After two days of travel, I arrived happily in Chad, at the mission in Gam, where Father Edward Ryfa serves. The journey was tiring and at times full of fear, such as in Berlin, when I shipped nine overloaded suitcases with humanitarian gifts. The fear, however, quickly disappeared, thanks to two companions of my trip: St. Padre Pio, through whose intercession we are building the school and whose 1st degree relics I took with me, and my Guardian Angel, my best bodyguard. God, after all, clearly reminds us in Scripture: , "Behold, I send an angel before thee, to guard thee on thy way, and to bring thee to the place which I have appointed for thee" (Ex. 23:20).
Missionary
Father Edward is an amazing man who has been ministering in Chad for 28 years now. His vocation was not even shaken by a robbery attack, during which he was shot three times. It was no coincidence that the bullets pierced the priest's body bypassing the spinal cord. After seven months of treatment, he returned to Chad saying that the Lord gives him strength and guards him, and his faith is deepened. He did not seek explanations, but focused on continuing his missionary work.
Father Edward is distinguished by two attitudes: obedience to God and patience. He is dedicated to missions and rich in spiritual graces, which is very noticeable. He patiently serves the Church and shares the poverty of the people with whom he lives. Fr. Edward in 2023, in an attitude of obedience, accepted the bishop's decree delegating him to serve in the new parish of Gam, where literally nothing...
Gam
From the capital we drove about 400 kilometers to Gam through the wilderness of Chad. All around were empty fields with nothing but a few trees and shacks or simple houses covered with old thatched roofs. From Gam, Father Edward has 70 kilometers to the nearest store, and he can refuel the car after driving them as far as 120. The entire parish consists of 40 villages scattered over many square kilometers.
A small, simple, modest, unfenced shell building - that's all Father Edward needs to rest and be happy. He gives everything else to the people. I asked the priest how he manages himself here, in such conditions, in this remote area. He answered me briefly: "Daniel, I am really open to the Lord and what He is planning today and in my future. I will always adjust."
I've been to Chad twice before and seen poverty, but not like this yet. It's good for me to be here. This time here is a real retreat.
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Church
Just beyond the small parsonage, the modest St. Thomas Church emerges in the distance. The return with rim is the church bell, which wakes up residents for the Eucharist before 5:00 am.
I cried when I first entered this church - there is no floor, only compacted earth, and the pews are a few bricks. But I noticed something more beautiful that I didn't expect. People coming in the dark to start their day with the Lord Jesus. You ask: "In the dark?" Yes. In all of Chad, a country four times the size of Poland, there is not a single power plant.
At Sunday Mass, despite such poverty, parishioners gathered in such large numbers that there was not enough room in the church. Children sat at the front on rugs spread on the ground. Father Edward gives his whole self, and the residents reciprocate.
During a Mission Sunday at the Dechonian parish in Węglowka, I met a parishioner whom I asked to make a Tabernacle and a lockable pedestal for the relics of St. Padre Pio, which I took to Gam. Although the cases were flung from plane to plane, the Tabernacle did not suffer and now every day reminds us of the living presence of the Lord Jesus in the church in Gam. Father Edward explained to parishioners what the perpetual red light shining next to the Blessed Sacrament means.
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Clinic
During my stay, a young parishioner died, she was only 34 years old. She had orphaned seven children. She was pregnant with her eighth, and when she miscarried there were complications. We drove to the health center the next day with an ultrasound machine for ultrasound examinations, which I received from one Donor. During Mission Sunday at his parish, I told the story of women who went to the forest to give birth to their child. I am convinced that it is through love towards our neighbor on the other side of the world that we can do much more together. The Donor responded beautifully to the Gospel words of Jesus: "Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8).
When we arrived already on the porch outside the clinic were sitting on the floor about 50 pregnant women and several with newborns. One of the women was lying on an old, "pre-war" tipping frame wrapped in a mat during a visit to prepare for delivery. The midwife standing next to her held her medical tools in her hands - a tailor's centimeter and a small Chinese scale. Thanks to another individual Donor, the clinic received large quantities of premium brand supplements for pregnant women and children, needed for the healthy development of both mom and baby.
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Moundou
We were also invited to visit the Franciscan Sisters of teh Suffering from Warsaw, who have been ministering for many years at the missionary outpost in Baikoro, deep in Chad. Thanks to sister Ewa Milanowska, I was able to visit a school for the blind in Moundou.
After three years, I returned to the place where once blind children slept in 30 people on concrete in an old collapsing dormitory. In 2022, by the grace of God and Donors, a boarding school was built there. The kids have a new life and you can see their development. One of them earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy, another started a family, another is studying to become a teacher.
As sister Ewa said, the kids had been waiting for me for many weeks. I brought them braille machines, sweatshirts for the night, supplements, toys, balls and some other things. When I opened the car door I heard the sounds of a beautiful song played with emotion on the drums. As I approached the entrance to the square, I learned that it was a song written especially for me:
We are here in front of you to sing our song.
Mr. Daniel, we warmly welcome you in our midst today!
He is with us today!
Ref: Together with You Jesus, all together,
Daniel united us and we are joyful.
It is You, Lord, who has united us,
Your love is with us.
The children prepared themself so professionally! Although they are blind, they cleaned the entire center, arranged a special song and prepared such an event! The teachers even borrowed drums, and everyone put on, perhaps borrowed, beautiful clothes. The cooks prepared a European-style dinner and tables for us, the school board and the teaching staff. I received pigeons and peanuts as gifts. For a long time, a tear rolled down my eye with emotion...
Their joy, dancing and many thanks, and even the presentation of skits, did not allow us to return quickly to the mission. It was supposed to be a moment, and we "partied" until later that night. I would like to thank Blessed Elizabeth Rosa Czacka, the Blind Mother of the Blind, for being here with them and interceding for them since the beginning of this project, being the patron of this school.
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Children from Gam
The population of Gam Parish is about 10,000, of which up to 70% are children. Families here are large, with 8-12 children each. "Poor children, I feel so sorry for them... Especially in the rainy season, when I return to the ministry after a vacation and find the village empty, because the adults are in the fields, and the children alone are left behind" - Fr. Edward Ryfa told me in sadness. During the rainy season and harvesting rice, sesame or nuts, parents leave to work early and return late in the evening. The children get something small to eat in the morning and then only around 8:00 pm - some rice buli, which is rice that has been shaped into a muffin, kneaded. Not surprisingly, most are malnourished...
So far, Gam children are studying in inhumane conditions. Schools are shacks in deplorable condition, with no educational or sanitary conditions suitable for the high temperatures experienced there. In addition, schooling in public institutions is often interrupted due to teachers' strikes, who are being underpaid by the government. All this results in illiteracy, which in Gam reaches almost 100%.
That's why, together with the Donors of the Degonian Missionas, we wanted to give a gateway to a better future for the poor children of Gam. The new school in Gam will be the only brick school operating within 50 square kilometers. Thanks to the new boarding school, students from the surrounding villages who are unable to travel so many kilometers in the heat will also benefit from it. They will be able to live in the boarding school during the week, sleeping on a bed they have never known before, and the field kitchen will take care of their food. The school we are building will serve all children, including those with disabilities, of whom there are quite a few living in the mission area...
These will be simple but brick buildings with school desks, a blackboard and a systematically working teacher. Thanks to this action, together we have helped many poor children, giving them a chance for a better future, for a normal life. So that through literacy and numeracy they will carry their country upwards.
During his lifetime, St. Padre Pio uttered an important phrase that I took deeply to heart: "Nothing can make you a follower of Christ more than caring for others," and after death, as he himself said, it will be louder about him than when he was alive. And so it is!!! It was he who opened the hearts of the Donors so that this school in Gam could be built. Therefore, I did not hesitate to take on this next project with God's help through the intercession of such a strong intercessor as St. Padre Pio. By God's grace, a new boarding school in poor Chad will be completed as early as May 2025. The 1st degree relics of St. Padre Pio, which we received directly from San Giovanni Rotondo, will already stay here. I firmly believe that Padre Pio is already supporting the people here, as he has supported me throughout this project.
During my stay in Gam, people representing various parish communities came to the rectory every day. They brought a hen or a rooster thanking us for this work, for the new school, for the fact that as Poles we are giving their children a chance for a better life.
I thank God for this vocation, which allows me to meet the living Jesus Christ in these poor people. All that I do - I do for the Glory of Our Lord.
Let's remember that we all have a mission. A mission in the family, a mission on the street by shaking hands with an elderly person, or sharing what we have with a poor person we meet. Thank you Dear Donors that through these mission projects in Chad we can be united together in Christ.
Please do not forget in your prayers about me, Father Edward, the Franciscan Sisters, the Dehonian Missions. Let us pray together for new priestly and religious vocations for the missions.
Praise the Lord!
Daniel Cieszyński
Dehonian missionary volunteer
Read more about the Building of a boarding school in Chad project.
