MAITRI ; The Most Important Thing Project

by Lukasz Sokol

I went to Cameroon as the MAITRI volunteer to document activity of Polish missionaries and everyday life of Cameroonians. The Most Important Thing is a part of the project which focused on children’s living conditions.
The conditions Cameroonian children live in destroys their dignity and affects their growth. Many children do not have an access to education (which is in a disastrous state), and the government also does not provide access to free medical care. Poverty influences their emotional, intellectual and physical growth.

Apart from poverty, the breakdown of the families and violence are a massive social issue. Children are left to themselves, they have to work, often very hard. Carrying water, preparing food, and washing are their main duties, besides taking care of younger brothers and sisters. Missionaries are children’s only hope since they obtain funds for the children’s education, and care more about it than the parents. Programs such as Adoption By Heart are aimed to raise the necessary funds. That do not guarantee that a child will graduate from school but it often creates the only opportunity.

MAITRI - the Movement of Solidarity with the Poor from the Third World is a NGO based on volunteers’ work, which cooperates with catholic missions in Africa and provides aid for the poorest inhabitants, mainly children. MAITRI introduces many programs, and Adoption by Heart is the most important one. Adoption by Heart is based on a moral commitment of adoptive parents to take care of a particular child. The adoptive parents provide financial support to the chosen child, which is then spent mostly on education, nutrition and medical care.

My aim is to show people the importance of donating small amounts of money to give African children a chance for a better future.

(In 2010 “The most important thing” project will be continued in Rwanda, DR Congo and Burundi)

Lukasz Sokol On behalf of Movement of Solidarity with the Poor from the Third World