Opening of the community of Bibemi – 1978

Sr. Fabiana Valenti talks about the opening of a new presence in Bibemi, Cameroon. It was January 13, 1978. Father Michalak, of the Oblates of Mary, had picked us up at the airport and had taken us to Bibemi, our new mission.

The community began as a response to the request for collaboration by the Oblate Fathers of Mary Immaculate (Polish), who had been entrusted with a vast territory occupied mainly by Muslim Fulbé, but which was to welcome groups of different ethnic groups, coming from the far north , in view of the development, above all agricultural, of the flat area.

To open this new presence was me, sr. Fabiana, then Sr. Rita, currently in Algeria, and sr. Elizabeth. Behind us we can see our small house, next to the father’s magistrate.

A small group of families with their children welcome the new arrivals. Opposite our house was that of the Oblate fathers already present in Bibemi.