Home

Association Père Francis Grosse

Your donation will enable us to restore the legacy left by Father Francis Grosse to the Catholic parish of Notre Dame du Mont Carmel d'Akongo. We are providing invaluable support to dig a drinking-water well and construct a water tower,

under the supervision of Monsignor Joseph Marie Ndi Okalla, Bishop of Mbalmayo in Cameroon.

+41 79 589 41 77

Donate or volunteer here

Association Père Francis Grosse: the project

At the association, we are implementing a long-term project, which includes several key stages.

Discover how your donations and involvement can contribute:

➜ Water: the association's primary objective is to bring drinking water to the parish of Akongo, located about a hundred kilometres south of Yaoundé, by constructing a well. The second step is to build a water tower.

➜ Renovation of the mission’s buildings: we hope to restore the orphanage, as authorised by the Ministry of Social Affairs in Cameroon in 2017, the hospital and the 25 social structures of Father Francis Grosse’s parish.

➜ Development of infrastructure: we would like to build latrines, septic tanks, social housing for disabled and homeless adult orphans, and homes for patients suffering from AIDS.

Against this backdrop, we would also like to renew collaboration between the bishop, the priests, the group leader and the eleven village chiefs to revitalise Akongo and thus prevent the rural exodus of our young people.
Contact us.

Fondation Père Francis Grosse Akongo Cameroun

Projects being funded

♡ Drinking-water wells for the parish:

CHF 15,000

♡ Water tower:

CHF 50,000

Call for volunteers: all professions are welcome, as the association has many projects. The association hopes to organise a volunteer trip at the end of 2021 and will provide food and accommodation on site. Please do not hesitate to contact us to find out more.

School quotation

Farming project

Association Père Francis Grosse - Akongo

Association Père Francis Grosse: the origins

Jeanne Clerc, one of the association’s founders, is from Akongo.

Her fate is closely bound up with that of Father Francis Grosse.

In fact, it was her grandfather who gave Father Francis Grosse the land on which he built the Catholic parish of Notre Dame du Mont Carmel d'Akongo. In turn, Father Francis Grosse committed to caring for and educating his grandchildren.

She was also one of the first to be baptised by the Father.

The health conditions of the people of Akongo are rather poor, in particular, due to dirty water.

Jeanne Clerc fell victim to this and suffered from pulmonary schistosomiasis caused by schistosoma mansoni, with an abscess on the left lower lobe of her lung; intestinal schistosomiasis caused by schistosoma haematobium; a whipworm infestation; and a lipoma on her right shoulder. She was operated on and had half a lung removed.

Both Jeanne Clerc and the non-profit association seek to prevent and rebuild.

+41 79 589 41 77

Father Francis Grosse

Born in La Baroche-Gondouin on 25 May 1919, Francis Grosse studied in Juvisy-sous-Andaine, in L'Orne, then at the Sées seminary, where a talk by Monsignor Grandin influenced his vocation.

Professed in 1941 in Piré, he was ordained a priest in 1946 in Chevilly, before leaving for Cameroon in 1947. After spending two years in Nsimalen, and a further two years in Bétamba, he went on to devote the last 23 years of his life to founding and developing the great mission of Akongo, from scratch.

On 21 October 1974, he was seriously injured in a terrible car accident.

Despite receiving medical care at the scene and the efforts made by the Necker Hospital in Paris to medically evacuate him, he died on 23 October during an attempt to artificially respirate him.

Today, only abandoned buildings remain of the hospital, school, canteen and orphanage.

At the association, we hope to gradually breathe new life into the buildings and recreate a vibrant community space for the people of Akongo and the surrounding villages, and thus continue the mission of Father Francis Grosse.