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Father Fagan to share video of Tanzanian health facility local contributions helped build

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Father Paul Fagan (back, center) is pictured with some friends from Rhinelander, Madison, Minnesota and Arizona in Tanzania, where the visitors got to see first-hand the mission work he has been able to conduct there. (Submitted photos)

The operating room of the Songambele Health Facility in Tanzania did 326 operations in its first year, including 102 urgent c-section births.

By Correne Martin

For the 48th consecutive summer, Father Paul Fagan is back in Prairie du Chien from his missionary work in Tanzania. As always, he’s here to share the extraordinary progress that’s been made in the eastern African town of Nkololo, as a result of contributions from countless Wisconsinites.

The soon to be 85-year-old priest will give a public video presentation, with help from his friend, videographer and Tanzanian tour guide Ryan Skaife, at the Holy Family Parish hall at St. John’s Catholic Church in Prairie du Chien, Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 7 p.m.

“We will show the Songambele Health Facility and its surgery center, the wards, the things they helped build,” Skaife commented. “The goal is to show what hundreds of Wisconsinites, particularly people in Prairie du Chien, have helped to build. They’ll be able to see and hear the needs from the Tanzanians themselves. We’re hoping everyone can come and see the hope that’s there, the good message and spread the word.”

“Since [the surgical suite] opened June 1, 2016, we’ve done 326 operations, 228 of which were major operations, and 102 of which were urgent c-sections at $70 apiece. That’s a bargain,” Fagan stated.

He said the hospital infrastructure is currently over halfway built. The medical center itself provides primary and emergency health care, obstetrics, basic laboratory services, imaging, an ambulance service and, now, surgery. It’s capable of treating an average of 110 inpatients per month and serves a community that otherwise had to travel more than an hour over rickety roads just to see the doctor.

Fagan explained that the government hospital is crowded, as it attempts to serve 400,000 in the region. That’s why Songambele (“moving forward”) is a much-needed facility.

Anyone attending Tuesday’s 45-minute video presentation, followed by a talk from Father Fagan and a question-and-answer period, who is willing to make a donation may do so then. There will also be an opportunity for them to sign up to travel to Tanzania via Skaife’s Tanza-Nights Touring Company.

“We want the people here to see how much it’s needed and be able to contribute to really open its doors to hundreds of thousands more people,” Skaife added.

The video will also feature visitors to Tanzania from Rhinelander, Madison, Minnesota and Arizona, this past spring and give their perspective on Father Fagan’s work. Footage of the 10-year anniversary celebration of the church Fagan made happen will also be part of the video, in addition to the beautiful sights and sounds of the town.

Fagan, who has been in the area since June, will leave his home state Oct. 4 to return to Tanzania for another year and continue his pivotal missionary work through Roads to Life Tanzania. In the meantime, another media piece, broadcast on WXOW in La Crosse, will showcase a related story about how one of Fagan’s supporters helped pay for the chaplain’s house in Tanzania. Fagan and Skaife are also meeting with Mayo Clinic to request sponsorship of Songambele hospital equipment.

Fagan noted that Tuesday will be the last presentation he will ever give. He hopes to retire from that sort of thing.

Though, he will not be retiring from doing “God’s work” any time soon. He wants to see the entire health facility in Tanzania open.

For more information or to find out how you can aid Father Fagan’s mission, visit roadstolifetanzania.com.

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