Circle of Honorary Members

At the Annual General Meeting 2020 of the Kongo Social Care e. V. association (KSC), Mrs Elisabeth Albers was unanimously appointed as a new honorary member in recognition of her commitment to the people in Congo.

We took the opportunity to honour Mrs Elisabeth Albers during the last public Holy Mass before the complete lockdown, on 20 December 2020 at 8.30 am. After receiving Holy Communion, I, as priest and chairman of our association, was able to solemnly hand over the certificate of honour to Mrs Elisabeth Albers, in the presence of the assembled congregation, in the Liebfrauen Church in Altenbochum, Germany.

Knowing that Mrs Albers regularly attends Holy Mass and is a faithful churchgoer, I had not informed her that she would receive the certificate of honour on Sunday! It was a perfect and successful surprise for Mrs Albers and she was very happy about it!

Mrs Elisabeth Albers from Altenbochum joined the KSC association in 2018. She quickly became involved in the Congo child sponsorship and supported each new Congo project very generously. When I asked her why she took on a sponsorship in the Congo, Mrs Albers wrote me back the following words:

“Herewith I take over the sponsorship for a girl and a boy from the association Kongo Social-Care e. V. I wish that my financial support will ensure a wonderful and child-friendly development. They should receive sufficient food, personal care, clothing and medical care. They should have the opportunity to attend a school where they are trained and encouraged according to their abilities and vocations. God bless and protect my godchildren Judith and Nestor.“

In the meantime, Nestor has his school-leaving certificate in his pocket and wants to apply for a place at medical school. For him, this means that he will leave the village of Watsa, where he grew up, and will be allowed to enrol at a university in Isiro or Mahagi, very far from home, provided that the measures to combat the Corona pandemic have been lifted by then. Judith will attend Grade 6 at the secondary school. Due to the Corona pandemic, schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo remain closed.

With the appointment as honorary member, the association "Kongo Social-Care e. V." thanks Mrs Elisabeth Albers for her tireless work for the benefit of the people in Congo.

All the best and God's blessing. Stay healthy!

P. Badi OP

Couvent Saint-Albert le Grand
Cloîtres Saint-Jean 3
B – 4000 Liège / Lüttich
Belgique / Belgien
Liège, January 13th 2021

The French writer and journalist Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) wrote: "It is encounters with people that make life worth living". I was able to experience such encounters in Krefeld. When I asked him why he joined the association Kongo Social-Care e. V., Bernward Plenker wrote:

“Father Badi OP conquered the hearts of many in the time of his work in the parish of St. Christophorus in Krefeld. His unconventional and cheerful way of preaching was contagious; Laughter – which is more usual and rather reserved for the sermons around carnival - was part of his program. The two services according to the Congolese rite of the Mass were almost thrilling.

Moved by the very emotional farewell in his last service in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on May 31, 2015, immediately afterwards I took a walk to the bank to transfer an amount to Kongo Social-Care e. V., and was completely stunned when Father Badi OP stood on our doorstep the next day to say thank you. That was our first personal contact and a kind of door opener in the double sense, because at that moment the decision to permanently support Kongo Social-Care, e. V. was taken.
However, the seed was planted much earlier: during a longer professional stay in South Africa in 1989, I was directly confronted with the living conditions in the townships of Soweto and Alexandra, the immediate poverty experienced there and the warm personal contact with people from the townships on the other hand have shaped and motivated me to support projects in Africa.”

Mr. Plenker indeed generously supported the association Kongo Social-Care e. V. from the very beginning, before becoming an active member on October 20th, 2018. On the weekend before his death on June 12th, 2019, he often spoke about the following song in particular: "Now is the time, now is the hour. What matters: The Lord will not ask: What did you say? What did you achieve? His question will be: What did you accomplish? Whom did you love? For my sake." The song expresses his view of his life. Our late member Plenker was very happy to support the needy and during his lifetime he was modest but enthusiastically generous towards other people and social projects. The Plenker family asked for a donation for the Congo project on the obituary notice instead of wreaths and flowers.
At the 5th general meeting in Tönisvorst, on September 28th, 2019, Mrs. Birgit Plenker and, in memoriam, Mr. Bernward Plenker were unanimously elected as new honorary members. We are convinced that Mrs. Plenker has supported and continues to support the association Kongo Social-Care e. V..

In recognition of her outstanding services and her self-sacrificing support for the Congo project, I was able to hand over the honorary certificate to Mrs. Plenker in Krefeld on Sunday, January 5th, 2020, on behalf of the Kongo Social-Care e. V. association. Mrs. Plenker was very happy about this award.
In thoughts and prayers, we are closely connected with Bernward Plenker.

Father Badi OP
Bochum, 28 January 2020
On the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas

On Sunday, December 16, 2018 I handed over on behalf of the Association Congo Social-Care e. V. the honorary certificate to Jan and Ignatia Masa. Mr. Masa remembered the first time we met. He summarised it as follows:

With joy and gratitude, we think of the years of our friendship so far. Our paths crossed shortly after the turn of the millennium, probably in 2001 - in an unusual way: In a passenger train. Back then I was traveling from my hometown Gdansk back to Germany. I had to change during the trip and drove from Poznan in a couchette.

With me in the train compartment travelled a black African. It was tight, I was tired, I wanted to lie down ... and now that: the border control. I showed my passport and lay down on the lower bunk to finally sleep. But for my fellow passenger things were not running that smoothly: He not only had to identify himself as I did, but he also had to show his luggage. He did not have much - just a pair of plastic bags - but the border guards took a close look at them piece by piece and ... of course they did not find anything special. I was shocked by the incident and my tiredness was gone. My impression was that the "officials" had "felted" the man only because of his skin colour. I got into conversation with him and learned that he was on a return trip to Germany after a stay in a convent in Krakow and that he is a Catholic priest. Indignant, I thought: Can you classify a human because of a skin colour?

We talked about "God and the world" for a long time ... and that's how I met you, dear Jean-Bertrand.

Out of this contact a friendship has emerged over the years.

I am very grateful for the "coincidence" and we, my wife and I, feel very happy about your friendship.

Warm regards

your Inge and Jan

I was friends with the honorary member, Ingo Dammer, since 1998. We met in Cologne and quickly became good friends. Ingo Dammer was the first to be interested in my Congo Project. He encouraged me from the start and was one of my first supporters. His family also kindly welcomed me, and Ingo's encouragement always gave me strength.

Ingo Dammer died in a firm faith in his Saviour on 19th July 2010. His wife, Inga, asked in the obituary, instead of flowers, to make a donation to the Congo project. With these funds I was able to start the construction of the health centre "Ingo Dammer" in 2011. The Dammer family also helps us a lot. In 2016, we built a hospital ward next to the main house of the Ingo Dammer Health Centre.

On Sunday, 22nd January 2017, I handed over to Mrs. Dammer the honorary certificate on behalf of the Association Kongo Social-Care e.V.
Her joy at the appointment as an honorary member was overwhelming. The certificate now hangs on a place of honour, and Mrs. Dammer thanks all the members of the club.

Father Badi OP

I met the honorary member, Herbert Brauhardt, in Lourdes (France) in 2002. I was able to inspire and win him for my Congo Project. In the "Klinik Brauhardt" in Durba, patients receive ambulatory as well as stationary treatment by health professionals of various disciplines.

Mr. Brauhardt has been treasurer of our association since its foundation till 31st December 2016.

On the first Christmas Day of 2016, I was able to hand over the honorary certificate to the Marienstift in Kevelaer to Mr. Brauhardt. It was a nice surprise for him, and he was very happy about it.

Of course, we will continue to inform Mr. Brauhardt about the progress made by the Association Kongo Social-Care e.V.

Father Badi OP

Family Trudel and Joachim Taube, long-term promoters of the Kongo Project, are the first honorary members of the Association Kongo Social-Care e.V. On August 23, 2015, in Tönisvorst, they received from the chairman of the association, Father Jean-Bertrand M. Badi OP, the honorary membership certificate. With this honorary membership the association appreciates their commitment to the needy people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Family Cordula and Michael Mevissen received the honorary membership certificate on 23 August 2015, in Tönisvorst, from the chairman of the association, Father Jean-Bertrand M. Badi. Since 2004, family Mevissen is not only heavily involved in the Kongo Project, but also has worked particularly intense on the project. The two honorary members were pleased with the distinction and expressed their willingness to support the project.