“O Come let us adore Him” May the Peace of Christ our Saviour be with you. I am Sr. Jacinta H. Dagbaaboro, Provincial Superior of the Dominican Province of the Sisters of Our Lady of Peace.

We began our mission in Tombura in 1999 in the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio to provide health and pastoral care to the people of Tombura and the surrounding villages. We are a community of South Sudanese women called by God the Father, faithfully living our Dominican heritage under the mantle of Mary, Our Lady of Peace.

Recently, our region has received too much rainfall, resulting in floods that have swept away villages, claimed lives, destroyed crops, animals, homes, and water sources. Earlier this year, people had started returning to their villages after armed clashes forced them to flee to the makeshift UN base in the town of Tombura. Families had started growing food, children had returned to college and life had returned to normal until this disaster hit us hard.

Before the rains and floods, most families did not have pit latrines, they shared a communal pit latrine and two shallow water wells that served the general population. All of these have been destroyed and currently, people have no clean, safe water source and no standing pit latrine. We use stagnant water trapped in dirty pits. To use this water for drinking, cooking, and other household chores, we try to purify it with charcoal, but this process is not 100% pure. This increases the risk of diseases like bilharzia, typhoid and diarrhoea.

At the moment, we can only provide our community with magnesium tablets, and separate those who are sick from the general population.

We are currently raising funds to build a public pit latrine and a borehole to improve overall sanitation in the community. There are no aid organisations in our province and this means people must find ways to rebuild their lives, and everyone must support one another like brothers and sisters.

If you are able to support our struggling community, please use the following bank details for our children’s mission office in Uganda. The war here has blacklisted our country for receiving funds from abroad. Funds are typically returned to sender with a delay of months before being credited or confiscated by the government. This delays and sabotages our programs.

Account Owner Name: St. Paul Children Initiative
Account Owner Address: Plot 247 Busabala Road, Ssanyu House, Wakiso District, Uganda
Bank name: ABSA BANK UGANDA
Branch Name: Kampala Road Branch
Bank Address: Plot 16, Kampala Road, P.O Box 2971, Kampala, Uganda
SWIFT code: BARCUGKX
Account number (if possible IBAN code): 6006897019
Intended use: Tombura water and pit latrine

May God reward you with so much more than you have offered to His suffering people. 

Blessings,
Jacinta OP

More Information

Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio website

Article: Formation Programs of Catholic Sisters in South Sudanese Diocese Halted amid Violence

Article: Sister Jacinta Dagbaaboro calls for calmness in Tombura because what is going on is destructive.