During the General Assembly on March 1st, we expressed a desire to Federico IZ2LXL to meet Father Tiboni, who in that occasion had been chosen as the recipient of the charity of our Club for 2009. 

On Thursday, July 16th 2009, after only one day after his arrival in Italy, we had the gift of being able to meet a very special person, full of vitality and tirelessly devoting herself to helping people. 

Father Pietro Tiboni, born in 1925 in Tiarno di Sopra (TN), was ordained priest in 1950 and from 1957 to 1964 was Mission in Sudan, and Uganda, which still operates at the Combonian Institut in Kampala, teaching theology. 

Always very careful to the needs of local people, he is constantly ready to give aid despite of financial efforts, both by paying medical cares to the sicks and providing microcredit to mothers, who want to become entrepreneurs of themselves for bringing up their children. 

With much pride Father Tiboni said that through microcredit he has seen women become potato farmers, breeders hens and producing pots manufactured from scrap, but to continue on this road, he constantly needed economic aids.
Of course he was very glad to hear that the our proceeds 2009 will be donated
to him and we hope to be able to collect a good amount, which can help giving a relief to the community of Uganda close to Father Tiboni.

Insubria Radio Team

I was born in Italy in 1925 and I joined the Comboni Missionaries. 

Since childhood I felt in a clear way the call to the mission and at 12 years I left for the Comboni Seminary at Trento I studied Philosophy and Theology at the Urbanian University obtaining the licence both in theology and in philosophy. 

I was ordained priest in Rome on 8th April 1950 and immediately sent to the outskirts of Rome, considered as a missionary zone.

From 1951 I taught philosophy and theology both in the Comboni Missionaries Scolasticates and in the National Seminaries of Sudan and of Uganda. However, as in Rome, I was always concerned to use all the time available for people around me, both under the point of view of the priestly ministry and the care of the needs of the poor and of the sick. In Sudan I was even taking care of the sick because, when in Rome I followed the course of nursing offered by the Order of Malta. 

My activities had been and are various. I enjoyed very much the teaching to the seminarians and the various free activities that I could perform as voluntary work. And I am grateful to the Lord for what he has called me to do. I tried to perform faithfully what the Superiors asked me to do and I was always free to perform activities not asked from the Superiors but by the reality I was encountering. 

After teaching philosophy in the Missionary Scolasticate at Verona up to 1955, I was sent to England for studying English and waiting for the entry visa for Sudan. As the visa was delaying I stayed a full year with the Comboni Students, teaching philosophy and helping them in the preparation for the Oxford Exams. As the entry arrived in June 1956 I returned to Italy and I prepared myself to leave. In February 1957 I left for Sudan and I was destined to the National Major Seminary at Tore. 

I remained there for 7 years and then I was expelled together with all the Missionaries of Southern Sudan in 1964. It was a wonderful missionary experience because inside the clear and obstinate persecution, faith was developing and the Church was growing. I remained in Italy up to the end of 1969, teaching in the Comboni Scolasticate of Venegono Superiore and then I was sent to Uganda and I arrived the first January 1970 in Gulu diocese. I started in Kitgum the Parish of Christ the King in the town and the Seminary for adult vocations inside the Pastoral Community of the Parish. In 1975 I was again expelled by the President Amin Dada together with other 16 Comboni Missionaries. At that time I was in Rome for the General Chapter of the Comboni Missionaries and I was elected for the General Council and as such I visited the various Comboni Missions in Africa and in the Northern and South America. 

In 1980 I was sent again to Uganda in Kampala for teaching in the Ggaba National Seminary and the St. Mbaaga Major Seminary. Staying in Kampala I came in contact with refugees from Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, and Ethiopia and then with displaced from Northern Uganda. Many of them knew me already because of the former missions I have been either directly or through their friends. 

Usually the UNHCR helps the refugees in the camp, but in some cases they get the permission to leave the camp and come to Kampala. I found among them especially three groups. 1 Politically persecuted people who staying in the camp were in great danger of being killed or abducted. 2 Affected by serious sickness that could not be cured in the camps like diabetes, epilepsies etc. 3 Girls who were in danger of being raped. 

These could obtain the permission of leaving the camp and coming to Kampala but they were not given the help to survive. 

They used to flock to me for assistance. We tried to organize the assistance and to find out the way of helping those who could to take up some activities for their maintenance, giving a small capital for the start. 

Meanwhile I came in contact with the Catholic Community inside the Christian University of Mukono and I started to celebrate the Mass for the student in the chapel of Bugujju in front of the entrance to the University. In this context I came in contact with some who are working very actively for children with special needs. I admired them as I could not be capable of doing such a work. I got involved with them. 

Out of these various activities with the collaborators we formed GSFO –Good Samaritan Friends Organisation recognized as CBO by the District of Mukono and of Kampala.

Fr. Pietro Tiboni 

Comboni Missionaries 

Ismail road plot 94 

P.O. Box 3872 Kampala 

UGANDA