austraLasia #2756 Peace Prize Award for Filipino confrere
MANILA: 25 November 2010 -- The founder of the street children
village of the FIN Province, Fr Rocky Evangelista, received the Gusi
Peace Prize for 2010 on 24 November at the Philippine International
Convention Center in Manila. “Gusi” is a Tagalog term for a prized
“antique jar of treasures.” Founded in 2002, the Gusi Peace Prize
is a Philippine-based foundation that recognizes “great achievers of
the world” who have contributed to world peace through the values
enshrined in the acronym “Gusi”: Godliness, Unification, Service, and
Internationalism. The Manila-based award aims to approximate the honor
and respect of the American Pulitzer or the Norwegian Nobel.
The 19 distinguished awardees for this year come
from Belgium (philanthropy), Bulgaria (science), Canada (social
services and philanthropy), China (humanitarianism), Ghana
(international diplomacy), Germany (organic farming), Greece (economics
and leadership), Italy (science), Jamaica (international diplomacy),
Norway (science), Paraguay (social justice), Romania (medicine), Sri
Lanka (peace process), Sweden (education), Thailand (science and human
values), USA (3 for environment and biodiversity, international law
enforcement and peace keeping, visual arts and art preservation)), and
the Philippines.
The Salesian work with the street children is
recognized by the Gusi Peace Prize for bringing peace by “nipping in
the bud” the life of violence among the deprived children of the
streets. In glittering rites attended by the diplomatic and
philanthropic community, Fr Rocky was understandably the most
applauded, being the lone Filipino and bringing along the 200 residents
of the street children village, all dressed in formal wear fit for the
occasion. They sang in four voices for the delegates during the welcome
dinner at the Officers Club of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
The first to give his short acceptance speech in the
huge convention hall packed with about 4,000 people, the founder of an
organization for the preservation of rain forests called the Rain Trust
Conservation Agreement, the American Mr David Plattner, acknowledged
the Salesian awardee, Fr Rocky, in public and declared: “We will be
friends for life.” _________________ AustraLasia is an
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Rome.
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