MISEREOR Lenten Campaign 2012
Living decent lives. Giving children a future
In the next Lenten Campaign MISEREOR will be focusing on children and youth in the slums of Kolkata, and in Guatemala City, Nairobi and Hong Kong. These youngsters suffer because they do not have a safe roof over their heads. Nor do they have enough to eat, or clean water to drink. This makes them particularly vulnerable to diseases. Health care, being treated by a doctor and receiving medicines – all this is usually beyond the means of the poor. Many are deprived of school-leaving qualifications and vocational training. So the opportunities these children have early on in life are poor right from the start.
MISEREOR's partner organisations support these children and teenagers, and give them strength. These are projects of hope: the centre to protect girls in Nairobi, the peace trucks in Guatemala City, the advocacy work for cage people in Hong Kong, and the programme for the girls and boys who scavenge waste dumps in Kolkata. These projects of hope demonstrate how much energy and creativity young people can muster up in order to build a better future for themselves.
Let us give these children and youths a decent life. Get involved in the MISEREOR Lenten Campaign in 2012!
Excerpts from the basic article on the Lenten Campaign 2012
Poster Meditation for the Lenten Campaign 2012
Look at me!
This is my world:
7 days a week on the rubbish tip in Howrah,
before the gates of Kolkata.
Always searching
for plastic, leather, metal
and a life of dignity.
Breathe in with me!
This is my life:
20 breaths of toxic air per minute into my lungs,
the acrid taste of decay.
Always searching
for oxygen, freedom, energy
and a life of dignity.
Come and see me here!
This is my kingdom:
16 metres up, atop a tower of garbage,
junk and dead rats that stink to high heaven.
Always searching
for dreams, a future, respect
and a life of dignity.
Come with me!
This is my basket:
2 kilos of rubbish collected per hour,
a hard-earned way to help my parents and 6 siblings survive.
Always searching
for food, clothing, shelter
and a life of dignity.
Stay with me!
This is your chance:
once more in your life, to share with compassion
what you have enough of.
Searching together
for justice, truth, peace
and a life of dignity.
Chano Paswan, 7 years old, is one of countless scavengers in Kolkata.
Text: Jörg Nottebaum, MISEREOR
English translation: John Cochrane
© Photo: Schwarzbach/MISEREOR
'As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren' – The MISEREOR Lenten Veil
Every two years an artist from the Global South designs a veil on the theme of the Lenten Campaign. For the Lenten Campaign 2011/2012 MISEREOR has secured the services of the painter Sokey Edorh from Togo. The collage-like image made of African soil, corrugated cardboard, charcoal and acrylic focuses on the inhuman conditions under which people live in slums around the world. Yet at the same time it also highlights the vitality and courage with which the women, children and men living there deal with their situation. In the spirit of the verses Mt 25.35ff, Sokey Edorh takes a look at these marginalised social groups, and depicts them as actors taking charge of their own lives. Their strength, their resourcefulness and their spirituality can be an example to us.
Please click here to download further information on the Lenten Veil (pdf, 1,8 MB)
The artist
Sokey Edorh was born in 1955 in Tsevié in Togo, and now lives in Lomé. Today he is considered one of Africa's outstanding contemporary artists.
With dedication and patience the artist has collected signs, symbols and writings from various tribes, and developed them into a complicated and elaborate alphabetical system. The distinguishing features of his pictures include their visual complexity and the wealth of materials he uses. He works the red clay of Africa into his paintings, and is constantly experimenting with new materials. Sokey Edorh's compositions are incisive comments on Africa's complexity, striving to free the continent from common prejudices and clichés. Sokey Edorh has lived and worked in many slums in Benin, Congo, Mali, Burkina Faso and Togo.
