In a land where walking long distances is usually a sign of distress, an annual pilgrimage for peace is raising questions and changing attitudes.
When Pope Francis announced his visit to South Sudan in 2022, young Catholics in the Diocese of Rumbek were naturally excited. “They kept saying they wanted to go and see him,” Sister Orla Treacy, an Irish religious with the Loreto Sisters, tells Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
In a country like South Sudan, however, transporting a large group of young people from Rumbek to Juba, over 400 km away, would be logistically difficult. That is when the idea of a pilgrimage began to develop. “Among our own students we used to do an annual pilgrimage of peace, moving from one town to another, and it was a multifaceted project, to give the youth a sense of the beauty around, the experience of getting to know a new place, and the prayer experience of journey and pilgrimage. But it became a pilgrimage of hope, and a pilgrimage of peace, because as we journeyed, the local population used to wonder ‘what on earth are they doing?’, because nobody walks out of joy and prayer in this country, you walk out of necessity, you walk out of abandonment, or because of a refugee or displacement status. So, the idea began to develop into a seed.”
The Pope’s trip was postponed until 2023, giving that seed time to grow, and, with the help of ACN, which helped to cover expenses with logistics and food, Rumbek’s young Catholics managed to fulfil their dream. “That was the most extraordinary experience for them, to meet the Pope, to actually touch him, and be with the head of the Church, and to be part of something so global, yet so national, and so healing.”
Such was the experience, that the diocese decided to make the pilgrimage an annual event, which ACN continues to support, but rather than walking to Juba, the young people walk to four different parishes within the Diocese of Rumbek.
In any large Western city, walking across four parishes is something one could do in a couple of hours, but the reality in South Sudan is strikingly different. “Parishes could be between 25 and 105 km apart. Sometimes it might take us three days to get to a parish, and other times we can make it in one day,” says Sister Orla, who runs a school in the Diocese of Rumbek.
Though the final destination is a parish, the real goal is the journey itself, and the effect it has on the 100 or so young people who are walking, as well as on the tens of thousands of people in the villages and settlements they pass through. The participants were from different subclan groups within the Dinka tribe, and historically, many of their families would have fought one another, Sister Orla explains. “They had grown up with stories of people from other villages, believing they were the enemy, or that they acted differently to them. They didn’t expect the hospitality, and that is one of the biggest barriers we have been able to break down, for people to realise that their neighbours are the same as them. It has been beautiful.”
“Hospitality is a very strong feature within the Dinka culture, and in every village we went to, people were slaughtering goats, bulls, chickens, and cooking for us, and helping us. Others were offering mattresses and chairs. There was a sense of solidarity and welcome, and it has been a beautiful experience for the youth to realise that people from other areas within our state or neighbouring states are as welcoming as we are,” Sister Orla says.
The Loreto Sisters are hoping that their efforts will help South Sudan – a young country that is unfortunately still marked by internal tension and conflict – achieve a brighter future. “When President Salva Kiir came to visit Rumbek in 2008, when we started our mission, he was in the cathedral and he told us that we are not rebuilding South Sudan, we are building it. And this is still the reality. We have a firm belief that it is the young people who are going to change the Church, and who are going to change the country, and investing in their formation, education, and journeying with them is the way forward for all of us. And we are grateful for the partnership with ACN, because it is through ACN that much of this work is possible,” says the Irish sister, who after 18 years already speaks of South Sudan as her country as well.
By Filipe d’Avillez.
