Friday in Somaliland is the weekly holiday in the Islamic calendar, but on one particular Friday a Catholic priest remained busy at work in the capital, Hargeisa. Fr Tom Donovan was sweeping the floor of the recently renovated St Anthony’s Church in preparation for the following big day: the first Mass for his new Catholic parish.
“I’d been waiting for five years in Djibouti for this,” Fr Tom, a 69-year-old New Zealander, said. “Now is the right time. The Somaliland government begged for us to come – the reception at that level has been wonderful.”
Lying to the south of Djibouti and astride the Gulf of Aden, Somaliland split from Somalia in 1991 following a civil war that left about 50,000 dead. Since then Somalia has remained mired in a seemingly irresolvable civil conflict of almost unfathomable complexity and ruthlessness. It has resulted in the eradication of the Catholic community in Mogadishu, which once boasted a beautiful cathedral and had its own bishop – the first destroyed, the second assassinated.
Somaliland, however, has quietly emerged as a relative beacon of peace, democracy and good governance, all the while failing to receive international recognition of its proclaimed sovereignty. Hence, despite being a devoutly Muslim country (its constitution recognises Sharia law) its government will embrace any means, even the Catholic Church, if it helps shed light on the country’s little-known plight.
Mass on a Sunday isn’t practical as it tends to be one of the busiest days of Somaliland’s working week. So the first Mass took place on a Saturday. The congregation comprised five people: four foreign workers with non-governmental organisations, and one journalist: myself.
The altar wine, along with statues of St Anthony and the Virgin Mary in the transepts, had been flown in by one of the congregation who had to explain his partly illicit cargo to airport customs.
“Alcohol isn’t allowed here, but once I told them where it would be drunk they were happy and let it through,” said Achille Aka, who works with the World Food Programme.
The small congregation retired to Fr Tom’s residence for the customary post-Mass chat with fruit juice and digestive biscuits, a domestic touch that struck an almost plaintive touch for this British journalist, so far from home under the relentless Horn of Africa sun.
St Anthony’s Church and Fr Tom’s new home are within a compound belonging to the Catholic charity Caritas since the 1950s. It had to be abandoned with the breakout of civil war in 1988. But despite about 90 per cent of Hargeisa being reduced to rubble by the bombers of military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre’s regime, the compound survived untouched. Caritas kept an eye on the compound while it carried out humanitarian work in the country, and the likes of Fr Tom would visit from Djibouti to check on it too.
Last year discussions turned to seriously contemplating a Catholic return to Hargeisa, culminating in a visit this January by Bishop Giorgio Bertin, Bishop of Djibouti and Apostolic Administrator of Mogadishu, accompanied by Fr Tom.
The visit was a success, with the bishop afforded diplomatic status by Somaliland’s government. Afterwards, Bishop Giorgio gave Fr Tom the green light to stay and start his parish. Fr Tom lived at a nearby hotel for three months while overseeing final renovation work to the church and residence, before moving in to the compound near the end of April, just before the first Mass.
There are Somali Christians in Hargeisa, but it is still too dangerous for them to show themselves, or to be approached. Foreign Christian workers have been assassinated in Somaliland, though there hasn’t been such an attack since 2004. For now peace holds admirably well in Somaliland – the last large-scale terrorist attack occurred in 2008. But the congregation is likely to remain mainly comprised of foreign NGO workers.
“I would read my Bible at home and do confession myself, but it just isn’t the same,” said Barlet Jaji, a Kenyan Catholic working for two years in Somaliland with the NGO Action Africa Help. He had just discovered the new parish, with some relief. Lent was especially stressful, he said. “You need people around you, who you can identify with.”
Christianity in Africa is increasingly garnering a reputation for exhibiting qualities that worshippers in the West could learn from. “Anywhere where faith is under pressure you’ll find real Catholics,” Fr Tom said. “In places like Europe where people are occupied with everything but religion, it’s hard to practise.”
For Catholics in Hargeisa worshipping has become a little easier after long years of absence, though now the challenge is for Fr Tom to reach them. There are nine Filipinos living and working within the local community in Hargeisa who until now have gathered in someone’s house on a Friday to share their Catholic faith, Fr Tom said. He hopes they can be persuaded by one of those attending that first Mass, a fellow Filipino working for an NGO, to visit St Anthony’s and consider joining the congregation.
“I’m just an ordinary priest who wanted his parish,” said Fr Tom, the first Catholic priest to return to the Somali region in 27 years. “I’ve got my dream.”
James Jeffrey is a freelance journalist based in Addis Ababa, from where he covers Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa for various international media
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