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

« Loving the least among us, loving them through and with Christ, is the path to holiness. Mother Teresa reached out to these people who are in the image of Christ, born among the poorest. » (Sister Emmanuelle)

Dear Friends,

On June 20th, Joseph and Sadia were born.
Why am I telling you about the birth of these twins in South Sudan?
Because it's a happy event that, like hundreds of micro-events not reported between each letter, happened thanks to you... You and all the people involved in the solidarity networks created by the initiatives supported by ASASE.

This boy and girl were born in a country where 90% of women give birth without any medical assistance. Their mother, Stella Yangi Samuel, 28, who is doing very well, knows what she owes to the teams of the Saint-Vincent Health Care Center (SVHCC) in Nyarjwa, run by our local partner, the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Society, Juba. She knows that giving birth, even to a single child, is a life-threatening event: it's the leading cause of female mortality in this country, which has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world.
And this was Stella's second time giving birth to twins at the SVHCC! The first twins, also a boy and a girl, are therefore the eldest in a large family, as five other children followed before the arrival of the last twins!

Her husband, Emmanuel Lemi, also knows that it is thanks to his work as a night watchman at the SVHCC that he can provide for his family of nine children.
The parents decided to name their youngest children Joseph and Sadia, as a token of gratitude to Dr. Joseph Tschombe (see photo, wit Stella) and midwife Sadia Awani for their support and attention during the obstetric follow-up, from last April until the delivery.
The family lives in the village of Nyarjwa and, in addition to Emmanuel's work as a night watchman, also earns their living from seasonal agricultural produce.
Stella says she prays for the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Society and its donors to ensure the SVHCC remains operational and sustainable, as its "impact is indescribable for the pregnant mothers in the community. When the clinic is closed [It is open three days a week], mothers, pregnant women, and children in the community, in particular, wonder where to find help in an emergency."

Construction of a new administrative building began in August. This project, partially funded by ASASE, had become necessary: ​​administrative staff had been working in cramped conditions for several years in decrepit buildings, and some employees have no office.
The site has been cleared, earthworks and foundation excavations have been completed, metal bars to raise the columns have been fixed, and foundation stones have been laid.
Casting of columns and slab for ground floor has just been completed.
Status of work at the end of August. The work is being carried out with the help of Construction graduates from the Training Center.

Due to new administrative constraints to obtain tax exemptions on imported products, the poultry program at the new Nyarjwa unit, dedicated to laying hens, has been delayed: the second batch of 1,000 chicks received in April has barely begun the laying phase, four months behind schedule compared to the forecasts of this income-generating program (IGP).
The 18 hectares of maize planted to date, on different plots at different times (6 hectares already harvested), seem to bode well for the agricultural IGP. Another 6 hectares are being prepared for planting at the end of the rainy season.
The reforestation plan at the Nyarjwa farm is off to a good start, with 1,500 eucalyptus trees along the fence and 250 fruit trees (orange, mango, lemon, and banana) on different plots.
The Wooden Furniture IGP showroom was inaugurated in early April at the entrance to the Lologo Center. Furniture (beds, chairs, wardrobes) are on display for sale.
It's worth noting that profits from these IGPs contribute to funding vocational training.

*

Allow me to encourage you to view on our website the short videos shot during my last visit to Juba almost a year ago: https://www.asase.org/en/gallery/videos/south-sudan.

You can see for example the testimony of young people, former gang members, who were receiving training at the Lologo Center in 2024.
While a few hundred young people appear to have escaped these criminal networks, others continue to generate insecurity in the capital. In June, a video of a gang rape circulated online in the country. Filmed and posted on social media by the perpetrators, it showed a group of visibly drunk youths attacking a 16-year-old girl belonging to a rival gang.
In August, a bishop in Yambio issued a "national appeal for peace, compassion, and action: pastoral and patriotic reflection on South Sudan’s gang crisis" which read: "Let us be honest: Juba is only the tip of the iceberg (...) We have raised children in trauma with no peace, no bread, no fathers, no direction. We have normalized violence, and now our children inherit it as a culture”.

You will also be able to see graduates of the 2024 training session talk about where they were professionally a few months after graduation.

You will thus be able to measure the concrete impact of your donations, for which we wholeheartedly thank you in advance.

Patrick Bittar
Director