Northern Uganda, Ankole dioceses cement relationship

______________________

A total of 64 members of the Northern Uganda Diocese Mothers Union have camped for three days in Ankole diocese.

The benchmarking and link mission saw Caroline Cik, the President of Northern Uganda Diocese Mothers Union who is also the vice-president Mothers Union of the Province of Church of Uganda lead the team to Ankole. 

Speaking at the climax of their benchmarking mission on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, Cik said their twinning journey started way back in 2018 when they resolved.

The group visited several self-help projects implemented by Ankole Diocese including the wafer project which makes altar bread for holy communion, six storeyed Mothers Union Complex, Diocesan Millenium SACCO 2012, Coffee and poultry and several buildings the diocese has built in Mbarara city for sustainability.

Addressing the group at St James Cathedral, Ruharo, Ankole Anglican Diocese bishop Sheldon Mwesigwa credited women under the Mothers Union Movement for setting a good example by pioneering the inter-dioceses twining movement. 

He noted that as a province of the Church of Uganda, they have not had a formal relationship of dioceses twining.

He challenged bishops and men to seriously take up the challenge and support it to benefit all dioceses across the province as this will help them to have more areas of exchange of ideas, innovation, and vision. 

Mothers Union members from Northern Uganda Diocese deliver gifts to Ankole dioceses at the climax of their three-day visit to the diocese. (All Photos by Abdulkarim Ssengendo)

Mwesigwa said this shouldn’t only stop at Church but also local governments should implement the movement noting that the interaction between districts will help to prosper sustainable development.

He informed the group that many places in Ankole have been able to have social-economic transformation because people in the area are grounded in Christian values.

“We are who we are because of the grounding in the Christian values. With the revival people in Ankole did away with bad behaviors like bad hygienic habits which were leading to people not having long life, alcohol, and other critical issues which affect development," he said. 

Mwesigwa hailed past bishops notably Jonani Luwum who he said was a member of the East African Revival, which helped Ankole to develop.

The Bishop used the same platform to encourage dioceses to strengthen Fathers' Unions and also encouraged visitors from northern Uganda to invest more in the education of their children. 

The bishop reported that as a diocese, they have been able to visit seven dioceses for benchmarking and about 10 dioceses have also visited Ankole on the same mission.

He noted that during their visit to other dioceses, they picked many ideas including the idea of starting Diocesan Millenium 2012 SACCO, an idea which they picked from their visit to Kinkizi Diocese which had a successful project: Akabokusi.

In her speech, Dr Jeninah Mwesigye, the Mothers Union President Ankole diocese hailed the team from Northern Uganda for the decision to move out to learn from what Ankole is doing and said the practice is the way to go for all dioceses across the province to achieve a sustainable development. 

The team hailed Ankole Diocese for the income-generating projects they are implementing saying they have reawakened them and vowed to embark on massive work on their return back home. These called for the need to support continuous inter-diocesan visits.  

“From what we have learnt from our visit we need these visits at all levels because we cannot all be the same, but when we visit each other, we learn a lot and grow together,” Cik added.