Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
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| Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala |
When Kenya issued directives to curb the spread of COVID-19 in March, including ban on inbound and outbound flights after a report of the first positive case, a South Sudanese Prelate Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala who was in Kenya for treatment found himself restrained from travelling back to his native country and opted to continue with management of his Diocese virtually.
In an interview with AMECEA Online on how the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio is being managed in his absence after staying in Kenya for about three months, the Bishop says he has formed an ad hoc committee to monitor the activities of the Diocese and he collaborates with the committee members through media platforms which he says are quite “effective.”
“I came to Nairobi for treatment and just when I got cured and I wanted to go back in March, the Coronavirus had overtaken the world and eventually Kenya imposed the regulations of quarantine and lockdown,” the Bishop said Thursday, May 21.
“When I came to realize that it was not possible that I could physically be in the Diocese in Tombura-Yambio, I began thinking how I could use this period of Coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to continue with my work. I then appointed an ad hoc committee in the diocesan curia to monitor and to carry out the activities of the Diocese together with me and the people in the Diocese without saying the leader is not here,” he added.
The committee which is made up of 11 people, is chaired by the Vicar-General of the Diocese Fr. Thomas Bagbiowia and the Administrator of Diocesan Curia Fr. Ezekiel Sungerukuari.
According to Bishop Hiiboro, the committee looks into pastoral, spiritual and social activities and also what the Diocese can do about the Coronavirus pandemic.
“We always have meetings and the committee has actually helped me to organize the Diocese much better during this period,” the Prelate narrated.
He acknowledged the significance of social media platforms which have enabled quick, effective and smooth communication such that even while away from his Diocese, he still manages to run it.
“We normally hold meetings via Stream Yard, Zoom or Skype. We also use emails, WhatsApp and phone calls with the staff to see the things they do. So, we have found the social media to be a very useful,” the Church leader underscored.
He added, “This is something we were not doing before. We used to call meetings, and a priest who lives about 100 miles away had to drive all the way to the Curia to meet with me. But now it is not the case.
The Bishop calls upon the Church to grab the opportunity and use the social media platforms as evangelization instruments to reach out to the young people who normally use social media.
While away from his Diocese, the Local Ordinary of Tombura-Yambio also created a committee dubbed “Diocesan Health Emergency Preparedness Taskforce” whose task is “to study what Coronavirus is all about and its impact in the community, to create awareness to the people, to study what remedy can be provided and also to help people prepare for the aftermath of the Coronavirus.”
“When Coronavirus goes, we will be prepared and we will not be shaken. The taskforce holds meetings with different groups to see that the diocese is engaged and involved in the society and in the community,” Bishop Hiiboro explained.
The fact that the use of social media platforms can still make people interact so well and continue with other activities, the Bishop says that things may not be the same again post COVID-19.
“Somethings are actually not going to work as we were used to after this pandemic. We are actually faced with the reality that we are going to reduce the number of our staff. At the moment we are assessing and seeing which departments we can merge together as sectors,” the Prelate disclosed.
“We are surely going to reduce the number of our employees which is going to be very sad because these are people we have trained and we have been working very much together but since most of our donors are affected by this Coronavirus, most of the projects may not take off and this is going to be very serious,” he added.
“The impact is going to be huge if the donors will not be able to supportive us and definitely we have to think of what we are going to do; how we will be able to raise money locally, look at the budget, the usefulness of the programs the Churches are carrying out,” the Bishop imagines.