Health care African style

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In a routine search for Catholic news on the Internet this morning, I came across this gem of a story from the Catholic Information Service of Africa.

The Catholic Diocese of Uvira in the Democratic Republic of Congo is building a new hospital in South Kivu, which is near the border with Rwanda and Burundi. Church officials said the hospital is "a symbol of peace among peoples suffering war."

Two bits of the story struck me: "The hospital, while it awaits electricity, will have a large central generator and generator sets for the various smaller pavilions."

While it waits for electricity ... That kind of puts our health care debate into perspective, doesn't it.

And: "There will also be 5 acres of land for agricultural crops (peanuts, maize, cassava, soy plant, beans, peas, legumes), and another 10 hectares to be cultivated to help self-financing of the hospital, available to the families of hospital staff and the sisters."

Fides, the news service of the Vatican's Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, provides a bit more information about the hospital. It is name after Fr. Giuseppe Crippa , an Italian Xaverian missionary to Congo from 1966 to his death in October 2009.