Precisely 14 th February 55 years ago, as others around the world were exchanging gifts with their loved ones on Valentine’s Day, the Catholic missionaries in Igboland were languishing in Kirikiri Prīson in Lagos. 4 days later, they were deported.
Their crime was that they made the horrors of the Nigerīa-Biāfran war known to the world. When the Nīgerian g0vernment blocked air, land, and all sea channels leading to Biafra, the missionaries facilitated the construction of makeshift airports at Uli and Uga, through which food and medicine were delivered to the starving and dying Bīafrans. Of course, not a few of their planes were shot down and their pilots kīlled.
As hunger and diseases were about to wipe out the people, the missionaries turned their churches and schools into hospitals, relief, and refugee centres. Every one of them became a nurse and a food distributor. They buried the dead and consoled the bereaved. They attended to the needy irrespective of their denomination or religious affiliation. At the beginning of the war, the Nìgerian g0vernment had given them permission to leave the country, but they decided to stay with their flock.
Fr. Paddy, one of the Irish missionaries that I met in Dublin in 2008, told me that they were prepared to die with their flock. “A good shepherd does not run away in times of danger,” he said. Because of this show of love for justice, humanity, and their flock during the war, the American News Week of 23 September 1968 declared that “never before has the face of Catholicism appeared so attractive.”
The true test of love are in times of need, anxiety, abandonment, cruelty, injustice, and oppression. Nothing makes one beautiful or handsome like true and sincere love.
If you are lucky to find someone who loves you sincerely, hold the person/s tight. Such persons are rare to find, especially, in the world of today.
Happy Val my dearest friends
Fada Angelo Chidi Unegbu
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