“She is a true heroine,” declared Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in announcing that Sr. Angélique Namaika, a Congolese Roman Catholic nun, will receive this year’s Nansen Award for her decade-long work in the remote town of Dungu, in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Center for Reintegration and Development opened and run by Sr. Angélique has changed the lives of more than 2000 women and girls who were forced from their homes by armed groups. The major part of these victims recount stories of rape, forced labor, killings and sexual violence.
According to Sr. Angélique, thanks to this award “more people will be able to receive the help they need. I will never stop my efforts to give them back a feeling of hope and offer them the chance to make a fresh start.” Sr. Angélique will receive the award on 30 September in Geneva, Switzerland. On 2 October she will come to Rome to meet Pope Francis.