EUROPE/SPAIN - Spanish missionary severely wounded by a bomb blast in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Burgos (Agenzia Fides) – According to information provided by the Missions Delegation of Burgos, Sister Maria Presentacion Lopez Vivar, a Spanish missionary from Burgos (Spain), was hit in a bomb that exploded in Rutshuru, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rushuru is in the eastern part of the country, where conflict is taking place between rebel forces and the army loyal to President Joseph Kabila. As a result of the wounds inflicted in the blast, both her legs have had to be amputated and her status is on reserved prognosis. Another missionary, also a native of Burgos, Clementina Sancho Herrera, was with her however it seems that she, as well as the two Congolese religious accompanying them, have suffered no harm.
The wounded missionary belongs to the Religious Institute of “San Jose de Gerona” and was born in Tobar 64 years ago. She served as a missionary in Rwanda for several years and has been working for several years in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sister Presentacion has been described as someone who “loves Africa as her second homeland,” completely dedicated to her work with the sick and the poor.
After the blast, the missionary was taken to a hospital in Goma by a UN (MONUC) helicopter. Yesterday, October 30, she was transferred to Pretoria (South Africa), where a medical team is evaluating her health condition and her possible transfer to Spain.
According to a report from Sister Luisa Ortega, the Superior General of the Teresian Carmelite Missionaries, published by Ivicon (Agency for Consecrated Life in Spain), the area of Katindo, where the congregation is running a nutritional center, clinic, and school, the situation is one of uncertain calm. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 31/10/2008)