Mission in Chad-Africa 2025 – Viet Toc Foundation

Viet Toc’s Mission To Chad – Africa

Summer’s Mission Trip in 2025

A Few Words about Chad

Chad, a landlocked country in Central Africa, is facing complex challenges. Political instability, poverty, and conflict—especially in the Lake Chad region—have displaced over a million people. Climate change has intensified droughts and floods, devastating agriculture and worsening food insecurity. The country struggles with serious economic, social, and environmental problems. Nearly half the population lives in poverty, while climate change has depleted Lake Chad’s water supply and damaged farming. Around 2.4 million people are threatened by food shortages due to natural disasters. Literacy rates are low, especially among women—only about 12.8% can read—and poor healthcare, including high maternal mortality and child malnutrition, places additional pressure on the nation’s development.

May we recognize the opportunities to see you in our suffering sisters and brothers and serve you with our whole heart.

Help us turn gratitude into opportunity.

Help us build the future—one girl at a time.

The Sending Forth Ceremony

The beautiful Sending Forth Ceremony at St Mary’s, with Fr Rector/Pastor Patrick Woods’ blessings upon Fr Vang Tran before Vang’s mission trip to Chad Africa on Tuesday May 20th, 2025. The St Mary’s Viet Toc team and the congregation celebrated in prayers and in loving support for the mission in Chad, in solidarity with the Church of N’Djamena, where one of our Viet Toc Religious Sisters is sent to serve.

We are so grateful for so many of you, dear friends and benefactors, especially parishioners and Viet Toc team of St. Mary’s parish in Annapolis, who lovingly give support for this new Mission of Viet Toc in Chad Africa. In the spirit of Paying Forward, one Montagnard Sister of Pleiku, a former member of Viet Toc, is dedicating her life to serve the poor in this region.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Landing to N’Djamena, The Capital of Chad

Kathy Vũ and I arrived in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad. The burning heat of the region welcomed us together The beautiful welcome of the Sisters of Missionaries of Jesus Christ and the local priest beats the burning heat of the region.

Thanks be to God and Mother Mary for protecting us on our journey, so that we landed in Chad safely. I can’t believe that it’s 107F in the sun shining on the beautiful faces of little children.

The very first day in N’Djamena with the Mass in the parish church that still bears the marks of bullets holes in the roof. Afterwards we visited the children of the first elementary classes. Education is utmost important in the country that 80% of girls 13 years of age are illiterate.

Our First Missionary Trip To Ba-Illi Village

23-05-2025

We had a cordial visit with the Most Reverend Bishop Edmond Jitangar of the Chadian Diocese. We are grateful for his blessing and his coordination with the Embassy to facilitate our trip. He is a gentle and caring bishop who has been working hard to build fraternity and compassion in a diocese that has so many different ethnic groups and division, with vastly different faiths.

Getting ready for the long trip to Ba-Illi, the mission village 255 km away. The temperature is predicted to be 109 degrees F ( about 43̊ C) . Always drink a lot of water in this burning heat.

The Young Widows – Who need our Care Most

24-05- 2025

Arriving at the Mission Ba-Illi after 9 hours flying on the dusty and bumpy road. Show us and lead us,O Lord, to do your Will as You give us the opportunity to know and to be with Your people.

The silent victims of neglection and poverty are the widows in the society where women are not respected. Some are forced by families to get married at the age of 13 and are destined to bear many children. The Sisters of The Missionaries of Jesus Christ take them under their winds, providing them with a wonderful support system. We are working with the Sisters to offer them help for their most basic needs.

Give Hope Through Education

25-05-2025

Education changes lives—but many children in Africa, especially girls from remote villages, are still denied this basic right.

One father walked 60 kilometers in the heat, carrying a chicken as a gift of gratitude for his 12-year-old daughter’s chance to go to school. His journey speaks volumes about the value of education where it is rare and precious.

We’re working with the Sisters to support a small boarding home that provides safety, learning, and hope for young girls. With your help, we can improve facilities, provide food, medicine, and scholarships—giving these children a real chance at a brighter future.

St. François Xavier Elementary School in Ba-Illi, Chad

This school serves 365 elementary students with a dedicated team of 7 teachers, including one religious sister. With a monthly salary of just over $40, how can they possibly cover their personal and family needs? It takes great sacrifice and love.

The Sunday Eucharistic celebration in French and a local tribal language in the parish of Ba-Illi.

Post-communion celebration in their traditional ritual.

Bring Hope to a Forgotten Village – Ba-Illi, Chad

How can we begin to imagine the struggles of this small, impoverished village just 20 km from the mission center in Ba-Illi, Chad?

The land is dry and barren—nothing grows. When the rains finally come, they flood the fields and wash away the little that was planted. Clean water is scarce and barely meets daily needs. And the children? They dream of learning, but their “classroom” is a roofless structure. When it rains, lessons stop. Their benches are rotting logs, and the floor is bare, unsanitary earth.

This village is a vivid picture of deep and ongoing poverty. Yet, even the smallest act of generosity can bring immense joy and hope.

Will you join us in this mission of love and mercy? Together, we can restore dignity, opportunity, and a future to this community. Your help matters. Your love changes lives.

Beautiful Children, Simple Needs – Let’s Make a Difference Together

Elementary School of St. Denis, Ba-Illi

At the St. Denis Elementary School in Ba-Illi, 415 bright and beautiful children are eager to learn. Yet many families cannot even afford the modest annual tuition of under $20. Their teachers—six in total—each earn only $50 per month.

The school is also in urgent need of a basic water system to serve its students.

Your support can make a world of difference.

A small act of love can bring clean water, support dedicated teachers, and ensure these children receive the education they deserve.

Make It Happen —for peace, justice, and the well-being of all.

Over 300 hectares of land were recently confiscated from the community of Diamra and handed over to the Arab community by the authorities. This act reflects the growing tension and conflict threatening the stability and harmony of our region.

Meanwhile, the true needs of the people remain unaddressed—a proper infirmary, more facilities for secondary students, and real solutions to prevent flooding during the rainy season.

Let’s shift the focus to what truly matters. Let’s make it happen—for peace, justice, and the well-being of all.

Turn Love into Action — Help Us Build a Future

In the village of Gam, and in many parts of Chad, children are learning in classrooms without roofs, without walls, without benches—without even a blackboard or basic school supplies.

And yet, they dream. They dream of sitting on a bench, holding a real book, writing with a pen, and learning under a proper roof.

Can you imagine the joy this would bring to their hearts? With your help, we can turn this simple dream into a life-changing reality.

Education is more than a right—it’s a path to dignity, opportunity, and hope. When empowered by learning, these children can build a better life for themselves, and a brighter future for the world.

Let’s turn our love into action.

Let’s make our shared sacrifice a blessing.

Let’s give them the gift of education.

Fr. Peter Vang Tran (C.Ss.R)