The magazine Mundo Negro of the Comboni Fathers will give, next Saturday, 23 February, the “Mundo Negro a la Fraternidad 2007” award to the Argentine missionary Pedro Opeka, a Vincentian Father, according to IVICOM news service.
This prize acknowledges the work of Father Opeka in the cooperation for the development of the Madagascan people. In the more than thirty years this Argentine missionary has been living in Madagascar, he succeeded in changing a dump in the city of Akamasoa where almost 20,000 people live. Now there are more than 7,000 pupils not counting the day care centers and formation centers.
Moreover, he established trade schools for carpentry and mechanics that form and provide work to the young and trade schools of sewing and crafts where women not only can learn a skill, but also can earn an income that helps them to survive. Akamasoa is now an example of cooperation and solidarity.
The work that Father Opeka is carrying out in Madagascar prompted Slovenia and Monaco to formally propose this missionary for the Nobel Peace Prize .
Father Opeka will receive the Mundo Negro a la Fraternidad 2007 Award during the 20th meeting of Anthropology and Mission organized by the Comboni Fathers under the theme “Cooperating, Serving, Sharing and Loving” that will take place in Madrid on 23-24 February.
More information on Father Opeka’s work is available at www.perepedro.com.
Madrid, Spain, 18 February 2008
Trackbacks/Pingbacks