The international prize Abba Melaku will reward a world personality
Abba Melaku is a ‘Reconeixement Ànima’ (Soul Recongnition) Prize of international prestige to be awarded to a world personality. The international prize ABBA MELAKU will reward a world personality, a relevant person, institution or community having made a significant contribution in the field of solidarity and for the wellbeing of society. It bears the name with which the missionary Ángel Olaran is known in Ethiopia. It means “Father Angel”, pointing to the many values that the missionary and the prize-winner will have in common.
Somebody significant and an example to be followed, as Ángel Olaran is
The great esteem and the deserved recognition that Father Ángel Olaran has acquired in his twenty-five years of humanitarian work in Wukro (Ethiopia) will be enhanced by being related to the winners of this award. The relevant distinction will be a cause of pride, honour, and joy to the person or persons rewarded with this honorific distinction. Ángel Olaran has carried out an immense work of solidarity in Africa. He worked for twenty years in Tanzania, and was transferred in 1991 to Wukro. Here he converted a desert area of the Tigray making it habitable, helping to increase the expectation of life of thousands of orphans and other vulnerable people.
The ‘Abba Melaku’ prize means therefore to be a prestigious award to a world personality having deserved a general respect and admiration for his solidarity. Somebody significant and an example to be followed, as Ángel Olaran is, in order to achieve a better world.
An ambitious project to reward solidarity
The award ‘Abbu Melaku’ has been conceived as a point of reference in the world of solidarity beyond our frontiers. It will be delivered to the chosen person or persons during the 9th ‘Vetllada solidària (gathering of solidarity) Ángel Olaran’. It will first take place this year 2016, on Saturday November 5th at 9.30 pm. in the restaurant Resquitx, in Golmés (Lleida).
In this first edition the winner or winners will be selected by a jury formed by five relevant personalities who will take their decision after careful assessment. The members of this jury are: Marc Solsona Aixalà, Mayor of Mollerussa; Josep Maria Pujol i Gorné, President of the ‘Centre d’Iniciatives Solidàries Ángel Olaran’; Roberto Fernández Díaz, Rector of the University of Lleida; Joan Josep Guinovart i Cirera, founder and director of the ‘Institut de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona’; and Manuel Vila i Motlló, General Director for Cooperation and Development of the Generalitat de Catalunya.
The verdict in the 9ªth Vetllada Solidària Ángel Olaran
‘Reconeixement Ànima Abba Melaku’ is the international prize within the ‘Reconeixements Ànima Ciutat de Mollerussa’ focussed on two levels: the prizes ‘Reconeixements Ànima d’Honor Àngel Pujol’ focuses on the local level; it will reward between three and five organizations or people whose work or trajectory has had a significant relevance in the fields of association, culture, sport or solidarity. Everybody is welcome to propose candidates for these prizes. The winners will be selected by a commission formed by the Town Hall of Mollerussa and the Centre d’Iniciatives Solidàries Ángel Olaran.
The verdict will be made public during the same 9ªth Vetllada Solidària Ángel Olaran organized by the Centre d’Iniciatives Solidàries Ángel Olaran. Since it consists in a dinner for solidarity it is the ideal event both for its symbolical meaning and because it is dedicated to Àngel Pujol, who was the founder and President of the CIS. He devoted his mature years, until his very last day, to work for a better world.
The jury met to discuss questions related to the prize ‘Reconeixement Ànima Abba Melaku’
The members of the jury met on Fiday, September 23, to discuss questions related to the prize. Sr. Joan Josep Guinovart i Cirera, founder and director of the Institut de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona lamented being unable to attend.
The prizes ‘Reconeixements Ànima Ciutat de Mollerussa’ will constitute a great occasion to render homage and to keep alive the memory of Mollerussa’s son, Àngel Pujol i Gorné who, unfortunately, left us on January 2015. His name will from now on be associated to the efforts and sacrifices that so many people and institutions devote to the underprivileged. As well as to the many groups and associations of Mollerussa devoted to help and to promote a better relationship among people.
The prizes ‘Reconeixements Ànima Ciutat de Mollerussa’, supported by the Town Hall and the CIS, have been founded with the purpose to be a point of reference for solidarity both in the world at large and in our own area.
