The Banana Fund in Sudan

El Obeid, Sudan

The Don Bosco Vocational Training Centre has grown to accommodate an increasing number of Darfur IDP's (Internally Displaced Persons), which the Centre removes from the camps in and around Nyala, South Darfur for one year and provides them a free education, room and board in El Obeid. 

The Centre also educates, free of charge, sixty boys from the Nuba Mountains, a region in southern Sudan ravaged by forty years of civil war, and thirty street children from El Obeid. Their vocational education, coupled with classes in English and Arabic, exponentially increases their chances of finding life-sustaining employment, while an emphasis on peace lays a foundation for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Darfur.

• Purchase 100 English books and twenty dictionaries for use in the Darfur program English classes;
  
• Print 100 English textbooks for use in the Darfur program;
  
• Purchase 100 small pieces of luggage for the Darfur program participants and street children to protect their personal belongings;
  
• Pay administrative costs for writing grants to fund the 2007-2008 Darfur program (which to date, have garnered over $100,000);
  
• Contribute to the running costs of the Darfur program;

Khartoum, Sudan

The Salesian Sisters operate both an orphanage and a primary school within the same compound. The primary school is attended by approximately 400 students and is seeking to expand by offering higher grades and better facilities. The orphanage is home to fifty-three girls aged three to eighteen; the girls come from all areas of Rwanda.

• Purchase fruit for one year to supplement the diets of children at the primary school and orphanage;
  
• Contribute toward the purchase solar panels to provide hot water for orphan girls.

The Banana Fund in Rwanda

Kigali, Rwanda

On the outskirts of this sprawling metropolis, in a region called Shajara, the Salesian Sisters operate a centre which offers kindergarten classes, a medical dispensary and recreational site for children. The Centre primarily serves IDP's (Internally Displaced Persons) from southern Sudan who fled to Khartoum during the civil war. The IDP's in and around Khartoum are one of the most forgotten people as international attention is focused on Darfur and on the development of southern Sudan, not the IDP's struggling in Khartoum.

• Construct a playground for children displaced by the war in southern Sudan

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A Note from Frank and MAtthew

To the donors, we, personally and on behalf of the Salesians (SDBs and FMAs), of VIDES, and of the children of Rwanda and Sudan, thank you very much. We are inspired by your selflessness and sacrifice; we are honored by your friendship and trust; we are encouraged that, together, we can change the world. Thank you!

Sincerely Yours,

Frank So, Matthew Putorti
and Sister Mary Gloria Mar, FMA
Director of VIDES+USA

P.S. Although we are no longer in Rwanda and Sudan, donations can still be made to VIDES+USA to support its work of sending other volunteers all over the world. Additionally, other VIDES volunteers, currently in Rwanda and Sudan, continue to serve the projects in the locations named above. Again, thank you!