Our newsletters and visit reports

In addition to the latest quarterly letter, you will also find on this page the archives of past letters, downloadable in pdf format (Acrobat), the latest visit reports from our director and the external evaluation reports. 

LETTER TO FRIENDS OF SISTER EMMANUELLE

« In the shantytown, I sometimes felt as if I were touching him, Christ, in the encounter with the ragpickers who were so destitute and so fraternal. » (Sister Emmanuelle)

Dear Friends,

My visit in October to the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Society (SVDP)’s program in Juba went well, despite a somewhat tense atmosphere on some days.
At the time, the trial of Riek Machar (the Vice President and leader of the opposition to the President during the 2013-2018 civil war) was underway, and, in anticipation of the likely verdict (a prison sentence), unpaid soldiers were searching houses and vehicles for any weapons.

As every year, I met with some of the beneficiaries of our programs, and I was once again able to witness the tangible results of these programs in their daily lives. For this Christmas letter, I have chosen to share two of these encounters with you, expressing our sincere gratitude for your support.

This is Rehab Ali, 30 years old.
Rehab is from Omdurman (a city bordering Khartoum) in Sudan.
Her husband worked there occasionally as a construction worker.

In 2024, with their five children, they fled the war raging in the capital and lived for a year in the Gorom refugee camp (26 km southeast of Juba), overseen by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
In August 2025, they moved to Lologo.
A resident of the slum told her one day that SVDP was looking for distributors for eggs produced by the new poultry farm in Nyarjwa, and put her in touch with Charles, the sales officer for Income-Generating Programs (IGP).

When I met her, she had been doing this for a month. Initially, since she couldn't afford to buy the eggs, SVDP had given her five crates of thirty eggs each to help her get started.
She sells eggs from a small mobile stall in Lologo.
She buys at least five crates a week.
She resells the eggs bought at 733 SSP (0.10 CHF) for 1500 SSP (0.20 CHF).
The profits from her sales (15 CHF/week) allow her to pay the monthly rent for their home (15 000 SSP, or 20 CHF) and to feed her family.
Her husband tries to find occasional work in construction.

I also met Clara Poni Adelino, 35.
Clara lives in Lologo. After finishing school in 2014, and lacking the means to continue her studies, she took a sewing course at the SVDP Center ten years ago.
She then worked from home, offering her sewing services to residents of the neighborhood.
She got married in 2018. Her husband lives in Torit (200 km from Juba). She lives alone with their child.

Between 2019 and 2021, she was part of the SVDP Garment IGP team.
At the end of 2024, she heard about the possibility of obtaining a microcredit from SVDP, but hesitated, fearing she wouldn't be able to repay it. She eventually borrowed one million SSP (137 CHF) and had repaid 90% when I met her.
The loan allowed her to build a corrugated iron shelter to work in front of her house. Previously, she worked under a tree and had to take shelter in her modest home when it rained. She was also able to buy fabric.
In January and February, she made uniforms for students in Lologo schools, including the Saint-Vincent primary school run by SVDP. This earned her the equivalent of 110 CHF per month. During the autumn months, she said she earned less: 20 CHF per month.
Since the period before Christmas is usually more lucrative, she expects to repay the remaining balance of her loan before the end of the year.

I observed that all of SVDP's programs were functioning well overall.

450 young adults (41% of whom were women and 48% of whom had not completed primary school) were enrolled in the theoretical and practical courses of the nine offered vocational trainings.

The trainees from the Health training presented me with a new component of their curriculum, focusing on nutrition.

Jackson, in charge of the annual graduate follow-up survey, did a great job again this year: he surveyed 41% of the 2024 graduates, or 218 people (it was a particularly large graduating class).

The guesthouse where I stayed is now powered by solar energy, as are the primary school, the offices, and most of the training workshops. This will generate savings by reducing the use of the generators at the Lologo Center.

The restaurant (an IGP initiated at the Center in September 2024) closed in March: it was in direct competition with the two restaurants, located outside the Center entrance, run by two women with about ten employees. This is a problem inherent to some IGPs (like the Garment one): efforts to improve the self-financing of our local partner cannot come to the detriment of the beneficiaries of its support programs.

Construction of the new administrative building was progressing quickly: the ground floor was almost finished by the end of my stay.

On behalf of all the teams on the ground and the hundreds of beneficiaries of their program, we thank you in advance for your donations, and wish you a very happy Christmas!

Patrick Bittar
Director