Greetings from India

Dear Friends of Fransalians,

Greetings and prayerful good wishes to each one of you. It is with great joy and gratitude that I write to you today. The year 2024 is a jubilee year for our Chad-Cameroon Mission. It was in the year 1999 that the first Team of Fransalian Missionaries from India arrived in Chad. One year later the Mission was extended to the neighboring country of Cameroon. Five years later our association was registered at Moembris in Germany under the name “ Freundeskreis der Missionare des hl. Franz von Sales /Fransalianer e.V”. The association was established mainly to mobilize support for our Missions in Chad and Cameroon.

I thank God for the opportunity given to me to be part of the pioneering team for a period of 8 years from 2000 to 2008. The beginnings were very hard and challenging. Learning new languages and integrating with the local culture in the midst of severe health hazards like malaria and typhoid has always been a herculean task for the new arrivals from India. Lack of basic infrastructure was another big hurdle. The early Missionaries had to wait for seven years to have a proper house of their own. They had to travel long distances on very bad roads in the harsh landscape of Chad and Cameroon. Trusting in God’s providence the missionaries worked hard to develop the mission step by step. The Mission lost two young priests by accidents. Some others had to leave the Mission due to serious health issues.

The Chad-Cameroon Mission is now well established with a steady growth in personnel as well as in the number of parishes and educational institutions. The Mission now consists of 20 priests, 42 students in priestly formation, 5 novices and several candidates. Most of them are Africans hailing from our own missions in Chad and Cameroon. The Fransalians have built up 7 large parishes besides establishing 4 educational institutions and 2 children’s homes. There are 2 formation houses for candidates to priesthood in Cameroon. A Novitiate House is under construction.

We thank God for his providential care to have made this Mission what it is today. We thank all our friends and benefactors and more especially the members of our Verein in Germany for their constant support by way of prayers and financial help. I wish and pray that the Chad-Cameroon Mission will grow from strength to strength in the years to come. May this jubilee year bring renewed blessings to the people of Chad and Cameroon. I congratulate our missionaries and their collaborators in Chad and Cameroon for the great work they are doing to bring the message of love and compassion to the poorest of the poor.

Cordially
Pater Thomas Cherukat, MSFS

Greetings from Chad-Cameroon

My dear Confreres and friends of the Fransalians,

Cordial greetings and good wishes from the Missionaries of Saint Francis de Sales working in the Chad-Cameroon Mission. I am very happy to inform you that the year 2024-2025 is the Silver Jubilee year of our Mission in Chad and Cameroon. In this year of grace we thank God for all his blessings on our work in the past 25 years. We thank all our friends, benefactors and collaborators for helping us throughout the past 25 years. We also remember with gratitude all our pioneer missionaries who have given their best to build up this Mission. The pioneers planted, their successors watered and God gave the increase....

God has blessed our Mission. This is a Mission pioneered by missionaries from India. Considering the tremendous growth in the number of personnel and mission centers with educational institutions in recent years, the Congregation has raised this Mission to the status of a Delegation. Today the Fransalian Delegation in Chad and Cameroon is a rapidly growing Mission. Missionaries from India along with a growing number of indigenous priests work side by side.

We thank God for the gift of many indigenous vocations we receive every year. We need outside support to meet the huge cost of formation. Apart from the 7 large parishes and 5 schools, the Delegation has established 2 Boys Homes in Chad. As a jubilee souvenir we have planned to establish a Boys Home at Ngaoundere in North Cameroon. We have planned several projects to bring education to the poor in the coming years.

Through the “sponsor a Child Program” we have been able to reach out to 200 poor children both boys and girls. Promotion of the girl child is a priority for all our educational projects. More than half the number of beneficiaries in all our schools are girls. Unfortunately due to some practical difficulties we have not been able to provide Girls’ Homes. We are waiting for some women religious congregation to take up this challenging task.

Providing safe and clean drinking water to the remote villages has been another priority for us. We have been able to complete more than 20 open wells in villages where clean drinking water was not available. We hope to continue this project if we find more donors.

In the past 25 years of our presence as a Missionary Congregation in Chad and Cameroon we have been able to accomplish much. It has been a very challenging as well as deeply rewarding experience for all of us. As the Delegation continues to grow, the cost of maintaining it is also a huge challenge. We are ever grateful to our friends and benefactors for their steady support. In this jubilee year we seek your support to realize some of our dream projects such as the extension of the school at Gaki in Chad and opening a new Boys’ Home at Ngaoundere. We assure our prayers for you. May the Lord bless you and all your near and dear ones.

Yours cordially
Pater Manoj Arackal, MSFS