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| Letter received Thursday August 6, 2015 in the mail from Fr. Hattie. |
Below is my transcription of the above letter. I have taken the liberty of giving the scan a slight tint in order to recall the Aerogram letters Father used to send when he was in Uganda. I also have "adjusted" the text to account for any typos, light impressions, and overstrikes (he literally types his correspondence using a manual typewriter). Overall, my goal for the transcription is to be faithful to the intention of the text and meaning. If I missed something or there is something you don't understand, please let me know.
In several ways this was an unusual letter:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An actual letter arrived in an envelope via US Postal Service (metered 08/03/2015) rather than the more recent emails.
- It also contained two (2) pictures. See below, where they are incorporated in the transcription.
- Since his previous post, Father celebrated his 93rd birthday (on July 18th)! See the short biography post for an overview of Father's life.
- Much of the letter is a response to an article I sent him about Feast of the Martyrs of Uganda. The article was from the Fall 2014 issue (Volume LVII, No. 4) of the Divine Word Missionaries magazine (pp. 2-5).
My dear Rick: Peace of the Risen Christ!
So sorry to be late in writing, but I was in Canton for a week celebrating my 93rd Birthday & visiting donors. But, I was not at all ungrateful, but intensely delighted, by your kind & generous Gift of $XXX.XX for my lovable orphans. It is regular donors like you that keep the place going. Sadly enough, we don't get a single penny from the Ugandan Government. Two years ago, the President promised solemnly to get us piped water from Lake Victoria, but we're still waiting. He is too busy trying to remain in Office after 29 years. So it goes.
I enjoyed immensely the Article about the Ugandan Martyrs & I attended the Mass every year that I was there. In a small lake, surrounded by hills is a small artificial lake. A short distance from the shore is an immense round platform that holds the altar and 400 priests, for that many concelebrate each year. People leave home at 3 in the morning for the 10 a.m. mass, for the roads are jammed & mostly one way that day. All the police of Kampala are on duty. Some sleep all night at the grounds to get a good place & some come in wheelchairs on a journey that requires 2 weeks. Each year a different Bishop and Diocese prepare the ceremony.
There is a walk that leads to the platform for offering gifts & that ceremony takes at least 45 minutes. Goats, pigs, chickens, vegetables & fruit are offered, plus money. It is a sight worth seeing & there is not a peep from any of the babies or kids. The President & his wife always attend. The Protestants have no celebration for their 22 martyrs (we had 23), so most of them attend the Catholic one. Every year there are some visitors from abroad & the newspaper is full of pictures. On that day, neither liquor nor beer is allowed to be sold or drunken. This sight is really seeing & taking part in, but it lasts about 5 hours. But, for Africans it is a religious & social affair that just wouldn't work in these good ol' USA.
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| Caption on back: "Some of my 1000 African Orphans (boys & girls) of different Religions. It has been said that food is the quickest way to a boy's heart. But, just give one of those little guys a baseball cap, old or new, and whether it fits or not, and he will think that he is the cat's meow." [Note "Ssali" marked on cap of boy at bottom row right] |
Enclosed is a picture of Denis & myself. He is my adopted son that I picked up off the street some time ago. He hasn't a single relative, and, when he was about 6, he said: "All the kids in the school have a Dad except me. Can I please call you Dad?" And, it has been that ever since.
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| Caption on back: "Ssali Denis & myself " (Fr. Hattie on right, Note Father's "Jesuit" cap.) |
My love to your Mom when you speak to her & be sure that all of you have a super-prominent place in my daily Mass & prayers and in those of my 6 precious African Sisters who run the orphanage, and in those of the orphans, too. Daily they recite prayers for their donors.
Tons of love & gratitude,
Fr. Gene, SJ
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Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogram
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2013/08/father-hattie.html
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2013/08/father-hattie.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_Martyrs
http://www.svdmissions.org/
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/4ffd82a8#/4ffd82a8/4
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/p/letters-from-fr-hattie.html
Written Sunday August 23, 2015
http://www.svdmissions.org/
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/4ffd82a8#/4ffd82a8/4
http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/p/letters-from-fr-hattie.html
Written Sunday August 23, 2015
