Volunteer work as a commitment lived above all “in the first person, in the feminine”–this is what motivated FOCSIV to bestow its International Volunteer Awards this year on three women: Anna Dedola, manager of the Cope Project in Iringa, Tanzania; Khadija Tirha, a Civil Service volunteer in Italy’s Piedmont region, and Alganesc Fessaha, president of Gandhi Charity. “Different ages, different lands of origin, different cultures, but a single common denominator,” said FOCSIV president Gianfranco Cattai at the awards ceremony.
“These women have made the choice to dedicate themselves to guaranteeing and protecting the right of every person to life and human dignity. It is this profound value that underlies all volunteer work: commitment to the promotion of integral human development by serving one’s neighbor on a daily basis, at home or abroad, in whatever one’s walk of life.”
