(Aleteia) Fr. Matthieu Dauchez is a French priest who works in Manila, Philippines, as the director of the ANAK-Tnk foundation, which helps street children in the poorest areas of the capital city. The foundation has already helped more than 50,000 children in its 22 years of existence.
The organization takes in children who live on the street, abandoned by their families and by society, who live by begging, foraging in garbage dumps, and sometimes by prostitution. These children are often victims of abuse, drugs, and crime. Fr. Matthieu and his team of volunteers seek the children out and invite them to the foundation, where they receive lodging, food, education, and other forms of support.
In an interview with France 24, Fr. Dauchez explains that working with these children is harder than it sounds.
“They have been rejected by their own parents or their own family. They are deeply wounded,” he says. They prefer to stay on the streets, which have become their refuge. Building trust is the first step.
ANAK-Tnk helps the children to become aware of their human dignity as children of God, and to learn new and better perspectives on life. Their labor is bearing fruit; one of the children they helped, Darwin Ramos, is a candidate for beatification.
During his 2015 visit to the Philippines, Pope Francis met with approximately 300 children whom the foundation has helped.
Tej Francis
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