(ANS – Madrid) – In a ceremony held on Friday 9 March in the Palace of Congresses in the Park of the Nations in Madrid the Salesian Missions received the Alma 2012 Award. Others receiving awards were  the tenor Placido Domingo, Unicef, the athlete Oscar Pistorius and the Spanish Emergency Military Services. All the winners were thus recognised for their contribution to society.

Presenting the Alma 2012 Award for International Cooperation the Hon Ana Botella, Mayor of Madrid, praised the work of the Salesian Missions: “for over a century present in all the dark corners of the world... where there is need for someone to teach, educate and encourage the young generations.”

Promoted by the Realmadrid Foundation the award recognises the work of the Salesian Missions for over 135 years in 131 countries thoughout the world. Schools, reception centres, youth centres for healthy free-time activities... are all places used every day by thousands of children and young people.

Fr Agustín Pacheco SDB Director of the Salesian Missions Office in Spain thanked the Foundation for making this award which recognises “many years of experience, during which the Salesian Missions have carried out an intense work of promotion and support, with human and material resources, of Salesian projects beyond Spanish shores.” Fr Pacheco also emphasised the commitment of the Salesian Missions to continue to carry out its own work  so as to “promote the improvement of the living conditions of girls and boys and young people in disadvantaged social and economic situations” saying that “the education and care of these needy young people is  fundamental in contributing to the development of peoples.”

He thanked Real Madrid for their collaboration in various projects and said that “it is only right in the first place to extend this award to all the Salesians and to their co-workers who are contributing their hard work in the 131 countries in which we operate” and to the other missionaries, helpers, volunteers, sponsors of various projects and privare donors who make possible whatever the Salesian Missions are doing for children and young people in difficulty.

One example of the work undertaken by the Salesian Missions are the Socio-Sports Schools the result of the collaboration with the Realmadrid Foundation which started in 2010. Since then socio-sports schools have been opened  in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Funchal (Portugal), Dakar and Thies (Senegal), Porto-Novo and Cotonou (Benin), Lungi (Sierra Leone), Kara (Togo), Ashaiman and Tema (Ghana) and Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). Shortly new schools will be opened in other areas. Uniting all these organisations is the commitment to see that sport, and in particular football can be a means for the integration of the most disadvantaged children.

Published 12/03/2012