Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Aachen (Fides Service) - For the 48th year running in Advent and the Christmas Season up to January 6, Holy Childhood missionary children known in Germany as Sternsinger will be knocking on doors all over the country collecting money for children in need. “Children Can Do It- ¡Los niños lo pueden lograr!” is the motto of the campaign which every year involves some 500,000 boys and girls dressed as Three Wise Men who visit German families to offer Christmas greetings and collect money for less fortunate children in other countries. This year the ‘symbol county’ is Peru and the funds will go to help children forced to work. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that in the world there are 352 million working minors aged 5 to 18. In Peru the work of between 1.5 and 2 million children is indispensable for the family to survive. The organisers of Sternsinger annual campaign - PMS and Germany’s national Union of Young Catholics, BDKJ - intend to denounce the many forms of abuse and exploitation of children and to free all minors from situations which offend their human dignity. However realising that for many families child labour is unavoidable and part of life for children, the goal of the organisers is to work with local authorities to guarantee minors who have to work to help their families also the right to instruction, this is explained in the motto “Children Can Do It”, or, they can do both!
Peru, chosen as symbol country is only one of many countries where children are exploited. Material distributed for this year’s Sternsinger campaign aims to help German children realise the sad situation of countless less fortunate children in the ‘third world’. Funds collected are always generous and abundant and every year PMS Germany manages to help children in many parts of the world supporting an average of 2,700 projects in Africa, Latin America, Asia , Oceania and eastern Europe (MS) (Agenzia Fides 7/10/05- 29 righe, 376 parole)
