“For those of us who have nothing, this help is everything.”

Father Lawrence Ssimbwa, pastor of San Martin de Porres, Buenaventura, and his entire community will be able to count on a new church, thanks to the help of ACN..

The distance between Uganda and Colombia is nearly 12,000 kilometers, a distance that Father Lawrence Ssimbwa traveled to settle in the heart of the San Martin de Porres parish, a community in the port of Buenaventura.

Its territory comprises five neighborhoods and twelve base communities, with approximately 30,000 Catholic faithful. Like many parishes in Latin America, St. Martin de Porres faces complex challenges: «extreme poverty, violence, young people involved in illegal groups and teenage pregnancies, among others», says Father Ssimbwa.

In addition to all these challenges, the parish lacks a church, since it currently operates, literally, in the living room and garage of a house. There is a lot of overcrowding on feast days and Sundays, and although the community is very active, with a lively faith, community activities are very restricted due to the lack of an appropriate space for them to carry out their activities.

In places where there are great material shortages and complex realities, there is often spiritual hunger, and churches and chapels represent much more than a building; they become the axis of pastoral action and the faith life of the community. «That is why the support of Aid to the Church in Need for the construction of the church is the best thing that has happened to the parish. Thanks to ACN it will be possible to have the church», comments with joy Father Lawrence Ssimbwa.

Works of this type, and many others around the world, in areas where the Church is in need, suffering or persecution are made possible by the concrete generosity of ACN’s benefactors, who share God’s gifts. In this line, Monsignor Rubén Darío Jaramillo, Bishop of Buenaventura, makes this call to those who, from their homes, perhaps feel that they are far away from this situation, but think that they could do something for these brothers and sisters: «Those who have a good quality of life should know that this is also given by God, that it is a gift from God. He gives to some so that they can share with others. God did not give us to accumulate, he gave us to share. Our life is in function of others… We are here working in a difficult area of the Pacific. A very poor area, very needy, and where you can make a difference by reaching out to us and helping the Gospel reach many people.»

A Ugandan in Buenaventura

Father Lawrence Ssimbwa, a Consolata missionary, is a native of the town of Masaka, in Uganda, Africa, is 41 years old and arrived in Colombia 15 years ago. He was ordained a priest nine years ago, and since 2017 he has been the parish priest of San Martin de Porres, in Buenaventura.

He began his priestly formation in Kenya, and learned Spanish to complete his theology studies at the Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. He is the fourth of five siblings and says that his vocation was born in his native parish, where he was part of the youth group, and there, little by little, his missionary character was born.

Father Ssimbwa says that in San Martin de Porres he has learned to give himself more to the evangelizing task of the Church and, with a big smile, on behalf of his entire community, he ends by expressing his gratitude for the help to build the church: «For those of us who have nothing, this help is everything».