How The School Of Ombaci Has Arisen
On the return from internment we suffered due to the War of 1939-45 (World War II) as Italians (Italy and Britain fought on opposite sides during the War), the British colonial administration told some of us to go to Arua in the District of West Nile, instead of Gulu, where we had worked before. In 1938, we had started a technical school in Arua (Ediofe) for carpenters, mechanics and masons. But because of our internment, this had been closed. After return to this territory which was peaceful, we thought of reopening the schools, but they were without locals. Arua’s mission in Ediofe had built some large dormitories for the catechumens and lent us one to use as a workshop. Unfortunately, the building was so low that you could touch the roof with your hands, and with low windows, just to give air, but not light. We were not satisfied and therefore we thought of an environment suitable for our purpose. The Comboni Missionary superior showed us a truly beautiful place: a plateau where we could build a school of arts and crafts without difficulty of space, or of moving families because there was nobody. The place was called Ombatci which means “the place of war”. But in order to get that land we needed the permission of the English Provincial Commissioner, who at the time was an anti-Catholic (The British colonial administration had designated the area around Arua town to be Protestant, Yumbe was designated to be a Moslem territory and Moyo for Catholics, according to Fr. Toni Lasalandra MCCJ). After two official requests we realized that it was anti-religious jealousy and therefore nothing to do! Meanwhile, I designed the plans for the workshops, the school and the meeting room. It should be noted that the projects had to be done according to the established rules concerning stability, ventilation, light, space specified by the government at that time for education institutions. Therefore, everything in planning was observed according to the prescribed
rules. The approval of the projects had to be examined by the various government departments, including hygiene and public works. Therefore each project had to be delivered in four copies (then blue) for delivery to the various interested parties. Here too, there was the difficulty of finding the cards to make the blue copies and so I turned to my cousin who lived in Milan and was an expert in the field .. With his instruction, I bought the necessary ink and so I succeeded to do the plans in the required way with great satisfaction. After preparing the projects, I had to take them to Entebbe (administrative capital of Uganda) for approval. At the office of the White Fathers (then French and English), I was received by the person in charge, to whom I explained the reason for my visit and to whom I handed over the plans. He looked at them and threw them on the floor in a corner of his office saying: “You know we are at war and so these things are not accepted”. Worried, I returned to the White Fathers’ house. There, I found an English White Father to whom I explained the incident. He told me: “We’ll see tomorrow”. The next day we went back to the office and, after having spoken with the Procurator, the person in charge had me pick up the projects, which were still in the aforementioned corner, and we went to the medical department’s office. Here the English White Father spoke with the person in charge and left me there with him. The incharge told me that the projects should have been done by an engineer and that it would have been very difficult for him to approve them, because they certainly had not been made according to the rules. That said, he began to examine the workshop project. He immediately objected that the windowsill was too high. I replied that in the book of regulations it is said that the sill can be up to one and twenty feet from the floor. He checked the book and admitted it was right. He passed to other points, but finding no quirks and not knowing what to do, he told me: “You see, I do not have time to examine these plans at the moment; but try going to the public employment department and we’ll see”. In the public works department was a director, Vistomi who knew me because, a year before, he had come to see the construction of the cathedral in Gulu and was enthusiastic about it. Vistomi, asked me many things and the reason for my visit. I presented the projects I had with me to be approved. He then called an English engineer to whom he delivered the projects and told them to examine them. Meanwhile, he held me back until the engineer came back and said they were all made according to the rules. Then he took them and put on each his signature and stamp with approval. Then he said goodbye to me. I returned to the medical (hygiene) department inspector who asked, “How did it go?” I replied that all the projects had been approved. He was hurt. Then he told me: “As I told you, I am very busy, but I will approve of the first project I have seen and the others I will examine later. So I returned to the White Fathers attorney’s office. There I met an Indian merchant from Arua who came home with his truck and offered me a ride.
Brother Antonio Biasin MCCJ C / 349/44
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