Violent storm destroys half of our Marist school

News received by telephone from Brother Richard Mutumwa, District Superior of the DRC, speaking to Brother Luis García Sobrado, Vicar General.

At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday February 6th, tornadic winds ripped through the Bobandana area, where the Brothers run a day school for some 700 boys and girls. Bobandana is about 60 kilometers (40 miles) from Goma by road, along the banks of Lake Kivu. The severe storm began over the Lake a few kilometers from Goma and quickly raced westward making landfall at Bobandana, surging through the town and heading directly for our school. It blew away an E-shaped single-story wing of the school, a section that included meeting rooms, kitchen facilities, an assembly hall, and space for other school activities. The classroom wing, located on the opposite side of the complex, saw major damage limited to a single classroom. However, the walls of the classrooms still standing are filled with cracks and the building?s structural integrity needs to be evaluated. As soon as engineers verify that basic safety standards can be assured, the brothers intend to resume regular classroom schedules.

Let us keep praying for our brothers, families, teachers, students, and all whose lives are being so sorely tried these days in this region of the D.R. of Congo.

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