Regardless of latitude, any guarantee of a chance for a decent future is education. In Chad, one of the poorest countries in the world, where hunger and lack of access to clean water are daily problems, education is going down the drain. Building a boarding school for the children of Gam Parish in Chad is another project that will bring the right to education closer to being guaranteed for the poorest.

The Gam parish consists of 45 villages in an area of 50 square kilometers. Due to distances, high temperatures and the deplorable condition of access roads, the initiator of the project, Daniel Cieszyński, a volunteer with the Secretariat for Foreign Missions of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, together with local missionary Fr. Edward Ryfa, want to build and equip a boarding school in Gam for children from the surrounding villages.

Schools in Chad are often shacks in deplorable condition or collapsing old buildings without access to a toilet, let alone a kitchen. As a consequence of the lack of hygiene, hunger and thirst, children often have swollen and infested tummies. They feed only on rice boules, which they soak in a sauce made from leaves and so on all year round

– says Daniel Cieszyński.

At the end of 2023, by decree of the diocesan bishop, Fr. Edward Ryfa took over a new parish in Gam. In his own words, the situation is dramatic:

There is literally nothing in the Gam parish, and the parish's biggest problem is almost 100 percent illiteracy. The local population is extremely linguistically diverse, and there is a plethora of local dialects that make it impossible to get along together. People here can't even say "good morning" in Chad's administrative language, French.

Daniel Cieszyński chose St. Padre Pio as the patron saint of the project. It was while praying at the saint's relics that the idea of building another school in Chad was conceived (Daniel in Chad has already built several wells, raised money for medical equipment and birthing beds for two clinics in Colon and Baikoro, and successfully spearheaded a project to build a boarding school for blind children in Mundu).

I remembered reading that during World War II, Fr. Pio turned back bombers in the sky over San Giovani Rotondo - so I am convinced that through the intercession of such a powerful saint, another work will be created to help the dramatic situation of the poor children of Gam.

The school in Gam will be able to accommodate 350 children, including those with disabilities. Plans call for the construction of two brick school buildings, each with 3 classrooms. The costs also include furnishing the rooms and building a dormitory with a field kitchen. The total investment is 98 000 euro. At the turn of 2024/2025, Daniel Cieszynski plans to begin the construction with a ceremonial consecration of the site, where today there is only sand and a bunch of individual trees.

The children of the Gam parish, together with their missionary Fr. Edward, remember about all the Donors in prayer, especially on the first Saturdays of the month. Thank you for every donation and we assure you of our prayers, especially on the first Fridays of the month, when Mass is celebrated for the intentions of our Donors.

PS The initiator of the project Daniel Cieszynski can be contacted directly by writing to: [email protected]

Bank account numbers for money transfers are:

For $: PL 52 1600 1462 1847 3641 5000 0009; SWIFT: PPAB PLPK
For €: PL 41 1600 1462 1847 3641 5000 0013; SWIFT: PPAB PLPK
For others: IBAN: PL 79 1600 1462 1847 3641 5000 0008; SWIFT: PPAB PLPK

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

Thank you to all the Donors who have supported the project to build a boarding school in Gam, Chad! It is with great joy that we look at the climbing walls of the newly built school, where nearly 350 children will study, not only from Gam, but also from villages many kilometers away. The end of construction work is scheduled for May 2025. Meanwhile, Daniel Cieszyński, our dehonian volunteer, initiator of this project and the fundraising campaign coordinator for this purpose, traveled to Gam in February 2025. In a special letter to the entire Dehonian Missionary Family he writes about what he saw in Chad:

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 ministry after a vacation and find the village empty, because the adults are in the fields, and the children remain alone" - 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 8pm - 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 would bring a hen or a rooster thanking me for this work, for the new school, and for the fact that as Poles we were 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 me, Father Edward, the Franciscan Sisters, and the Dehonian Missions in your prayers. Let us pray together for new priestly and religious vocations for the missions. Praise the Lord!