after Bozoum, news from Bangassou: Long journeys

Sunday, February 8, 2026

Long journeys

Da Bangui a Bangassou, passando per Sibut, Bambari, Alindao
De Bangui à Bangassou, en passant par Sibut, Bambari, Alindao
De Bangui a Bangassou, pasando por Sibut, Bambari y Alindao

Long journeys

February 8, 2026

To go from Ndjamena (Chad) to Bangui, it would take an hour by plane. But... it took us 12!

On Monday, February 2nd, around 8:00 a.m., we departed from the capital of Chad. We made a stopover in Abuja, Nigeria, before landing in Lomé, Togo. Here, we waited a couple of hours before taking another flight. This one also made several stops (Cotonou, Benin, and Douala, Cameroon) before finally arriving in Bangui at 8:00 p.m.

Passport, luggage... and when we left, there was a nasty storm.

I stayed in Bangui on Tuesday and Wednesday. I had several meetings, an important one to follow up and try to find a solution for the Zemio area and the eastern part of the diocese in general, which is still under tension.

Then I prepared to leave. This time, I drove to Bangassou. A few weeks ago, the new car finally arrived, a gift from "Aid to the Church in Need," an organization that supports churches in countries like Central Africa. Here, a car isn't a luxury, but a necessity, allowing me to visit the various communities and priests, and provide aid and relief in a diocese almost half the size of Italy.

Thursday morning, at 6:00 a.m., the long journey began. It's "only" 750 km, but I know it will take at least two days, if all goes well.

The first 180 km are paved, or almost (almost, because the last 50 km are full of potholes). At Sibut, we left the asphalt and continued to Bambari, 380 km from Bangui. We arrived there around 1 pm. A short break, and then we continued our journey to Alindao, 220 km further on.

We arrived there at 6 pm, and were welcomed by the diocese.

We left Friday morning at 6 am. We still had 250 km to go, and we knew the road was difficult and dangerous. Luckily, it's the dry season, and the roads are poor, but not terrible! There are many climbs and descents, and the water and trucks have dug out and severely marked the route.

About 60 km in, we found some stalled trucks, then an overturned truck: it was the one carrying our container! I stopped and greeted our workers, who came from Bangassou the day before: they almost finished unloading the entire container, loading part of it onto our truck. Then they straightened the truck and trailer and reloaded the material into the container to get it to Bangassou!

After half an hour, I said goodbye and set off again. We stopped at Gambo, the first parish in our diocese, and finally arrived in Bangassou at 3:30 PM.

Our Lady of the Way has been watching over us!