Comboni magazine gives Sr. Angélique an award

Sr. Angélique Namaika
with Fr. Ramón Eguíluz,
a Comboni missionary
and provincial superior
of Spain.

Sister Angélique Namaika from Congo is the dark angel who works with the victims of the atrocities committed by Joseph Kony, the brutal leader of the LRA (The Lord’s Resistance Army), which forced tens of thousands of people to flee and abandon their homes and their families, often losing their children who were turned into small soldiers.

“Africa is the continent with the largest number of refugees and Mundo Negro cannot stand back on this issue. Some of our missionaries live in areas marked by refugee camps and constant migration and displacement to which millions of Africans are forced”. Fr. Jaime Calvera, Comboni, director of Mundo Negro, was in charge of presenting the XXVI Meeting on Anthropology and Mission, on “Refugees: voices for hope,” during which Sister Angélique was given the Fraternity Award 2013, which consists of a sum of money for € 10.000.

Sister Angélique, “symbol of the work that the Church carries out in one of the most dangerous places on the African continent and in the midst of people – the refugees – whom one too easily tends forget,” has recently met with Pope Francis and prayed with him for the conversion of Joseph Kony. “I told the Pope that I was not coming to meet him alone, but as a representative of many women and children. He encouraged me to continue working for the refugees”.

Sister Angélique, who has experienced first-hand the terrible plight of a refugee, in the last fall had also received the prestigious Nansen Refugee Award conferred by UNHCR.