New health services will soon be available to the Central Africans by 2018. St. John Paul Hospital of Bossemptele will open the neonatology, maternity, surgical, and the one-year nursing training and internship. Thanks to the project of Salute e Sviluppo, a Camillian NGO, who made possible these developments since the Camillian took over the hospital. The hospital was started by the Carmelite Sisters and in 2012 donated to the Camillians. At present, four Camillian religious are assigned in this mission running the hospital and the parish of St. Therese.

Since Pope Francis’ visit in this country in November 2015, fresh winds of changes in the church and the society as a whole are making inroads. “Right now in my country, everyone will tell you the same thing. Be they Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, everyone! They will say the same thing: Pope Francis brought a new breath of fresh air to our country and individual lives. […] From the moment Pope Francis set foot on CAR, right up to today, I really can tell you that there is a different atmosphere in our land.” Archbishop Nzapalainga of Bangui told these in an interview with Vatican radio.

The Camillians in Bossemptele made a big impact in the international media when the war broke out between the Seleka and the anti-balaka on March 2013. The hospital and the parish became the refuge of the thousands of Muslims who have been targeted by the anti-balaka forces. This reminds the Camillian Martyrs of Charity who died in the war serving the soldiers who were wounded and infected with contagious diseases between 1759-1743. The call to the fourth vow is indeed fully alive and called forth today in the various situations where the lives of the most vulnerable are in danger.

The hospital is located about 385 km from the capital city of Bangui, and the nearest ill-equipped hospital in Bozoum is about 85 km away from Bossemptele. The Camillian hospital is serving then thousands of population whose access to health services is almost nil before this hospital.

PHOTOGALLERY