A beautiful Polish Christmas tradition is to leave an empty place at the Christmas Eve table for someone who has no one to sit down to supper with on this special evening. Most often, however, this place remains empty - it is just a symbol, a tradition. That's why we invite you to participate in the missionary action "Empty Place at the Christmas Eve Table" to invite someone from our missionary charges to your Christmas Eve table in this spiritual way. "Empty Place at the Christmas Eve Table" campaign will be our response to requests for support of three smaller missionary projects.

Sister Rachel Kaczmarek OP (Dominican Sisters) asked us for money to build toilets at a Catholic Elementary School in Garoua Boulai, Cameroon: "Our town borders the Central African Republic. As many as 40,000 residents are refugees from the CAR! We live basically among Muslims, but Christians are increasing every year. We run a day care center for neglected children, catechize at school, and are responsible for children's and youth groups in the parish. It is not uncommon for our convent to also become a temporary home for abandoned children. I dare to ask you for PLN 36,800 for the construction of toilets in the school, where 1,000 children (!) study. The only toilets at the moment are two holes behind the school, sheltered by the already crumbling walls. The current 'toilets' are also a habitat for rats..."

Another request was sent by Father Janusz Burzawa SCJ (Dehonian), a missionary in the Philippines. The parish in Dansolihon wants to expand a "Mission House" to serve as housing for the priests, but also as a place for the formation of lay people, especially catechists from remote villages: "My parishioners are primarily engaged in agriculture. They cultivate tiny patches of land on the slopes of the mountains. They plant corn, sweet potatoes, banana trees, coconuts. The parish has 20,000 parishioners gathering for prayer in 36 chapels. Our 'Mission House' at the parish church is a place for formation and meetings of various groups and communities. It is crucial for the preparation of catechists serving in the outreach chapels. I or the vicar can only get to these villages only once a month! On the other Sundays, it is the catechists who do the spiritual ministry. For them, we need guest rooms in the 'Mission House', because some of them come from villages even tens of kilometers away. We are asking for your help in the amount of PLN 172,500."

The third request is for the renovation of a health clinic in Dakar, Senegal. Sister Ksawera Michalska OSU (The Roman Union of the Order of St. Ursula) describes the current state of the facility as follows: "I would like to address you with a humble request for help in renovating our health clinic. The climate here, especially the very high temperatures and humidity, cause everything to deteriorate quickly, rust, fall apart... The clinic has been helping the poor for 50 years. Recently, I have seen an increase in the number of malnourished children, whose rescue has become our special mission. I am asking for help in the amount of PLN 52,600."

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

A huge thank you to all the Donors who symbolically invited missionary friends from Cameroon, the Philippines and Senegal to their Christmas Eve tables on Christmas 2024!

This moment, when we summarize our missionary projects and share the results of their implementation fills us with gratitude and pride - the Dehonian Missionary Family did not disappoint once again!

Here is a thank-you note sent to us from Cameroon, where new toilets have been built for the children of Garoua Boulai Elementary School:

Garoua Boulai, March 4, 2025

Dear Benefactors,

on behalf of the entire community of Garoua Boulai Elementary School in Cameroon, we would like to express our deep gratitude for your support in the construction of new school toilets. Thanks to your generosity, some 1 OOO of our students now have access to safe, modern and hygienic conditions, significantly improving the quality of daily learning and life at our school. Until recently, the children used two makeshift toilets, which unfortunately harbored many bacteria and posed a real threat of collapse. Lack of sufficient funds prevented the local community and the school council from financing the construction. Thanks to your support, we were able to create an infrastructure that provides healthier and safer conditions that are essential for the proper development of our students. Once again, we sincerely thank you for your support and belief in our educational mission. Your philanthropy is not only an investment in buildings, but more importantly in the future of young generations.

With best regards and the gift of prayers +
s. Rachela Alicja Kaczmarek OP

Also in the Philippines, renovation work at Dansolihon Parish is nearing completion, and as we look at the photos, we wonder if it's still the Philippines or already Japan? Here are a few words from dehonian missionary Father Janusz Burzawa SCJ:

Godspeed to all dear Donors!

The building is standing and looks pretty good. In two or three weeks the workers will leave. It was supposed to be faster, of course, but various adventures prolonged the work. On top of that, December was almost without workers who wanted to spend time with their families. The entire "complex" after the renovation is the parsonage and the parish house (two rooms for priests working in the parish with a common room, i.e. a recreation room with a computer and TV, and a place for small meals, since the main dining room is downstairs). In addition, there are three guest rooms and another two set aside for parishioners in case they can't return to their villages or if meetings are prolonged. There is also a very large room downstairs for meetings of various communities and other initiatives. We have plans to make our parish house available for people from Cagayan de Oro as well.

Dear Friends! God bless you for your help, without which this renovation would not have been possible. We continually remember you in prayer +

ks. Janusz Burzawa SCJ

In Senegal, renovation work on the health clinic began in February, and Sister Ksawera Michalska writes about its progress:

Dear Benefactors,
I would love to inform you that on February 3 the big renovation of our clinic "Our Lady of Hope" finally started, and it happened with full steam. We were really looking forward to this moment, because the appearance of the buildings was quite bad and this must have affected our patients and us. Now our clinic is getting beautiful, and at a rapid pace...
On May 10 we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of our clinic, so this cheers up the staff to do more, and I trust they will make it in time.
During the year, many thousands of patients pass through our clinic. More than 30,000 people a year come in for consultations alone. Unfortunately, there are more and more malnourished children, and more and more with acute malnutrition.... Together, i.e. children with moderate and acute malnutrition, it is as many as several thousand cases a year. We nourish them and bring them out of this condition slowly, teaching the mothers of our young patients first, and so we put our emphasis on the formation of parents. Together with them we cook ordinary and nutritious soups, various "mash" from local vegetables, with flour we make from rice, corn, peanuts, beans and sugar. We spend a lot of money on powdered milk, which we mix with oil and sugar to make this mush, which is very nutritious. We do what we can to help these children, counting very much on God's help, which passes and comes through human hearts.
We also allocate a lot of funds for the treatment of AIDS patients, whom we have been taking care of for 25 years. Everything for them is free, because often these are mothers - widows with several children, who are themselves sick, and among the children, some also contracted the disease during pregnancy...
We also have many patients that we support while they are being treated in the hospital, when our help is not enough. Many are treated for free. There would be many stories here...
So in such a situation it was impossible for us to carry out the much needed renovation by ourselves, and so we sought help.
May our merciful Lord reward you with great generosity for such a tremendously important and necessary help for us, for our patients. God bless you all Dear Benefactors!

With prayer +
sister Ksawera Michalska OSU Senegal