(Ludwigshafen, 15 February 2024) "I don't give a damn". This is the motto of Misereor's Lent campaign in 2024, in which the Catholic organisation for development cooperation invites people to work with Misereor project partners from Colombia to promote sustainable agriculture and healthy nutrition. The Lent campaign, which asks for donations for Misereor's work between Ash Wednesday and Easter, also serves as an opportunity for self-reflection: What do I live from? How can I use Lent for personal conversion, for individual and communal commitment? What can we share?
The Lent campaign will be opened this year in the diocese of Speyer - during a festive service on Sunday, 18 February at 10 a.m. in the parish church of St. Ludwig, Wredestraße 24, 67059 Ludwigshafen am Rhein, which can also be followed and celebrated live on ARD television. In the days leading up to the event, various events will take place in cooperation with the Diocese of Speyer and the Catholic Academy Rhine-Neckar "Heinrich-Pesch-Haus" - such as a "drum tour" for the Misereor Solibrot campaign in day-care centres, excursions to farms in the Diocese of Speyer and a sing-along concert in the "dasHaus" cultural centre in Ludwigshafen. Misereor partners from Colombia will be present in many places in the diocese and report authentically on their work. Two groups of pilgrims will carry the Misereor hunger cloth to the opening of the Lenten campaign.
Imaginative fundraising campaigns
During Lent, Misereor, which works with partner organisations in 85 countries in Africa and the Middle East, Asia and Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean, will provide information about its project work and ask for donations. The campaign is organised by groups in parishes, schools, associations and beyond with educational, lobbying and advocacy work as well as imaginative fundraising campaigns. On 17 March, the 5th Sunday of Lent, donations will then be collected in all Catholic parishes in Germany for the work of Misereor.
The Bishop of Speyer, Dr Karl-Heinz Wiesemann, explained that the work of Misereor - like that of other church aid organisations - can be seen as a beacon for the church, "which repeatedly breaks open our often narrow view of the church and provides groundbreaking impulses. Through the work of Misereor, we can directly experience that the Church transcends all boundaries of nation, origin or language, that we are the universal Church: a global community of sisters and brothers who strengthen and enrich each other in faith, who are responsible for each other and can learn from each other." Wiesemann referred to the extensive work of his diocese in favour of the Global South: "Our commitment to the global church is particularly evident in our partnership with the diocese of Cyangugu in Rwanda, which has been running for over 40 years. Through parish partnerships, by sending young adults (voluntary social year), by supporting social projects (e.g. building a hospital in Mibirizi), through the partnership coffee project and through many other things, we want to share life with each other, share in each other's worries and hopes, learn from each other, stand by each other in their needs and, last but not least, pray for each other."
Diversity from the field to the plate
Pirmin Spiegel, Managing Director of Misereor, explained the background to this year's guiding principle of the Lent campaign: "With the deliberately somewhat irritating motto "Does the bean interest me", we want to make people curious about the power of the bean.
We want to invite them to take a closer look at the situation in a rural region of Colombia, whose population struggles to organise the necessities of life on a daily basis. We turn the somewhat pejorative message of the phrase "I don't give a damn" by 180 degrees: no matter how small, every bean is important. It depends on each and every one. Every story, every commitment counts. We take a closer look and recognise the needs and requirements of people, especially in the Global South." Spiegel emphasised that good and healthy nutrition for all requires diversity from the field to the plate as well as fairer distribution. "That is why we are campaigning for the rights of family farms, which grow around 70 per cent of the world's food and can ensure a stable and balanced diet." Mr Spiegel called on people in Germany to consume more fair trade coffee. With a postcard campaign initiated by Misereor, everyone can explicitly promote this in their own environment.
Prospects for young people
Nidia Cielito Meneses Meneses, rural pastoral worker in the Colombian diocese of Pasto, praised the projects supported by Misereor in her home region for encouraging families to successfully provide themselves with food through training and the strengthening of existing initiatives. Women in particular benefit from this. "This is all the more important as many people in Colombia are not aware of their rights, climate change is worsening living conditions in the countryside and there is a threat of the loss of local seeds." Good nutrition and social cohesion make an important contribution to peace in a country torn by conflict. Young people in rural regions of Colombia in particular need new prospects so that they do not migrate to the cities.
Tobias Zimmermann SJ, Director of the Heinrich Pesch House, summarised: "It is good that the Misereor Lenten campaign is broadening our view of the global South this year. After all, we will only overcome global crises if we, as citizens of the world, recognise them as a common problem and tackle them in global solidarity."
