In 1868, Cardinal Martial Lavigerie was the Archbishop of Algiers, then a French territory. Like the great explorators of his time – Henry Morton Stanley and David Livingstone for example – Lavigerie is puzzled by the enormous sub-saharian Africa, yet untouched by the Gospel. At the same time, he is horrified by the slave trade which is going on, of which the black african people are the first victims. He will redeem many of them, become the voice of the voiceless for the World to hear, take care of the poor and the orphans of his large diocese and organise the first missionary journeys into sub-saharian Africa. He will need  missionaries, whom he will recruit in France, Belgium, and soon most of the european and north american countries. The Missionaries of Africa – or White Fathers as they were known because of their white “gandhouras” – were officially founded in 1868. A hundred and fifty years later, the Misssionaries of Africa are mostly african, but continue to fight for freedom of the whole person, especially the african person, wherever they may be – trafficked, migrating, travelling… Their strategy… international fratenal community life!