sat down as we watched people move about: young kids as well as old folks, short and tall, small and big all dressed for the parade. I was amused by the styles, colors, postures and moods that shook the whole street as I eagerly waited for what would come next.
At exactly 10:00am, a salute by the police motor cycles’ match opened the parade, it was superb but short. Then a fleet of long trucks and others passed by to my endless excitement. As time went on, my concept of the parade as fun changed. It became instead, that the Wisdom and Beauty of God was being paraded. Wow, I exclaimed within myself because this event clearly revealed to me why this country is a great nation.
Still speechless, a friend passing by said to me “Do you have such parades in Africa?” “Oh yes, but of a different nature”, I quietly replied. It was at this moment that the long awaited St Anne’s School of Angels approached and I could not bear their angelic voices and match but joined them in the parade.
Later on, I revisited the question, “Do you have such parades in Africa?” Yes, we do, but poor populations have more sufferings to parade than successes. “Each day has its own troubles”, an African saying goes. The poor believes that it’s God who gives the key to go through the odds of daily life out of his mercy and love”. Poor people, therefore, parade a litany of their daily sufferings to God who provides bread to the hungry, nurses the poor patients, educates the orphans, instructs the hearts of the poor, consoles widows and widowers, shepherds the nations, strengthens the immunity against a hip of diseases, disinfects sick waters and foods and provides mosquito nets to this endless parade
Hence, no matter what kind of parade one is in, what’s important is God’s common Wisdom and Providence. He provides rain and sun to all for a purpose: To live, Love and Share; to seek and to defend the poor. All parades are dependent on Him, and can only find true meaning in Him.
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Fr Dominic Tumusiime, AJ
In reference to "Let the children off the Cross,"
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate what Fr. Dominic Tumusiime is doing for these children to give them a hopeful future. Oh,yes!!! hunger is deeply ditressing for everybody but especially for little children.
I recall my experience as a child that one night we did not have supper and I also do not remember eating anything in the morning. So, when I went to school the next day, I fainted at the assembly. The teacher interviewed me and discovered that I was hungry so I was sent back home so that my mother could give me some food. I did not return to school that day because it takes almost a whole day to get food ready. It means fetching water from the river, firewood from the forest and food from the garden...
Now I am grown up and my heart goes out to children especially so many orphans who struggle to survive each day. Food is a basic need and it is painful that so many children lack enough to eat. I am still in school and I hope to work with struggling children in the future so that I can share with them the blessings God is giving me.
Therefore, to Fr. Dominic and to all of you whose hearts go out to such children, I dedicate this poem
"A hundred years from now no one will remember
How much money I had in the bank
what kind of car I drove
or what kind of job I had.
But I will be remembered
as someone special
because I made a difference
in the life of a child."
From http://www.turnbacktogod.com/poem-a-hundred-years-from-now/
Tumushabe Esther