Three hundred thousand German Catholic youth collect funds to fight child labour in India

Jan 11, 2018

AACHEN, Germany: More than 2,600 “Star Singers” (Sternsinger) of the Holy Childhood Association in Germany participated at the official inauguration of their 60th Annual Campaign in Trier (Germany) on Friday, Dec 29, 2017: Bring blessing, be blessing. Together against child labour, in India and all over the world is the motto of the 2018 Campaign.

Dressed like the Magi, with their Stars and their songs, the “Star Singers” go around visiting German homes. About 300 thousand children from Catholic parishes in Germany will carry the “C+M+ B” blessing (Christus mansionem benedicat — Christ bless this house”) to the families, collecting donations for other children their age who suffer throughout the world. The “Star Singers campaign collection,” stresses Archbishop Giampietro Dal Toso, President of the Pontifical Mission Societies, “suggests something interesting and important to the whole Church. The Singers follow the star, one who follows this star finds Jesus who, through his incarnation, shared life with men. Sharing, which is at the centre of this initiative, is a sign of this too. We are all grateful to the Star Singers who, with their sharing of earthly goods, show us Christ, who shares life with us.”

The fight against child exploitation is at the centre of the annual campaign promoted in 2018 by the Holy Childhood Association in Germany (Kindermissionswerk/Die Sternsinger) in collaboration with the German Catholic Youth Union (Bund der Deutschen Katholischen Jugend, BDKJ). The country at the centre of this year’s initiatives is India, a nation with the highest number of underage workers worldwide. According to data released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), 168 million children and young people aged between 5 to 17 work many hours a day worldwide, 11 per cent of the world’s child population. Among them, about 85 million children, boys and girls, are exploited.

“To get girls and boys out of child labour”, underlines Mgr Klaus Krämer, President of the Holy Childhood Association in Germany “We need alternatives. For us, these alternatives consist in offering access to education, because only if children are supported in their human, spiritual and cultural growth can they one day lead an independent life. We try to achieve this with our local partners, through 977 education programmes launched around the world. Many children who work to help support their family,” adds Krämer, “cannot attend school. Our highest priority is to stop this vicious circle.”

The “Star Singers” collection in Germany, inaugurated in 1959, has become the largest solidarity initiative in the world, allowing children to help other people their age who are in need. Since then, more than one billion euros have been collected, and with these funds more than 71,700 projects have been carried out for children in Africa, Latin America, Asia, Oceania and Eastern Europe. -- Agenzia Fides