This year the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in Salzburg awarded the “Tolerance Award” to the Argentinian-Slovenian Lazarist Father Pedro Opeka CM . Opeka , who works as a missionary in Madagascar helped make the life of about 100,000 Malagasies more dignified, through several projects. Father Opeka , who works as a missionary in Madagascar, helped make the life of about 100,000 Malagasies more dignified, through several projects.
The prize which the Academy of Salzburg has been awarding since 1997 to people or institutions of great merit for their work throughout the years for human rights as well as for the respectful coexistence beyond the boundaries of nationality and religion, was awarded in Ljubljana at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences e Arts .
The President of the Academy Felix Unger praised the lifelong work of Fr. Opeka .
Father Pedro Opeka , born in 1948 from Slovenian parents who had emigrated to Buenos Aires , joined the Congregation of the Lazarists in 1966. From 1968 to 1970 he studied theology at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana and at the Institut Catholique in Paris. In 1976 he went to Madagascar, where he is still working.
On that island Opeka preferably devoted himself to work among the poorest of the capital Antananarivo . Many live in the dumps . Fr. Opeka cares for the children in a special way. It is to these poor people that thisreligious man gave work and education and, with these, human dignity.
Opeka is the founder of ” Akamasoa ” ( good friend ) , an organization of self-help which tries to bring together poverty-stricken people and give them back confidence in themselves . His efforts resulted in jobs, neighborhood support groups, houses built by the poor people themselves, schools, gyms and churches. More than 100,000 islanders, among the poorest of them, are involved in the program and many of them are from the villages. More than 20,000 people live in the new ” Akamasoa ” houses. Opeka’s work also means inculturation in the Malagasy environment.
Many organizations as well as many believers in Europe, especially in Slovenia and Carinthia , support this activity . Among other things, the ” village of Carinthia ” in Madagascar came to life and, there, many children find their home and an education.
In 2012 Father Opeka was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Peace . He has received several praises for his work so far , among which the ones from the Slovenian Episcopal Conference.
Tags: Akamasoa, Madagascar, Opeka
