Ndangi William Raphael Kamunde is a seminarian in the diocese of Tombura-Yambio, South Sudan.
"My parish has two priests and 15 seminarians.
I really like our cathedral, which has a large building to worship the Lord and a small shrine where the body of Bishop Gasi Abangite is kept, a place very frequented by the faithful from all over the region. As we have tribes of various languages, we also have masses in those same languages: English, Arabic and Zande, which is the local language. In the whole diocese we have a number of priests of about 37, some of whom are missionaries.
There are many things that are needed in the church in our country, for example, building material churches, infrastructure, i.e. places to celebrate masses, host meetings of young people, the faithful, pastoral animation teams, catechesis, etc.
In addition, good training is needed to carry out all the activities, especially to train young people on how to take education seriously, educate them on how to protect themselves from HIV and other very serious sexual diseases for us in Africa, but also to implement their creativity and support them in the sometimes lacking education system.
I always think that the disciples of Jesus had never expected to be followers of God himself, but the Lord Jesus called them, and so they found themselves being called by God himself. I began to feel my vocation when I was in the sixth grade as an altar boy, which I did for about three years. Then I was sent to the minor seminary where I spent four years and from there I was sent to the propaedeutic formation for one year.
My vocation surely came about because I was inspired by the animators of the parish, the priests and the way the seminarians behaved, so I wanted to be like them; but above all because I realized that Jesus, the Son of God and God made flesh, died for my sins, so I said to myself: why not also give my life to save His people, so that they can see His kingdom?
I am very happy to be studying in Rome, it gives me hope to be able to meet different thoughts about evangelization and the influence that a Christian can have in his environment. Besides, studying here opens my mind to really understand what it means to be a priest, as well as to dialogue with different people, to see new things, to live a new life, in a new environment; and to study together with guys who come from all over the world.
I think that more people, more seminarians in my diocese and in my country would do very well to have this same experience that I had the possibility to have.
And above all, having to learn a new language, even in prayer with others, makes me breathe the universality of the Church."
