Friday, August 27, 2010

La plus vielle cathédrale d'afrique de l'ouest



St. Mary's Cathedral in Libreville, Gabon. Built in 1864, when the Gabon was a French colony. It is the oldest cathedral on the west coast of Africa.
Centennaire du Gabon,Libeville, Juin 1950.Le President Fourcade avec un pretre et,assis de d.a g.:Mme. Jeanne Vialle,Depute;M.Cornut-Gentile,Haut-Commissaire en AEF;et Jean Jacqes Juglas,Commission Outre-Mer de l'Assemblee Nationale - 100-years jubilee,Gabon,195.
Bac
Déposition d'un pierre pendant une messe. Un évêque.Libreville,Gabon 1950 Laying a stone during mass,Libreville,Gabon,1950.



Centenaire du Gabon,Libreville,Juin 1950: L'ancien Gouverneur Jean Fourcade (haut-de-forme), Bernard Cornut-Gentile,Gouverneur General de l'AEF, un inconnu - 100-years jubilee of Gabon,June 1950.
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Centenaire du Gabon, défilée devant le palais du Gouverneur,1950 - 10 years'jubilee of Gabon;parade in fromt of the governor's palace,1950.
Salut au drapeau le 11 Novembre 1940,Libreville,Gabon. Au milieu le Col.Monclar, plus tard Commandant des Forces Francaises pendant le Guerre de Coree - Hoisting the flag,November 11,1940,Libreville,Gabon.
Les épaves d'un avion de troupes de Vichy,abattu pres de Libreville,Gabon,Oct.1940.The remains of an airplane of the Vichy-forces,brought down near Libreville,Gabon, October 1940.

Centenaire du Gabon a Libreville,Juin 1950.De droit a gauche:Jacques Fourcade,President de l’Assemblée de l'Union Française,sa femme,Pierre Pelieu,Gouverneur du Gabon, inconnu, François Reste, ancien Gouverneur Général de l'AEF(en habit).100-year jubilee


The music of Gabon is heavily influenced by the rumba, both the Cuban that was broadcast by Radio Belgian Congo, who formed the first modern orchestra of the country. It was not until the late 1960’s until musicians would take the Afro-Cuban rumba as well as jazz, rhythm ‘n’ blues and combine them with traditional Gabonese elements like “ndjembé” and “bwiti” to define their own sound.

Hopital


A GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE EVOLUTION OF COLONIAL HOSPITALS

When military operations are being undertaken, the sick and the seriously-injured are admitted into basic and makeshift installations : first-aid posts and ambulant hospitals in the countryside.

In times of peace, the hospital is a source of confidence for the indigenous people while it welcomes and looks after the European population as well as native soldiers and civil servants. Permanent installations, better and better equipped, are called ambulances, health centres and finally hospitals.

Hospital in the principal town of a colony

This last stage is attained when two conditions are fulfilled : on the one hand, the admission of patients into well fitted-out shelters; on the other hand, high-quality medicine all the more efficacious when it is dispensed by specialists capable of handling more sophisticated techniques.

Evolution is progressive. The beginnings are modest : two physicians, one in charge of medicine, the other of surgery (the chief physician of the establishment has the highest rank), a chemist, an administrator, some members of the staff, besides whom are native workers, more and more numerous as time goes on and better and better trained. The hospital necessarily contains an operating theatre, a maternity ward, a laboratory, a ward for the mentally unwell... but also the kitchen, the linen room, the garage...



The advent of electricity revolutionizes working conditions : surgical operations take place under bright lights, the autoclaves and the sterilizers are modernised. Later on, x-rays, refrigeration, cold chains and air-conditioning transform the practice of medicine.

At the beginning, only military personnel are in the services : in the fever and contagion sections as far as medicine is concerned and in the section for the wounded in surgery. The qualifications of these workers are made more explicit.

After the Second World War, most of the hospitals are renovated, others are built. Special branches of medicine begin to appear : Paediatrics, Respirology, Gynaecology...

Non-military public employees are recruited. They are few and occupy such posts as that of chief midwife or dentist.

Special attention is given to the needs of poor indigenous people, who have been receiving free medical attention accorded to the natives. Very often, as in Bamako, in Conakry..., they are admitted into particular quarters or wards. In the big capitals, a second general hospital is built for them, for example in Dakar, in Antananarivo, in Pnom-Penh, in Saigon. These hospitals are also directed by the Colonial Health Service.

Fr. Marcel lefebvre poses with seminarians from the Grand Seminary in Libreville, Gabon (1936), of which he became Rector in 1934.
Three of his students will become bishops: Bishop Makouaka, Bishop Okamba an Bishop François Ndong (circled),
who will become the first Gabonese bishop. Archbishop Lefebvre himself will perform the episcopal consecration in 1961.
Two others will become heads of state. Fr. Lefebvre wears the hat.