AROUND 800 members of the London’s Sudanese Community remembered their VicePresident, Dr John Garang, at a Mass last Saturday at the Sacred Heart Church in Kilburn, north London.
Organisers chose the Sacred Heart because they wanted a big church near to the London Irish Centre in Camden Town where three days of traditional mourning were taking place.
The centre was also used for a gathering of Sudanese people from all over Britain as more tributes were made to Dr Garang.
The Sudanese Ambassador and the High Commissioner of neighbouring Kenya attended the Mass, but there was no representative of the British Government.
Fr Ray Warren presided at the Eucharist and two Sudanese Anglican priests attended on the sanctuary. The homily and tributes honoured Dr Garang as Vice-President of Sudan and President of the Government of Southern Sudan and President of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.
The congregation were mostly southern Sudanese but there were also people, both Christian and Muslim, from every part of Sudan.
People were deeply shocked by the death of the man they called their leader, said Fr Warren, and were very appreciative of the occasion to come together to mourn and pray.