Women in Chad face significant gender discrimination. They often must work outside the home as well raise a family, tend the farms, gather water and cook. Yet they are culturally limited from access to education or training, and marginalized by society. These women are vulnerable to the psychological as well as physical effects of poverty.

Salesian missionaries have been living and working with poor youth in the Republic of Chad in Central Africa since 1995. They established their first programs in Sarh, the third largest city in the country, which has more than 120,000 residents. Three years later, missionaries began other programs in the capital of N’Djamena, and in 2013 in the city of Doba. Salesian programs focus on ensuring educational equality for young girls and women.

In Sarh, Salesian missionaries operate a kindergarten, a school for older youth, a youth center and a church parish. The missionaries’ work goes far beyond the inside of classrooms and the parish. Their work takes them into more than 116 villages in the surrounding areas. The goal is to provide people their most basic needs including food, clothing and medical assistance while encouraging youth to attend the local Salesian school.