Along the way

 

 

P.Michael

Along the way

We are now in the last month of this rainy season. In a few weeks it will stop raining and for a few months not a drop will fall. The wind will pick up, and within 2 or 3 days, the humidity will drop from 70 or 80% to less than 20%.

The rest of the week I was in Bouar, for the pastoral meeting of the whole diocese. We finished on Saturday, after four days of work.

On Sunday I celebrated Mass in Bawi, a village 35 km from Baoro, on the road to Bangui.

I was with Fr Michael, a Central African confrere, and we continued the journey with him. In addition to the rain, we also encountered an accident: a truck had just flipped over, and we took three people, with minor injuries, to the Bossemptele hospital.

The state of the roads is getting worse and worse. The few repairs made in recent months are now ruined. There were big construction sites, financed (largely) by the World Bank: but most of the money went elsewhere. Certainly not in the repair work.

Added to this is the lack of fuel, which has dragged on since May and penalizes transport and the entire economy. Despite the passage of dozens of tankers every week, fuel remains mysteriously unavailable in Bangui. And when it is found, the price is double.

In Bangui I dedicated myself to the construction site on Monday and Tuesday. Together with Andrè, the convent's handyman, and with 2 young people from the community, we laid the sheaths and pipes in the third part of the slab between the ground floor and the first floor.

On Wednesday morning, at 5 am I resumed the road to Baoro. Despite the treacherous roads I managed to get there just before 12.

Bawi

Sul cantiere a Bangui
Le chantier de Bangui

Transumanza
La transhumance