World Mission Month starts worldwide on 1st October. The Pontifical Mission Societies in Austria are drawing attention to the plight of people in Madagascar, this year's focus country. The focus is on the liberation of slaves in mica mines. The reforestation of the island state and the education of over 11,000 children in the highlands of Madagascar are also priorities for Missio Austria. On 20 October, parishes throughout Austria celebrate World Mission Sunday and collect donations for the poorest of the poor.
This year's Missio focus country for World Mission Month, Madagascar, is the fourth largest island in the world and also one of the poorest countries. Half of the estimated 29.6 million inhabitants lack access to clean drinking water. Nine out of ten people in Madagascar live in poverty and four out of ten suffer from hunger. ‘Madagascar is one of the poorest countries I have ever visited. People know the tropical island state in the Indian Ocean from kitschy images of palm-lined beaches, sunshine and vanilla. The reality is the exact opposite. Most people live in real misery,’ says Missio National Director Fr Karl Wallner. Together with local church project partners, Missio Austria wants to help the people of Madagascar out of poverty.
The shadow of splendour
20,000 people are digging for the globally sought-after raw material mica under degrading working conditions in around 176 mines in southern Madagascar. Half of the mine workers are children. The mining families are left with around five cents from the sale of one kilogramme of mica. The raw material itself is sold as a processed product in China for 12 euros, i.e. 5614 per cent more expensive. Madagascar is the world's largest exporter of the mineral mica, also known as mica. It gives many cosmetic and paint products their typical lustre. Madagascar exports around 1545 tonnes of the mineral annually to the electrical, construction, paint and cosmetics industries, mainly in China. Missio Austria is supporting the Madagascan diocese of Ihosy in building a school for the children of the mines. Pregnant women and sick people are to receive medical care in future. The construction of a well with clean drinking water in the workers' settlements is also being planned. ‘If we succeed, the nightmare will be over,’ says Father Christian, Missio project partner in the diocese of Ihosy.
Reforestation and education
The island of Madagascar was once 90 per cent covered in forest. Today, only ten per cent of the forest remains. In order to gain agricultural land, there has been extensive deforestation in recent decades. Due to the lack of trees, the country's soil is becoming increasingly desertified. Crop failures are the result, driving the people of Madagascar into hunger and poverty. Together with its project partner ‘Vozama’, Missio Austria is supporting the people around the city of Fianarantsoa with reforestation. ‘We have already been able to plant one million trees in recent years. However, this is still not enough to create a healthy balance,’ says Taratra Rakotomamonjy, Missio project partner and head of “Vozama”. Around a quarter of Madagascar's population can neither read nor write. Missio Austria therefore supports ‘Vozama’, which has provided 11,700 children with a sustainable school education in over 600 villages in Madagascar's highlands in recent years. In addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, the teaching staff sensitise the children to a conscious and sustainable approach to nature, as Missio project partner Taratra Rakotomamonjy explains: ‘Every child in our schools plants their own little tree in the highlands on the annual tree planting day and thus takes responsibility on a small scale.’
The world's largest solidarity campaign
World Mission Sunday is the world's largest solidarity campaign, emphasises Missio National Director Father Karl Wallner: ‘1.4 billion Catholics worldwide are called upon to make their contribution to a growing, charitable and socially committed church. I very much hope that World Mission Sunday will raise awareness of our sisters and brothers in the global Church in parishes here in this country.’ On World Mission Sunday, the Catholic Church collects donations worldwide for the poorest dioceses in the countries of the Global South. This year it falls on 20 October.
Missio asks for donations
‘We are asking for your support so that we can help our brothers and sisters in need. Through prayer and donations, we can provide sustainable and long-term help,’ says Missio National Director Fr Karl Wallner. Information material and products for World Mission Sunday can be ordered free of charge from https://www.missio.at/weltmissions-sonntag-2024/. The products include a liturgy booklet with suggestions for organising church services, campaign booklets and posters. For the first time, the materials also include a novena to Carlo Acutis.
The first world mission show
On 1 October 2024 at 20:00, presenter Anne Fleck welcomes you to the first World Mission Show on the YouTube channel of Missio Austria. In the programme, you will learn how you can make World Mission Sunday liturgical and festive in your own parish. You will also hear the gripping background story to allewelt editor-in-chief Christoph Lehermayr's research in the Mica mines in Madagascar.
