HEAL Blog
Welcome! Here we will post news and highlight the faces, needs, and services of HEAL.Back to School at BOMCA!
I don’t know about you, but I looked forward to every holiday from school in all my years as a student and equally hated going back to school after the holiday ended. My best memory about the first day of school, from grade school to college, is that there was hardly...
Open House Precedes New School Year
At the BOMCA graduation ceremony last July, the program included students creatively showcasing what they had learned to their parents and other stakeholders, like myself, in attendance. A young primary school student named Rosemary stole the show with her “names for...
Masters Perform Unforgettable Drama!
The students of BOMCA (a.k.a. “the Masters”) perform dramas to express the Self-Emptying (Phil 2:6-11) mission of HEAL and the charism and apostolate of the Messengers of Justice Sisters (MOJ’s). I witnessed such a performance at my send off ceremony on July 13, the...
Fr. Augustus Tolton’s Story Told in Africa!
I had the distinct privilege to speak about Fr. Tolton to the secondary school section of BOMCA in July. Special thanks to Bishop Joseph N. Perry, Postulator for the Cause of Augustus Tolton, and Joyce Duriga, editor of Chicago Catholic, for providing me with...
Nick Welcomed to Akpim Village Igbo Style
The Igbo people express hospitality for their visitors through displays of their wonderful culture going back to time immemorial. Enjoy this video of my welcoming reception in Akpim village a few weeks ago. Our mission of forming Servant Leaders, in the spirit of...
MOJ’s and Masters Fending for their Food
In 2017, HEAL’s Coordinator for Widow’s Outreach, named Dorothy, brought Deacon Leo and I to her home village of Ekwe to show us the squalid conditions many of her people were suffering there. We encountered a widow named Ijioma and two of her children, whom I...
Help HEAL fight Malaria!
On my first trip to Nigeria in 2014, a security guard stopped me at the airport in Lagos and said, “I need your Yellow Fever card.” I replied I didn’t have one, knowing it wasn’t required. He proceeded to take my passport and not return it until Deacon Leo arrived at...
Chinonso making his mother proud!
Chinonso Uwalaka is Rev. Leo’s 10-year old nephew, whom I met during my visit to Nigeria two years ago. For fun, I taught him the popular “rock, paper, scissors” game which he immediately loved. When I visit this summer, I know he’ll be bugging me to play it over and...
Quiz competition fosters Servant Leadership!
Driving home into Chicago recently via the I-94 Expy, I noticed a building on the roadside with a large painting of abolitionist pioneer, Frederick Douglass. Next to his visage are the words, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free!” Indeed, there is no...
Inter-House Sports Day!
Back in primary school, we participated in an annual sports event called the “Loretto Olympics”, named after our school. I remember long jumping, high jumping, and sprinting in hope of winning a bronze, silver, or gold medal. It was the only exposure to track and...