Int’l Rescuers Day 2019 contemporary rescuers award to Azezet H. Kidane

This year WAS-NS presented the award for contemporary rescuers to Azezet H. Kidane, known as "Sister Aziza", for saving lives and performing humanitarian activities around the world. Locally, she has been active on behalf of disadvantaged populations in Israel and Palestine.

The event was chaired by Spiritual Center director Hezzi Schouster. At the award ceremony, Prof. Yair Auron, conceiver and initiator of the international rescuers’ garden, spoke about the garden and about the award. Yair was followed by Samah Salaime (Communications and Development Director) and Ran Goldstein (Director of Physicians for Human Rights) who spoke about her important contribution to PHR’s work. Finally Azezet H. Kidane (Sister Aziza) herself spoke (watch video below). The speeches were interspersed with two songs by members of the Primary School choir. At the end of the ceremony, a plaque in honor of Sr. Aziza was unveiled and the guests were served with a light meal. Sr. Aziza was also shown the current exhibition at the Oasis Art Gallery, "Violence against Women" by the gallery curator, Dyana Shaloufi.

Sister Aziza speaking

More about the Prize and about Sister Aziza

This year’s 2019 Rescuers Award recipient is the nun Azezet H. Kidane, known as "Sister Aziza," who was born in Eritrea and is now a British citizen.

The award is given by the International Rescuers’ Garden, which was established in the Arab-Jewish cooperative village of Wahat al-Salam Neve Shalom to honor individuals and groups who have rescued people in distress and even risked (sometimes lost) their lives in order to save others. The award is given to groups or individuals of any gender, nationality, religion, minority or people in the world, on the basis of their having made such a choice.

History teaches us that during acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, or even individual cases of killing, only a small minority of people choose to endanger their lives or future, or the lives and futures of their loved ones, in order to stand up against atrocities and save people whose lives are in danger. The act of rescuing is a noble and lofty act that inspires inspiration and honor and signals to us: take responsibility and act, and do not let the slaughter or destruction take place before your eyes.

At the scene of every crime there will always be individuals, "silent heroes," rescuers who choose to act and save lives, knowing the dangers; who risk their lives and the lives of their loved ones and sometime even pay with their lives. By their actions, such men and women rescuers save not only the lives of the survivors, but also the soul of all mankind. These are people we must not forget – we must rather draw attention to them. This is not just for their own sake: it is for the good of humanity, for the upholding of lofty values, and for the benefit of future generations.

Sister Aziza has been in Israel/Palestine for nine years with the "Comboni Sisters" organization, volunteering for Physicians for Human Rights, active in educational projects, working to establish kindergartens for the Jahalin Bedouins in the West Bank, and accompanying their struggle to remain on their lands. She has specialized in finding solutions and psychological and material help for citizens and foreign nationals, refugees and asylum seekers left without recourse. In her childhood in Eritrea she was exposed to the plight of leprosy patients. After graduating from her studies in Ethiopia, she was inspired by a film about leprosy in Sudan to become a nun and devote her life to treating those who suffer from the disease.

Sister Aziza worked in Sudan with rebels against the regime between 1989-2001. After being expelled by the authorities in Khartoum, she moved to England where she studied tropical medicine and became a British citizen. Later she crossed into South Sudan from Uganda and risked her life in helping various population groups there. She has paid a personal price for her work: on account of her long-standing activities for Eritrean refugees around the world, her Eritrean citizenship was revoked and her passport confiscated.

She arrived in Israel in 2009 through the organization of which she is a member, the Comboni Sisters, and with eleven other nuns inhabits a building in the Al Azariya neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The building houses a kindergarten for the neighborhood children.

Sister Aziza volunteers two days a week at Physicians for Human Rights in Tel Aviv, two days a week with the Bedouins of the Jahalin tribe in the West Bank and the rest of the time she takes care of women and men who come to her for advice and assistance.

Sister Aziza does not know how long she will continue to live here. She believes in education and its ability to bring about change. She is aware of the complex reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She works tirelessly and devotes her life to others. "I feel it’s my duty to help people who are less fortunate than me," she says. Modestly, without any motive of personal gain and with great compassion toward all human beings, she dedicates her life to caring for the needy - both individuals and groups - whether these are rebels in Sudan, Bedouins in the West Bank, Palestine or asylum seekers in Israel.

GARIWO (Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide) organization mentions the event in the context of the many cities that organized ceremonies to honour "new righteous" / contemporary rescuers: Day of the Righteous 2019 in Italy and worldwide

Eternity web journal published a report on the event in WAS-NS and on Sister Aziza :
Human Rights prize for rebel nun