Don Claudio Burgio, the Caiani family, Blessing Okoedion, Sister Nabila Saleh and Franco Vaccari will be awarded
There will also be recognition in memory of Sister Luisa dell’Orto, killed in Haiti
MERATE – The award ceremony will take place on Sunday 23 June, at 9pm, at the Teatro del Collegio Villoresi in Merate third edition of the “Fire inside – Women and men who change the world” Awardestablished by the Archdiocese of Milan and by Elikya, a social promotion association that has been operating in various areas of the civil and religious world since 2012.
Recognizing those who, with their generous commitment to the good of the individual and society, have become witnesses of hope, illuminating the path of those they have met: this is the meaning of the Award, whose title comes from a homily by the Archbishop of Milan, mgr. Mario Delpini, which also became a piece of music and a show dramatized by Elikya.
As already happened in the two previous editions, also for the 2024 edition of “Fire Inside” a commission made up of journalists, writers, university professors, religious people and representatives of the intercultural and interreligious world has identified the people to whom the Prize will be awarded, this year significantly made by some artisans of Bethlehem.
The winners, in the presence of the Archbishop, will be: don Claudio Burgiofounder and president of the Kayrós Association as well as chaplain of the Beccaria juvenile prison in Milan; Carlo Alberto Caiani and his wife Sara Pedroniwho with their three children have been welcoming foster children at the Somaschi fathers’ farm in Vercurago for almost twenty years; Blessing Okoediona Nigerian woman who survived trafficking who denounced her tormentors and is now engaged as a cultural mediator and interpreter; Sister Nabila Saleh who lived for thirteen years in Gaza and who, due to the war with Israel, was a refugee in the Latin parish for six months, taking care of the most vulnerable under the bombings; In the end Franco Vaccari, president and founder of “Rondine Cittadella della Pace”, an organization committed to overcoming armed conflicts in the world.
A memorial award will then be dedicated to Sister Luisa Dell’Ortokilled in 2022 in the capital of Haiti where she was the backbone of “Casa Carlo”, a center that gathers hundreds of street children, rebuilt in 2010 after the earthquake that devastated the Caribbean island.
The evening – with free admission – will be animated by the Elikya Choir, an ensemble made up of 50 choristers of 16 different nationalities, led by director Raymond Bahati, who proposes a mix of different artistic forms. A reality that the Merate public had already been able to get to know and appreciate during the concert promoted a few months ago after the peace march.
The initiative is sponsored by the Municipality of Merate and is supported by Confcommercio Lecco, the Lecco Community Foundation and the Elemaster Group.
