The Franciscan Sisters of the Suffering arrived in Baikoro, located in southern Chad, in 2014. Sister Ewa Milanowska, a missionary in Chad, describes the reality of her missionary ministry as follows:

We associate Africa with poverty, hunger and rich natural resources. The latter we are unable to see, unlike the poverty that is visible at every turn: humble clay and straw houses, and around them dirty children in torn clothes, with large bellies, anemic looking.

The mission is home to many orphans, but also children abandoned by their parents. Most often they live with their grandparents and uncles. However, they do not go to school. Their only job is to herd cows...

The increasing number of newborns whose mothers died at childbirth was the impetus incentive for starting milk feeding for babies at the health center. News of the program quickly crossed the mission and today the caregivers of orphans living up to 100 kilometers from Baikoro seek help from the Sisters.

In early 2022, the Franciscan Sisters opened a new health clinic in Baikoro. Its construction was also made possible by Donors from the Dehonian Missionary Family. However, the increasing number of non-mission patients has created a new problem – lack of enough rooms in the center to keep patients for several days of observation.

During the examination, we often find that the babies are sick and require treatment and observation for several days. However, we cannot provide them with a stay due to lack of space. The family is forced to return home and come to us again after 12 days, because the baby requires a check-up or a change of medication. In fact, upon their return, treatment usually has to be started from scratch.

Sisters also notice a great need to educate the caregivers on how to care for a newborn baby. Busy women often ignore sickness symptoms such as fever, lack of appetite or lethargy, which are indicators of developing diseases. Local beliefs and superstitions are also not allies of the Sisters in the fight for the health of their charges. Resulting fevers, deliriums or hallucinations are considered a symptom of "torment by an evil spirit" in Chad.

The House of Hope for Infants, which will be built next to the existing clinic building, will be the answer. Ultimately, the new building will be able to accommodate up to 100 people.

At the House of Hope for Infants, parents will be able to stay for a few days for observation with their newborns, and we will, by the way, teach adults during this time how to properly nurture an infant and take care of her/his health. I pray that we will find people to help us with this project

– Sister Eve concludes.

Let's help build a House of Hope for the most innocent and vulnerable Chadians, whose lives are already marked by orphanhood and suffering from birth. The Franciscan Sisters in Baikoro give the people of the mission faith and love every day, let us give them hope.

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