Missionary Childhood helps more than 4 million childrenSimeon Stachera is a Polish Franciscan, the director of Pontifical Mission Societies for 10 years in Morocco. He has been living there for 22 years, a different context because the law of the country does not allow to speak directly about Jesus Christ. Father Siméon was previously working in Bolivia, from where he was sent as a missionary to Morocco, and he says he is "eager to serve in whatever the Lord asks of me".
In addition, on November 11, 2012, he was decorated with the Gold Cross of the Polish Service for his service to the most needy, especially to prisoners in prisons in Tangier and Tetouan.
In this interview, he tells us about one of OMP's works, the Missionary ChildhoodThe company is also interested in the projects being carried out in Morocco in this field.
What does the Missionary Childhood Day consist of and what are its objectives?
In Morocco we have a very special day because here our children are Muslims, with a small Catholic Christian community. The objective is above all to make the child understand that the Church is a big family, where everyone is needed. Muslim children are also part of this big family. We are, as our Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero says, "for the kingdom of God". The Church is for everyone, everywhere, but here I think in a special way.
Here we have two dioceses, that of Tangier, which experiences the day in a similar way to Spain and on the same date, and that of Rabat, which has a different rhythm and a different date.
Prayer is very important in Missionary Childhood, one of the works in which we know that the children like to participate very much, with the rosaries of the five continents. This helps them to become aware that the world is in our hands, in God's hands, but also in our little hands, and that we want to offer them to pray. In addition, these little hands can offer some help. Children participate especially in "operation kilo", offering something of themselves, of their food. It is so called because at least a kilo of rice, sugar, noodles... is offered.
Creativity also comes into play here: the children can paint, put something of their own and offer it to others. There is enough creativity for that here, we do it with the little we have here. I would also like to point out that when we come into contact with Muslim children, we tell them that "this comes from the hearts of those who love God", or "from the hearts of those who pray to God".
It is a visible and invisible communion, because we do not talk to the Muslim children about our religion, but we are also raising their awareness so that they give thanks to God, pray for the people who help them, or for other children who help them around the world. Sometimes the children who receive help write letters or paint a drawing in gratitude. And, of course, this help that the children offer comes through their parents, who also participate in this.
How can children be missionaries?
Every child is invited to develop all his abilities and qualities. Muslim children from a very young age are learning to pray, with 3 or 4 years old they begin to learn by heart some quotations from the Koran. When the religious sisters visit these children, they appreciate this: "It is good that the family has a religious spirit". The child gets used to being in a spiritual environment. We experience this also with our Christian children. When their parents come to church, we share with them that we are in God's hands and that other children also pray. We give out the rosaries of the continents, with different colors of continents, and they like this very much. The children pray for each continent, and that also gives them a joy: "Today I prayed for Africa, tomorrow for Oceania...". It is a way to let the child know that the world is big, different, and that the world is beautiful.
Therefore, prayer comes first, and there are different prayer activities. On the other hand, there is solidarity: a small sacrifice, a renunciation, an acceptance of something that happens, a smile, a greeting. Moreover, in our catechesis we have children of different colors: there are African children, European children... And they see this difference, but they do not yet feel in their conscience that someone is different from them, but that they are all children.
We also transmit to the parents that they are missionaries in front of their children. In the family, all the moments and acts are important, because a moment in the catechesis or in the Eucharist is not enough, the mission is a collaboration with the family.
Moreover, the children are missionaries simply because they are in this reality in Morocco. Here our Catholic children are in a different reality from their own. Morocco helps a lot to feel the missionary spirit. The Moroccan children to whom we come are from a very austere and poor environment, and we share with them this idea that they are also missionaries, that they are in our prayers, that we form a family, and it is a beautiful moment of sharing together, of living together and of feeling like missionaries.
What Missionary Childhood projects are being carried out in Morocco?
There are different fields in which we are working. On the one hand, in our prefecture of Laayoune, there is a center for disabled children and young people. It is run and founded by a Muslim, Mohamed Fadel, and has 60 children and young people. This Muslim is very grateful for the support of Missionary Childhood, because it is like the backbone of our center and where the most important help comes from. In general, we receive this help from Spain.
In Rabat we have different projects, one of them is in Temara, where the sisters work with people with different burns, among them many children. There, they receive treatment, a unique treatment, you could say, and they move forward. Also in Temara, nutritional support is provided to malnourished children. These are families, mothers in general, very poor, who have nothing to buy. In Morocco there is still "hidden poverty", which is not seen by the eyes of the rulers, but by the eyes of those who love, who go to these places and discover it.
In Rabat there is also a center for orphans, run by Lalla Miriam, a princess who helps this center, and Missionary Childhood participates in different activities, with the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary.
In Tangier there are many projects, generally run by the Daughters of Charity and the Sisters of Jesus and Mary, who run kindergartens and homes for children from poor families, who need school support, help with homework, food, teaching them basic hygiene, etc. We do not speak directly about Missionary Childhood either to these children or to their parents, but indirectly we share with them the spiritual and solidary sense in which we all participate.
These projects are carried out in Tangier as well as in Tetouan, Nador, Ksar El Kebir, and at one time Larache, although a year ago the sisters left due to lack of personnel. Now we are trying to support these activities with the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of Casa Riera, who run two important projects with hearing impaired and deaf-mute children and a nursery for children with needy families. These are roughly the projects that we are carrying out thanks to Infancia Misionera, with the help of Spain, which supports us every year with all the necessary collaboration.
Is it more difficult to transmit the faith in a context where Christians are a minority?
I think not, because the transmission of faith comes from the heart, it goes from heart to heart, and God is present in all hearts: those who seek him, those who want him, those who need him... That is why I would say that in this environment all the sisters do it in an excellent way, because they enter into contact with others through their joyful faith, an inner joy. This joy is the first to evangelize: it evangelizes the Muslim people, it enters into the hearts of the children, in difficult situations. And we see it every day. The law of the country does not allow us to speak directly about our faith, about Jesus Christ, but we do it in different ways, especially through social works, through our words, our smiles, our visits, our accompaniment of people in great need....
I have lived here for more than 20 years, and I see that everything is in the heart of the person, the external difficulties that arise more than anything else give one the possibility to be creative, dynamic, to move, not to rest and sit down because everything is done, everything is easy... This invites us to a dynamic of the mission that comes from Jesus Christ, who always went to meet the person. That is why I emphasize that missionary joy is carried within the heart, and with that we evangelize. We carry our prayer inside, we transmit it in the encounter, and with the words: "May God bless you", "May God be with you", "Pray for me", we ask the Muslims, and here this is very well received, and we say that we are brothers, that we live together in the way of God, each one in the tradition that he received from his family.
