{"id":124336,"date":"2024-12-02T17:45:03","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T16:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cgfmanet.org\/infosphere\/premio-per-la-pace-2024-a-fma-missionaria\/"},"modified":"2024-12-05T18:59:16","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T17:59:16","slug":"peace-prize-2024-sister-flora-galbusera-fma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cgfmanet.org\/en\/infosphere\/peace-prize-2024-sister-flora-galbusera-fma\/","title":{"rendered":"Peace Prize 2024 Sister Flora Galbusera, FMA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rome (Italy).<\/strong> On 8 December 2024, the Auditorium of Casatenovo (Lecco), will host the awarding of the Prize for peace Graziella Fumagalli, Mother Erminia Cazzaniga, Sister Luisa Dell’Orto<\/em> edition 2024. Among the three winners, there is Sister Flora Galbusera, daughter of Mary Help of Christians, a 64-year-old missionary in Argentina<\/strong>, originally from Casatenovo.<\/p>\n

The award was established by the Municipal Administrations of Casatenovo, Lomagna, and Sirtori, with the collaboration of the Lecchese Committee for Peace and Cooperation among the Peoples, “to remember the figures of Graziella Fumagalli, Mother Erminia Cazzaniga, and Sister Luisa Dell’Orto who, with absolute dedication and spirit of self-sacrifice, dedicated their lives to the poorest up to the ultimate sacrifice<\/em>. The award aims to help promote a culture and models of coexistence based on values of solidarity and fraternity.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sabina Galbusera, niece of Sister Flora, responded to the Call for Proposals by applying together with a project of the House of Formosa “Our Lady of Hope<\/em>“, of Laura Vicu\u00f1a<\/em> Province (ARG), where Sister Flora worked for several years and is still remembered in the village of the natives “Qom”.<\/p>\n

Sister Flora Galbusera was born in Rimoldo di Valaperta, Casatenovo, on 29 May 1931<\/strong>. Involved in the life of the parish of Casatenovo since her adolescence, she knows the Salesian charism “by reading the Salesian Bulletin<\/em>” and decides to enter the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians at age 22. After my profession, “they asked me if I wanted to be a missionary”<\/em> – she recounts – “and I immediately said yes. I was 29 when I ‘flew’ to Argentina. It was December 1960.”<\/em><\/p>\n

In the Argentine Province of Our Lady of the Rosary<\/em>, she worked in the kitchen and laundry of the Salesian House of Villada (then Theologian) from 1961 to 1964, and was Animator of that Community from 1965 to 1970. She was an assistant to the novices (1971-1985) in the Novitiate of the Sacred Heart of Funes (Province of Santa Fe), much loved and remembered by the FMA novices of that time for her generous dedication, her spirit of prayer, missionary commitment in the formation of new generations. After that rich and prolonged experience, she was Animator of the Community, founded by her, Our Lady of Hope<\/em> in Formosa (1987-1996), a community that still today remembers with admiration the sacrifice of the beginnings of the work and the joyful patience in devoting herself to consolidate the presence of the FMA in the Community Center of the Nam Qom neighborhood.<\/p>\n

The simplicity, the fraternity and ability to proclaim God\u2019s love for the poorest among the poor made Sister Flora very happy in those years and still today is fruitful of fruits in the memory of the people. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The prize is a financial award that will go to the FMA House of Our Lady of Hope<\/em>, in support of the mission in the “Qom” community.<\/p>\n

Presence of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in Formosa <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians has been present in the city of Formosa since 24 March 1987.<\/strong> The foundation of the presence of Our Lady of Hope<\/em> is due to Sister Flora Galbusera, Animator of the Community, along with three Sisters. Thanks to the kindness, audacity, and missionary passion of Sister Flora, it has been possible to consolidate a<\/strong> pastoral presence among the aborigines of the native people of Qom with a systematic educative proposal. <\/strong>Formosa is one of the provinces with the highest poverty rate in the Country.<\/p>\n

Currently, the priority pastoral mission of the FMA Community continues to be the animation, management, and accompaniment of the Community Center “Mar\u00eda Auxiliadora” in the neighborhood of Namqom, composed of more than 5000 families. Sharing with the Qom ethnic group represents a challenge to interact with a different culture, deeply rich in ancestral values and affected by numerous realities that threaten their dignity.<\/p>\n

Currently, this population is undergoing strong processes of cultural change due to urbanization, unlike other native peoples who live in places still uncontaminated. They also live in a suburb of the city of Formosa, located in the extreme poverty zone.<\/p>\n

Faced with this reality, the Community Center offers the alternative of a healthy environment and human and spiritual growth<\/strong>. In network with other institutions, it manages a detachment of the Centro de Capacitaci\u00f3n Laboral Mar\u00eda Auxiliadora, which belongs to the Salesians of Don Bosco. Here children from 9 to 12 years old receive school support, as well as the teenagers of the Secondary School (from 13 to 17 years old) accompanied by the Sisters and volunteers. Workshops are also offered for young people and women with work opportunities. Another institution with which the FMA collaborates is the Ministry of the Community of the Government of Formosa, through a Child Development Center that offers nurseries for infants and children up to 4 years of age. Day care centers allow young mothers to leave their children in the care of Aboriginal community educators while they study.<\/p>\n

When the precariousness of the nutrition of children, adolescents, and young people became evident, offering breakfast and lunch became essential. To do so, the FMA turned to a funding program for community food services that belongs to the United Nations Development Plan, monitored by the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the Argentine Nation. Thanks to the collaboration with public and\/or private entities, in order to respond to concrete needs, the Sisters try to guarantee a quality educative-pastoral proposal.<\/p>\n

The Community Center is appreciated and valued by the Qom community<\/strong>. Certainly, the precious presence of Sister Flora in animating the community from the beginning, her being woman of God and of the people, significant for her generosity, her joy, her respect for the deep desires of this people, encouraged them to open with confidence, in time, the doors of their homes to God\u2019s love, which the FMA presents to them with words, educative presence, and proposals of hope.<\/p>\n

On 8 December, in the Concert “Songs of peace in times of war” by the choir Cantosospeso of Milan, together with Sister Flora, the awards will be given to Dr. Maria Teresa Reale, doctor at the mission of the Salesians of Don Bosco di Abobo, Gambella, in Ethiopia, and to the memory of Maria Carla (Marica) Ara, who died in 2023 after an illness while she was in Serbia, with volunteers from the Mir Sada association. (for further information<\/strong><\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the Triennium in preparation for 150th<\/sup> of the first FMA missionary expedition, the Argentine Provinces (ARG) to Lombardy Holy Family (ILO), with the whole Institute, rejoice for this recognition to the passion and commitment of this Sister, who give glory to God and the missionary impetus of the Founders and the first missionaries.<\/p>\n\r\n