International Health Day is celebrated on April 7: a day established by the United Nations since 1950, set on this date to commemorate the establishment of the World Health Organization (WHO). Each year, April 7 is dedicated to a theme; in 2025 the theme is “Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures”, as the focus is on the health and well-being of mothers and newborns.
With this in mind, today we share the testimony of the Sr. Florence Kupay and his mission experience at the Vedruna Health Center in N’Djili, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“I would like to embrace all the needs of the people.”
St. Joaquina de Vedruna, in “Fuentes I, Relaciones”, José Estrada
I begin with this phrase of our founding mother to better express the importance of our presence in the center. The Vedruna Health Center was founded on February 26, 2016 by the Carmelite Sisters of Charity Vedruna in N’Djili, Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a health center to help the local population, in a remote area and an overpopulated neighborhood.
The objective of the Vedruna center is to offer quality health care at an affordable cost to the poorest of the poor. The doctors collaborate with the entire health team in each department. Above all, we give priority to the most indigent: we operate first and foremost to save lives, and money comes second. This is what sets us apart from other hospitals. We give witness to love, faith and hope in the midst of pain, and we respect the life and dignity of every person.
Our presence at the service of health does not consist only in caring for the sick, directing deliveries, vaccinating newborns and providing prenatal care consultation, but also in helping the sick to discover the Christian meaning of suffering. We have an attentive eye for each patient, and we dedicate our time to attend to the needs of each person according to their gravity or need.
Being our center, we feel free to make gestures of generosity according to our ability to carry out our mission and transmit our charism, which is the glory of God and the good of our neighbor. We make every effort to ensure that the patients who come to us feel the difference in the way we welcome them, treat them and work with them. In short, we humanize our care. The people who come to us are happy with the service we provide.
Sr. Florence Kupay, ccv
