EUROPE/PORTUGAL - The number of Portuguese lay volunteers that collaborate in missionary and development projects in other countries, is on the rise; on June 27, 283 volunteers went overseas

Lisbon (Agenzia Fides) - There are more and more members of the laity that are hearing the call to work on cooperative and missionary projects, dedicating a period of their lives to this work, says the Evangelization of Cultures Foundation in Portugal. This organization serves as a platform group for missionary volunteers in the country. Year by year, the number of missionary volunteers increases and in 2008, a total of 283 will be working on projects sponsored by Catholic entities. In Portugal, there are nearly 50 groups - institutions, religious orders, NGOs, associations, dioceses, and parishes – that cooperate in this development effort in other countries. Sending lay missionaries is not a new reality in Portugal. The first group left the country twenty years ago.
According to the Evangelization of Cultures Foundation (FEC), on June 27, 283 volunteers left for Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, East Timor, Zambia, Burundi, and the Republic of Central Africa. The largest number of volunteers will be in Mozambique, with a total of 121 (43%), followed by Angola, with 75 (25%). As in the years before, there is a greater number of women than of men volunteers: 195 (68%) women and 70 (26%) men.
The length of the volunteer time varies. From this group, 220 of the volunteers will be on a short mission (1 to 6 months) and 63 will be on a long-term mission (1 year or longer).
In addition to the large group of volunteers that go on foreign missions every year, there are also many who remain in Portugal, working on support projects, especially in the inland regions. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 11/7/2008)