Tenth Anniversary of the St. John Paul II Home in Benin

On Monday, 18 August 2025, the tenth anniversary of the St. John Paul II Home in Benin was solemnly celebrated. The home for girls without adequate parental care was founded by Assoc. Prof. Odilon Singbo, PhD, from the Department of Theology at the Catholic University of Croatia. It was opened in August 2015 and is located in the village of Hondji, near Porto-Novo, the capital of Benin. Its construction and maintenance have been made possible thanks to numerous donors from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and abroad.
 

The Holy Mass marking the tenth anniversary of the Home was presided over by Bishop Aristide Gonsallo of the Diocese of Porto-Novo, in concelebration with Rev. Odilon Singbo and other local priests. The girls welcomed the bishop and other guests with song, and after Mass performed a special dance. The celebration continued with a communal lunch.
 

Over the course of its ten years of work, many girls from the orphanage have gone on to attend university, start their own businesses, or establish families. One of them is currently in Croatia and in the process of enrolling at the Catholic University of Croatia, which has organized fundraising initiatives for the Home and on several occasions sent groups of students and staff to Benin to spend time working with the children of the Home.