Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
P. Albert Rainiherinoro
Ilena (Agenzia Fides) - "The village of Ilena, a former leper colony, where we have been working since 1990, finally has electricity in the city of Fianarantsoa". This was reported to Agenzia Fides by Fr. Albert Rainiherinoro, a Camillian religious, chaplain of the village. "The electrification project had already started in the 90s" continues Fr Albert. "In 2008, Fr. Sante Zocco, then prosecutor of the Diocese of Fianarantsoa, put us in touch with the French Association Compétence Without Borders who wanted to help us realize this project. We encountered many difficulties, but after several tests and a lot of effort on behalf of various collaborators, we made it".
Located on the southeast outskirts of the town of Fianarantsoa, about 7 kilometers from the city, the village of Ilena was a leper colony founded around 1900, entrusted first to Protestant missionaries and then put under the protection of the Ministry of Health in 1960, the date of the independence of Madagascar. "During the socialist revolution - says the priest - the patients had been abandoned to their fate and this is why the Church intervened thanks to Jesuit Father Maurice Paggie. In the 90s the state entrusted the management of the village to the Camillians. The missionaries, including some Camillian fathers, an Italian-Austrian couple belonging to the Lay Camillian Family, and the Sisters of Divine Providence of Saint Jean de Bassel, started working with other associations to allow the villagers to have a better quality of life. They then started a school, a clinic, micro-projects and environmental projects.
Personally, as a chaplain, I go to the village four times a week for the spiritual animation of the people and school students. Ilena is no longer a ghetto. Now other children from nearby villages attend school, patients from other villages are treated in our clinic, the faithful from various parts come to implore the grace to Our Lady Salus Infirmorum", concluded Fr. Albert. (AR/AP) (Agenzia Fides 29/09/2015)
P. Albert Rainiherinoro
P. Albert Rainiherinoro
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