The Poor Have a Name. Silent Children's Mission is Dedicated to Serving Them
Summary
Joan and Andrew Simone founded the Silent Children s Mission, a charity that provides food and medical supplies to children in developing countries. They are a devout Catholic couple who have dedicated their lives to this cause and are truly a holy couple.
Transcript
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rest effect children are slave children. So presently in Haiti, 10% of children are slaves.
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And I remember the very first time I heard about that, I was really shocked and angry and
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judgmental, to be honest. And Mother Teresa always says, if you judge people, you don't have time to
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love them. Very often pro-lifers, Catholics who want to be faithful to the teaching of the church,
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really have to search far and wide to find charities, especially charities that deal
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with overseas, that are faithfully pro-life, that are faithfully Catholic. Very hard to find at
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LifeSites. We've profiled many of these groups that aren't truly that, but we found one for you.
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It's called Silent Children's Mission. This is your Don Henry Weston show. Stay tuned.
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Let's begin as we always do with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father,
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Your mission is beautiful. Why don't you tell us something about it?
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Silent Children's Mission was granted charitable status in 2011, but it was started earlier before
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then by Joan and Andrew Simone. And Dr. Andrew Simone is a Toronto dermatologist. He still has
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practice in Toronto and his wife, Joan. And I think that today is kind of a sad day for me because we
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just heard this morning that Joan has gone to heaven. And she was very beloved to our charity.
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Her and Andrew founded it as a sister charity to Canadian Food for Children. So I'm sure that many
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of your viewers might know Canadian Food for Children. Absolutely.
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So in the late 70s, early 80s, Joan and Andrew had a conversion experience. You may have heard
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their story, but I'll just tell you a little bit about it. They felt that God was asking them to give
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everything away to the poor. And so they started to work with Mother Teresa. And as a matter of fact,
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Andrew was the treasurer for the Missionaries of Charity for North America. And so they started
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working very closely with Mother Teresa, many letters back and forth, and they met her on many
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occasions. And they were sending containers of food and clothing and medical supplies to her sisters.
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And it got to be so much that they couldn't accept anymore. And so with her blessing, Joan and Andrew
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started Canadian Food for Children, and they presently still work out of the Mississauga warehouse,
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where they send almost every day a container, a 40-foot transport truck of donations to many
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different developing countries. But in around 2004, 2005, they decided that there were many
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missions that couldn't accept containers, whether geographically or for many other reasons.
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And they started sending money to help missionaries with school fees and health care costs,
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things like that. So they'd send the money directly. And they decided that, you know,
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it was really speaking to them that these children had no voice. That's why they named it Silent
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Children. And so later on, Dr. Simone, I was volunteering with Canadian Food for Children. Dr. Simone asked
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if I would be the executive director and seek charitable status. And that's kind of how it started.
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But we run it very much like Mother Teresa, because that's how Canadian Food for Children is. So
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we rely on divine providence for our donations. We spend zero on fundraising. So as much as we
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possibly can, we send directly to the missions. And the people that we work with are Catholic
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priests, nuns, and lay people, mostly consecrated. And right now, Silent Children's in about 12
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different countries, developing countries. Nobody gets paid at Silent Children. So it's all volunteer,
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just like Canadian Food for Children, no one gets paid. And even our mission trips are self-paid.
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I think many, many know Canadian Food for Children. Dr. Andrew Simone has been so faithful and so wonderful
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in terms of providing pro-life, pro-family Canadians with someone they could give to without thinking
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twice. His charity was such that it was so self-giving and so faithful that no one ever had to have a
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question about Canadian Food for Children. And knowing that he and Joan founded the Silent Children's
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Mission is just beautiful. And it's something else that people can give to without worry.
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Joan's passing that just happened today. I know people are seeing this a little bit later, but
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let's all continue to pray for the Simone family, for Andrew particularly, and amazing work that
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they've done. Very, very special couple. I mean, just deeply Catholic, holy, following. You know,
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I don't know anybody that gives all their money away to the poor. Like, they live on divine
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providence. They rely on people to even the food that they eat. So it's just remarkable. They're a
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remarkable couple. And Joan is a, was a very, very holy woman. Tell us about Silent Children's Mission.
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We'd love to hear perhaps some of the stories that you might have about what you do, what folks do with
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the funds they receive. Silent Children really accompanies our missionaries. So we're really very,
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very careful about not telling anybody what they need to do, but letting the missionaries lead.
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You know, I don't know if you've read Target Africa at Kyocha. Target Africa. She talks about,
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she's a very pro-life woman, but she talks about how, you know, people in the West go to African
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countries where she's from, and they tell people, you know, what they should be doing.
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Right. I've seen the, I've seen a film from Uju. So it was really on the same theme.
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Yes, exactly. And so that really speaks to me because we in the West need to be more humble.
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We need to be culturally humble in how we approach people because they know their people and they know
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their needs more than anybody. And so we here in the West, I feel should be accompanying them,
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giving. We have a lot and we should share, at least as Catholics, we should, right?
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Yesterday was September 26th and the gospel was about Lazarus sitting at the gate. And I was
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listening to Bishop Barron's talk yesterday and he was saying that the church is to evangelize,
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to worship God and to serve the poor. And, and he talked about how Lazarus was named,
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but the rich person wasn't. And that was really profound for me too, because I think we need to
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really give a face to the poor. And I'd love to share some stories of some children that we've
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worked with, if that's okay with you and how, you know, cultural humility is really a way that I
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think we need to approach helping others in other countries. And so I remember the first time I went
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to Haiti and, and that is, you know, a tragic country, you know, if it isn't a, an earthquake,
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it'll be something else. Right. But I met through one, through one of the members of our, on our board
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of directors who spends a lot of his days, at least half the year in Haiti, helping the poor.
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And he told me about this little boy who I had the great privilege of meeting at one point,
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but he taught me a lot about resilience. And that's what we need to see in these children
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and these families. They have a lot of resilience. I don't think that I could do or say what they do
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sometimes. So it was when I first learned about rest effect children. Have you ever heard of that?
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Rest effect children are slave children. So presently in Haiti, 10% of children are slaves.
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And I remember the very first time I heard about that, I was really shocked and angry and judgmental,
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to be honest. And mother Teresa always says, if you judge people, you don't have time to love them.
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And that, that quote always sticks with me because my first thought was how could a mother sell her
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child. But then when I went there and, and I see the poverty and I understand the depth of sorrow that
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a mother must be feeling when she sees her children starving and her only way out is maybe to sell her
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child to maybe someone who has more money because in her mind, she's thinking that at least her child
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will be fed. And it doesn't always work out that way, of course, but it gives you a deeper understanding
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of where these mothers are coming from. People in developing countries, the mothers, they love their
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children just like we do. And when they die, they grieve just as, as much as we do. So I, and I think we
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forget that. I really do. But anyways, I was able to meet this little boy named Dustin, who was a rest
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effect child. And he was living in this home and they made him carry bricks all day. And he was
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maybe at the time about 10 years old. So he, he worked all day. He was given some food. He slept
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outside. If it was raining, he was allowed to sleep inside on the kitchen floor. He was treated very
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poorly. And so the person that I'm talking about on our board of directors tried very hard to convince
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this, these people to let him take this little boy Dustin to the market. And eventually he was able
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to convince them. So he, he took dust in the market and he says, you've got $5 and you can spend the
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money on anything that you want. And so he spent $2 on a belt. And when he asked him why Dustin
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purchased a belt, he said, because now my clothes will fit me. Because of course he only ever had
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hand me down clothes, clothes that were too baggy or, and, and then my friend said, well, you have
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$3 left. What would you like to spend it on? And so he said, well, here's $1. I'd like you to give
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that dollar to the church because God has been good to me. And he thought, okay, you have $2 left.
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And he thought in his mind, for sure, he's going to buy candy or a toy or something that a typical
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child would buy. And he said, no, no, I want you to keep it because one day I'm going to see my mom
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again and she's going to need it. And I just thought, wow, these children are incredible,
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right? Incredibly resilient and their faith in God is profound. So that's Dustin. And I have so many
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stories like that. You know, I remember, I think it was the second visit 2007 to Malawi and sister
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Bernadette, the sister that we work with, collaborate with. She said, there's a beautiful woman. She has
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nine children and she's helped at our hospital for so many years, but she's dying of AIDS and she's
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really worried. And I'd like you to meet her. And so we went over to the hospital and I met this woman
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and she was very sad. She had an eight-year-old girl whose name is Thokozani. And she was so worried
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about what was going to happen to her children because of course her husband had abandoned her.
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And I promised her that I would pay the school fees for Thokozani. Now, presently, Thokozani is in her
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third year of nursing school. And that's because of Silent Children benefactors. The benefactors
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help with paying for school fees because as we know, education raises the level of health.
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It helps people to come out of poverty. And if you ask any of our missionaries, the number one thing
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they always say is school fees. Could you help with school fees? Right? You want to help a child to get
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out of poverty, then educate them. And that comes straight from them. We help with healthcare costs.
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There's times when the sisters will let us know that, you know, they were able to help
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a mother who wanted to have an abortion. And they encouraged her not to. And they needed help with
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that mom and we gladly helped, you know. So there's many, many instances, but certainly listening to our
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missionaries. Another project that we do that we're very, very happy with is our farm project.
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Ekiocha in Target Africa talks about, you know, the best way to help people is to help them to help
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themselves. And so we have three farm projects that are doing very well. One is with Sister Bernadette
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again in Malawi. And this was her idea. She says, I would really like to have a farm where, you know,
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the people can raise chickens and grow food and we can teach them how to do that. And I said, well,
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where do we start? And so we got a beautiful benefactor who donated $10,000. And Sister was able
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to purchase 70 acres. And that's under the name of the Sisters of Charity of Ottawa, which are all,
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you know, they're all native to Malawi, no longer sisters from Ottawa, actually, but that's where
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they originally came from. And so she purchased these 70 acres and Father Michael, our spiritual
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director, and I went there and he was blessing this land. And I remember looking around and thinking,
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my goodness, I can't even keep a house plant alive. But I'm looking at 70 barren acres, at least they
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looked barren to me, you know, very dry. And I thought, what are they going to do with this land?
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But, you know, fast forward to today, and there's a big house with 2000 chickens that produce eggs for
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the poor children in the villages, and hire local villagers to do that. They were trained how to do it.
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There's pigs, there's acres and acres of mango trees and banana trees, and maize, which is their
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main staple. And now presently, our latest project on this farm is a home. And it's just about built.
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It was a little delayed during the pandemic, they had a hard time finding supplies, etc. But it's it's
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going to be finished really in the next week or so. And this is a place where young people can come
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and stay and learn agricultural skills. So it's just wonderful. But this was all led by Sister
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Bernadette Densani. And we accompanied her by providing her the funds.
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Give.LifeSiteNews.com. And now back to the video.
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I wanted to let all the LifeSiteers know that there is a LifeFunder set up for Silent Children's
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Mission. You can go to LifeFunder.com and support this great work there. You know, I loved what you
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said, Frankie, about being culturally sensitive. Pope Benedict talked about a kind of cultural
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imperialism, where the West, particularly actually North America and Europe, have thought to
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foist their own cultural impressions, which are really anti-life and anti-family, upon the third
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world, and kind of do it holus bolus. So much so that sometimes development loans and things like
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that are withheld if they refuse to follow the cultural dictates of the West. And it's so beautiful
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that, especially in Uju Ekinosha's work, she's pointed this out about how inappropriate this is.
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So we try really hard at Silent Children's Mission to accompany our missionaries, to learn from them.
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And we certainly have. I mean, we've been so blessed to work with amazing people. We have another
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missionary in Liberia, Father Samuel, and he's a spirit and priest. It was interesting because one
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of our benefactors, she called me up on a Saturday morning. She was surprised that I answered the phone.
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And she said, I was wondering if we could give a donation, but if it could honor St. Joseph.
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And I said, I know our missionaries, and I know none of them will say no to that. She said, but we
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wanted, you know, some kind of plaque or something that says that this was built in honor of St.
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Joseph. And I said, absolutely. So I contacted Father Samuel, and I said, this woman would like
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a well to be built. And it was funny, because when I was chatting with her on the phone,
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she said, I was reading your newsletter. And, and I noticed that you've built a water well,
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how much does that cost? And I said, around 5000 Canadian dollars, depending on which country.
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And she said, and it was silence, actually. And then she said, that's the exact amount that I had
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promised to St. Joseph. So that was like, there's all these little God moments that happen with this
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charity, of course. And so I called Father Samuel, and he said, absolutely, absolutely. And so in the
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last two years, we've had several anonymous donors who have read about, you know, a well to St.
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Joseph. And we have now, I think there's, we're just finishing off the fifth well, the Holy Spirit,
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right? We rely on divine providence, and that's the Holy Spirit, speaking to the hearts of our
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benefactors, and, and responding. On this feast of the North American martyrs, I think it's a perfect
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day for people to expend a little something to go to lifefinder.com to support Silent Children's
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Mission. In the great example of the North American martyrs, they gave of themselves all
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French professors who came to Canada and Northern United States in order to evangelize here, to give
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of themselves to the Huron Indians. And it was such a beautiful thing. And they were martyred for doing
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it, but they suffered joyfully in order to serve their brothers and sisters here. Thank you, Frankie,
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for, for your mission and for the great work of Silent Children's Mission.
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Thank you so much for the opportunity to share what we're doing and, and what, you know, Joan and
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Andrew had intended and the, the, on the inspiration of Mother Teresa. So thank you so much.
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Thank you. And what's your website so people can go and check it out?
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Beautiful. Thank you so much. And God bless you.
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And God bless all of you. We'll see you next time.
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Hi, everyone. This is John Henry Weston. We hope you enjoyed this video. And to see more like this,
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