Fr Shay talks at German “Fair Breakfast”

Father Shay spoke at a “Fair Breakfast” at the Mitterfelden parish community centre about the often shocking lives of the children from the Philippines and about his ongoing fight for justice which began in 1974 when he founded children rights organisation “Preda”. Many visitors accepted the invitation of the Worldshop-Team, as well as mayor Hans Eschlberger and some students of the middle school in Mitterfelden.

This article was originally published in the local newspaper of Ainring, Germany. Click here to read the original published article in German.

Together with the Preda theatre-group AKBAY, the human rights speaker Father Shay Cullen spent two days on a presentation tour through Germany and Austria. After the talk, Fr Cullen left with many donations including one for the amount of €1,250 for the boys and girls in the Preda homes. Fr Cullen also received donations from the Worldshop Mitterfelden which donated €500, the Rottmayr-Highschool, Laufen which donated €300, and an anonymous donor who donated €200. Funds were also raised on the day with €250 being collected by the “Fair Breakfast” audience.

Initially, the Filipino guests particularly wanted to see the store in Rott am Inn who were the pioneers of the production of a new Fair Trade chocolate and Preda-Mango product which is completely and fairly produced as the “BGL-Landkreisschokolade”. 20 per cent of every chocolate bar sold is donated to the projects of the organisation “People’s Recovery Empowerment and Development Assistance” for the improvement, strengthening and development support of the society.

Of course, as a record of this special visit, Fr Cullen was able to sign the guestbook of the parish, which would like to become a recognised “Fair Trade Parish”. After a breakfast with fairly purchased products of the region and from the world shop, Shay Cullen – who is now 47 years a missionary in the Philippines – gave an insight into the Filipino daily routine and the projects which are supported by the selling of the Preda-Mango products. Fellow priest Wernher Bien stepped in as a translator.

Cullen mentioned that the indigenous people are poor but they have good values. The men are strong and take care of the necessary supplies for their families by climbing up trees and cultivating the land. The families lived in small cottages made out of bamboo and grass. They have been “fully ignored” by the government. With his organisation he is helping those families to produce handicraft products.

In the mountains of the indigenous people grows a special type of mango. Since Preda pays the indigenous people a good and fair price for their mangos and also pays for those mangos which do not look outwardly like the perfect mango, the farmers started harvesting all their mangos. They used to let them rot, because the wholesalers just paid 5 Peso per kilo of mangos, so the work at harvest was not worth it. Nowadays, the peeling of the mangos Preda buys gives a thousand young women a safe job.

Shay Cullen also supports the people by providing legal support for these people as they fight their land rights against mining companies who seek to put profit before the well being of the community or the environment. The farmers were taught in organic-biologic farming. Because the fees for the nature inspectors also need to be paid, the really poor indigenous people are not able to produce organic-products because of these fees. “This is something to really think about” the Irish priest said. As motivation, there was a much appreciated bonus, in the form of a rickshaw which the fathers could use to bring their children to school and as a taxi in the town.

The stories about the social projects shocked many listeners of the audience. The girls of the Preda girl’s project often became the minors of domestic violence; they escaped from their homes and were kidnapped at the age of 14 or 15 years. The girls were forced to work in sexbars where they have to serve customers from rich countries, as well as from Germany.“Every year, about 100,000 Filipino children get sexually abused” Shay Cullen reported and clarified, the “big business” of the sexual abuse of children is an international problem.

Fr Cullen told of the way in which Preda rehabilitates its young people. With special therapy, Preda helps these children to lose their anger and supports the criminal prosecution of the sex tourist who indecently assaulted or sexually abused minors. The development minister Dr. Gerd Müller promised in a meeting to help the building of the children’s homes in the Philippines.

Another project of his organisation saves children who were illegally put in jails by the authorities. In doing this, they were able to hide some of the social problems from the Pope. After a big demonstration in Manila and the reports in the media, the government was put under pressure. “The hate towards Preda is big,” said Fr Cullen.