In the crowded hall of the Portuguese Parliament, the co-founder & president of METAdrasi, Ms Lora Pappa, received the award from the President of the Republic of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
“This award is dedicated to the thousands anonymous Greeks, Europeans and world citizens, who put themselves in the place of the Other. This Other who had to leave their home to save their life and the lives of their family from conflict, persecution, hunger or poverty.” noted Ms. Pappa in her acceptance speech and closed with:
“…welcoming, protecting, and helping those in need, as we ourselves would like to be welcomed, protected and helped, if we were in their place, is not any great achievement; it is a natural and spontaneous action, an impulse of the heart. This is why I gladly conclude with the words of Einstein, himself a refugee, saying that only a life that we live for others is a life worthliving.”
We are moved and proud!