The Bishop's New House

On Thursday, June 26th, the congregation from All Saints Cathedral gathered with representatives of the ECS Province, the Diocese of Khartoum, and friends and family of Retired Bishop Bulus Idris Tia to bless this new house.

The house is located in one of the most western parts of Omdurman.

In another entry I had traveled to the northern most parts of Omdurman, first to attend the Youth Drama Day (Post for June 22) and then Sunday, June 29 to attend church with Tito and his family at Emmanuel Episcopal Church.

Tito and I rode up to Omdurman together, he dropping me off to get my haircut and he to get the Secretary’s car fixed. We met at the Diocesan office.

By small convoy, we made our way southwest, Bishop Ezekiel Kondo, Bishop of Khartoum, in the lead car.

In our car, we traveled with the oldest Canon priest who had long since retired after serving 55 years as the Canon to the Ordinary, the current Canon, a spry 60, and the former Diocesan Secretary.

I felt right at home, taking a road trip to points south.

The service was due to start at 4:30 PM, but got started closer to 5 PM as they tinkered with the sound system. Though, sitting under a tent, one did not need to have sound.

However, no Sudanese can speak without a mike, and once the mike is in hand, they cannot stop speaking.

We finally left at 8:30 PM. Tito traveling north and east and I traveling south and east.

My ride back to Khartoum was in one of the school vehicles owned by The Diplomatic School.

This school started 20 years ago teaching 9 children and teach over 500 this year

The family that started the school is that of Mr. Ustaz Johnson Nyeko, Senior Warden of All Saints Cathedral - Khartoum and chair of this building committee.

Though an extremely gifted man, Mr. Ustez, a Ugandan, can speak just as long as if he were Sudanese. And he really only speaks English, so the former Diocesan Secretary was volunteered into action the entire night translating into Arabic.

After the summary of the project by Mr. Ustez, no mere amount of 66,000 pounds, the house was blessed by Canon Joseph, the Dean of the Cathedral and Bishop Kondo as we held candles and moved from room to room ending up in the back yard.

Once completed, we moved back outside for some brief comments.

The briefest comments were by those not in attendance.

The longest was by the Dean, who even though he said he would not repeat what others had said, he did. And, when he said he only had “one more word” on the subject, he did not. He had several thousand.

At one point, a choir member turned to me and mouthed “ Welcome to Sudan.”

A hint for the Diocesan Convention planning committee: never book anyone from Sudan to speak, ever.

I learned that an Egyptian Muslim couple had donated all of the concrete towards the laying of the foundation. Other firms had donated computers, piping, water all to be auctioned off.

The British Embassy contributed. And, the people of All Saint’s Cathedral - Khartoum each donated one pound each.

The most moving part of the evening was the turning over of the keys to the family.

Not a dry eye in the bunch as the Bishop’s wife hugged the current Bishop. Each whispering into each other’s ear.

Oh, my mistake.

The Bishop’s widow hugged the current Bishop.

Bishop Bulus had died 18 months prior from cancer.

This house was his special project but he had only completed building the storage shed and one wall on the property line when he died. He died leaving his wife and children virtually homeless.

Throughout his Episcopacy, Bishop Bulus spent more time providing a roof over other families

than he did for his own.

He always thought he had more time.

So, for the first time ever in Sudan, a congregation took upon themselves to build a house for a bishop.

And, a beautiful house it is.