![\"Meeting](\"http:\/\/www.episcopalpgh.org\/bishopsblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Meeting-Papa-Ilukor2.jpg\")
<\/a>Meeting Papa Ilukor<\/p><\/div>\n
Papa Ilukor was the Bishop of Soroti during most of this turbulent period. \u00a0He has a first name, but nobody ever uses it. \u00a0He is simply Papa. \u00a0Nearly alone, he had the integrity and courage to hold together the people of Teso even as the rest of the country was falling apart at the seams. \u00a0He is sometimes called the Mandela of the North. \u00a0More than once, he simply walked into rebel encampments and persuaded them to put down their arms. \u00a0He convened talks between parties who had vowed to kill each other. \u00a0He brought about reconciliation where there was simply no possibility of it. \u00a0He flew abroad and presented the crisis in Uganda to a world that didn’t want to hear about it, and he returned, miraculously, with planeloads of food, blankets and medical supplies. \u00a0He saved the lives of thousands.<\/p>\n
When Pilgrim began, an upstart organization led by “these young men” (a term of contempt from the local elders), Papa Bishop was a game-changing ally. \u00a0He saw the vision, and quietly stood up for us every chance he got. \u00a0Five years ago, he presided over a regional development conference that gave us a huge step forward in establishing Pilgrim’s stature in the community.<\/p>\n
On the way down to Kampala from Soroti, I want to pay my respects. \u00a0We’re pressed for time. \u00a0We have been summoned for a meeting with the Minister of Health in the afternoon, so we were on the road by 6:30 a.m., a day earlier than scheduled. \u00a0At some point before Mbale, we turn off the main road and head up a series of tracks through the outlying hamlets of Bukedea, in search of Papa.<\/p>\n
After many false turns, shy and inadequate directions, and swampy conditions I thought would sink us, Francis guides our 4×4 to the house. \u00a0The bishop has just returned from his garden and (his wife shouts this from within) will not receive us until he puts on trousers and a clean shirt. \u00a0After a few minutes he emerges, and greets us graciously.<\/p>\n
He really is larger than life. \u00a0It isn’t just that he is very tall. \u00a0He radiates a kind of confident energy that is humble at the same time. \u00a0His face is full of laugh lines, but at rest, looks a little sad. \u00a0His hands are huge farmer’s hands, and when he takes my hand, he refuses to let it go.<\/p>\n