Sisters of Mary of the Miraculous Medal established in the Porto-Novo diocese, were asked to run a new health centre in Banigbé Gare. Village is located aprox 30 km from the Porto-Novo city center, near the Nigeria border. Its population is 3828; 1842 men and 1986 women, according to 2013. census.
Regarding the vicar who asked Sisters for their work, this will be a pediatric clinic and will provide care for the children only, considering the mortality rate in the area and the fact that the children are neglected by their parents who often go for work in Nigeria. Health centre that is located 2 km from the new health centre location, doesn’t have the necessary equipment and competent staff to provide pediatric healthcare. To find other health care centers in Porto-Novo it’s necessary to travel 30 km and it’s often too late for children; which explains loss of human lives, especially children. Adults are more resilient to diseases, while children are pretty susceptible. Population shares the idea of the opening of the pediatric care unit to be run by Sisters; since they have more trust in the quality of healthcare provided by them.
Despite the good will of the Sisters to help the population of the Banigbé-Gare with running the temporary pediatrics center, Sisters are confronted with difficulties. They need to build pediatrics befitting that name. The temporary pediatrics is a small remodeled building not suitable for the health centre. Distance from the place of residence of the Sisters to the place of work is not suitable for the follow ups or regular healthcare. So it’s needed to find a place of residence for the Sisters nearby. Several projects are put on hold to find people of good will to participate in the realisation of the projects, to finance buying of the land and the construction of the pediatrics, its equipment and the land and construction of the house for the Sisters near their place of work.
