By the end of the year, St. Mary Catholic Church priest Father Sabinus Iwu will be in Nigeria in his new post as the finance and agriculture administrator of two seminaries.
“They want me to come and establish a viable agricultural program to help get stable food the students need on a daily basis,” he said.
Iwu said he’s been asked to take over the finance and agriculture positions at the seminaries in Owerri and Umuahia in the southeast part of the country in part thanks to his history running a similar set up in his first assignment.
In that first assignment at a minor seminary, he worked with his students to use the seminary’s land to produce close to 60 per cent of the food needed to feed the staff and students.
“That was how one of the bishops (at Owerri) came to know about,” Iwu said. “They saw that it was something that had already been practised.”
At Owerri and Umuahia, he’ll be responsible for helping to feed nearly 1,000 people three meals every day.
In the past, the seminaries had bought their food from the local marketplace, but being able to produce a large amount of food on their own would ensure a reliable source of nutrition well into the future.
Even though it’s something he’s done already, Iwu said he realizes it’s not necessarily going to be easy.
“It’s a very big challenge, but I’m not afraid because challenges are part of the reality of this life,” he said.
A large part of why the bishops in Owerri and Umuahia want to start up a farm to produce their own food is to develop strong character traits in the aspiring priests.
“The bishops that run these two seminaries want to cultivate that spirit of self-reliance and resourcefulness in the future priests,” Iwu said.
As many of those seminarians are working to become missionaries, he said it’s important they have the skills necessary to lead and run a mission.
“As a priest, part of your duty is to be in a leadership role in any place where you find yourself,” he said.
For all the excitement about heading over to Nigeria to start the farm, Iwu does have some concerns about getting the project off the ground. Much of the equipment he needs is not there in Nigeria, so there’s the issue of getting that equipment and getting it to the seminaries.
Fortunately, his parishioners are chipping in to help make the farm a success by holding a farewell gala and fundraiser on Dec. 1.
Leaving his parishioners in Westlock is not an easy thing for Iwu to do.
In the years he’s spent working in Westlock, he’s grown accustomed to the people and has always felt welcomed by everyone he’s met, even if they haven’t been Catholic. In fact, he said the community has felt the same way about him.
“They are very much at home with me, even if they don’t attend the Catholic church,” he said.
The admiration the community has for him isn’t just limited to Westlock either. He said he was in Lac La Biche recently, a community he served about three years ago, and one that still misses him.
“They are still weeping,” he said.
As much as he will miss Westlock and the surrounding communities, Iwu said he doesn’t have much choice in deciding where to work.
He explained that as a priest, he is beholden to where the bishops ask him to preach.
That’s especially true being of African descent. Bishops are the elders in the church, and in the African culture, one is taught to respect one’s elders.
“We always obey our elders,” he said. “When the elders summon you for an errand, you have to go. It’s part of the African experience.”
Iwu’s position in Nigeria was supposed to start in October, but he had some projects on the go he was unable to leave. However, he’s since wrapped those up and is slated to leave for Nigeria shortly after the gala.
Anyone interested in attending the gala, or supporting Iwu’s new mission, is invited to call Kathryn Bourque at 780-307-7403.
