THE BAFWASENDE SKIES

Then time moved on.

Years passed, governments changed, aircraft became faster, and the great forests of Central Africa remained almost unchanged.

But in one remote corner of the Congo, a remarkable story had begun decades earlier.

It was the middle of the 1960s.

Deep in what was then the Belgian Congo's vast eastern territory, the Christian Convent of Saint Theresa of Rago and Kingman was preparing to celebrate thirty-five years of service in Bafwasende.

For three and a half decades, the sisters had maintained a remarkable outpost of faith and humanitarian work in one of the most isolated regions of Central Africa.

The convent operated a hospital.

It operated a school.

It maintained agricultural projects.

And, most importantly, it maintained an airfield.