2019 Caritas Award

June 2019 Switzerland

Tomorrow Foundation was invited to the 2019 Caritas Award Ceremony, held on Wednesday June 12 at the KKL Lucerne.

Caritas Award is granted every year to people who have accomplished extraordinary things in the social field, cooperation development or regarding inter-culturalism.  Award winners are characterized by innovative and sustainable commitment for which they need political and social support.

This year, the award was granted to Mrs Lucimar Correa and Brother Adailson Dos Santos from the Brasilian organization São Martinho, fighting for youth protection and rights in Brasil since more than 30 years, especially in Rio de Janeiro. In favelas, many kids live in very precarious conditions, sleeping in the street, not eating properly, exposed to drugs and violence. They do not have any hope for education and employment. Some of them even do not exist officially for the country since parents are unknown and no birth certificate has been ever recorded by the administration.

In this situation, São Martinho is helping them to have a professional training, get small administrative job, and doing activities with social workers, volunteers, psychologists and lawyers.

The ceremony was punctuated by federating speeches from Mariangela Wallimann-Bornatico, President of Caritas Switzerland, Pascale Baeriswyl, State Secretary of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Hugo Fasel, Director of Caritas Switzerland. The audience could also enjoyed colorful music from a Swiss-Brasilian international band.

Caritas Switzerland is an NGO preventing, decreasing and fighting poverty in more than 30 countries of the world with the help of the international Caritas network consisting of 165 organisations worldwide. With its projects in development cooperation, it works in the areas of food security, water, climate protection, disaster prevention and migration as well as education for children and adults.