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Biography - part 2 -
1996 |
She persuades the authorities to allow 2047 refugees without food or water for seven days, fleeing Liberia on board the Bulk Challenge, to disembark in the port of Tagoradi, Ghana, after she agrees to pay for their upkeep in refugees camps; she supplies them with provisions and donates a substantial sum of money.
She helps flood victims in Crotone, Italy.She consigns provisions, essential supplies, medicine and clothing to Archbishop Vinko Puljic and to Don Anton Peric, for the population of Sarajevo, Bosnia. Dr. Pejanovic, President of the Srpsko Humanitarno Drustvo “Dobrotvor”, and the Engineer Krsic, President of the “Srpsko Gradansko Vijece”, thank her in writing as well as in person.
Mariapia brings relief supplies to the Municipality of Seravezza, to the E. Pea School of Seravezza and to the Gallicano kindergarten in Garfagnana, Italy, after terrible flooding. |
1997 |
She brings hope to earthquake victims in the Marche, Italy. She distributes essential supplies to camps in Serravalle, Cesi, Forcella, Monte Cavallo, Visso and sets up a social centre for children and the elderly in Serravalle.
From 1997 to 2000, in collaboration with the CONI and the Italian Tennis Federation, she organises four editions of the tennis tournament ‘Sempre Insieme per la Pace’ in Rome, Italy, to raise funds for Kosovar refugees and Mozambican flood victims and earthquake victims in the Marche.
After a meeting with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who urges her to sell all her jewellery to support her humanitarian work, she arranges for them to be auctioned by Sotheby's.
She prepares a ship loaded with humanitarian aid for Bosnia. From the harbour of Ploce in Croatia supplies are delivered to the municipalities of Pale, Gorazde and Vogosca in Bosnia.
She donates food to the San Francesco Community Centre Village C.A.S.A., to the S. Damiano Clinic and to the leprosy clinic of the San Francesco Village, in Madagascar.
She has medical and school supplies delivered to the Gatenga Centre in Kigali, Rwanda.
She gives the Slovenian Red Cross in Lubiana provisions to be distributed to the poor.
She donates medical supplies and food to the Small House of Prayer “Strada Deva” in Crayova, Romania.
She delivers school and medical supplies to the “Raina Kabaivanska Foundation for Infancy” in Sophia, Bulgaria.
She gives provisions, school and medical supplies to the “Association of Georgian Women for Peace and Life” in Tbilisi, Georgia. |
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1998 |
She organizes a mission to aid the Kurdish refugees in Badolato, in the Italian region of Calabria.
She has supplies delivered to the Czeslaw Parish in Opole, Poland, one of the areas mostly damaged by the flood of the previous year.
She organizes another mission to assist the victims of the earthquake in the region of Marche, Italy, in the same camps she has already provided assistance.
She sends the Small House of Prayer of Crayova, Romania, provisions and clothing.
Right after the flood that has hit Sarno and Quindici in Italy she hurries to these locations, to take note of the needs and organize a humanitarian operation.
Mariapia takes part in the “Flying Hospital” mission that carries out 15 days of checkups and operations in the region of Hyderabad, India.
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1999 |
After starting the associations “First Help”, “Noi per Loro”, “Insieme per la Pace”, and “Together for Peace”, she founds “Sempre Insieme per la Pace” (Always Together for Peace), which continues the purpose and activities of “Insieme per la Pace”, operating worldwide in the name of solidarity; it organizes humanitarian missions, ensuring that food and medicine are distributed to the needy countries.
She prepares three missions to assist Kosovo refugees in the hospitality camps in Rozaje and Ulcini in Montenegr loading the aid on the ship Alba. Chiara Puri Purini and Lu Fang are precious collaborators.
With the support of UNICEF, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Vanessa Redgrave, Franco Nero and the famous Italian jazz man Lino Patruno, she organizes “The Return Festival”. The initiative is planned to hold two concerts in Skopje and Pristine, in Kosovo, to raise funds to rebuild the “House of Culture and Arts” in Pristine, and to bring some comfort to a nation devastated by a long war.
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2000 |
She brings aid to the “Order of Missionaries of Charity” and to the nuns of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, in Pec, Kosovo, as well as to other organizations that assist orphans or children not yet reunited with their own families.
She goes to Mozambique to distribute help and to visit the main areas hit by cyclone Eline. With the help of Ambassador Stefano Rastrelli, she distributes necessities to the Cambodian Fathers in Beira, to the De Curaçao Institute, to the Beatriz Pereira hospital for heart surgery, and gives a donation to the Don Bosco Centre in Maputo.
She provides economic help to Sophia, who has given birth to her daughter Rosita on a tree during the flood. |
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2000 |
She sends supplies to Kizilay Bolge MD.-Nisbetiye Cad. Deryadil Sokak n.1-Besiktas-Istanbul, in Turkey, to help the poverty-stricken people whose country has been hit by an earthquake.
She donates medical supplies and children clothing to the “Jordan of Her Majesty Queen Rania” in Amman, Jordan.
She sends food to the “Zambian Helpers Society”, in Lusaka, Zambia.
She has an airplane lade with commodities sent to Michele Santoro of the Italian Cooperative of Beira, in Mozambique.
She goes to Eritrea and brings assistance to the Silesian Centre of Decamerè and to the hospital of Asmara.
She sends several shiploads of humanitarian aid through the association “Noi per loro” to the Don Bosco missionaries in Asmara, Eritrea. She consigns an electric generator to provide water in the refugees camp of Dekemhare.
She sends food to Father Ratti of the Foreign Missions of the Franciscan Grey-Friars in Congo, as well as food and medical supplies to Sister Mirabilis, a Franciscan nun who assists poor children in Bukavu, Congo.
Seeing at first hand the dramatic situation in Mozambique she sends shipments of humanitarian aid to the Comboni Fathers of Beira, to the De Curacao Institute, and to the Beatriz Pereira Hospital in the Don Bosco Centre of Maputo.
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2001 |
The Association “Sempre Insieme per la Pace” starts a series of humanitarian initiatives and missions, still active today, run by the “Nando Peretti Foundation”, chaired by Elsa Peretti and dedicated to the memory of her father Nando.
She sends the Slovenian Red Cross food and clothing.
She organizes a mission to help the victims of an earthquake in Salvador sending two containers of supplies destined to the “Secretaria Nacional de la Familia-Calle Escalon” of Salvador.
She donates medical supplies and clothing for children hospitalized at the “Jordan Charity Association for Phenilketonuria” in Amman, Jordan, one of the initiatives supported by Princess Sarvath.
She sends the “Haus Hongtebeck 2” Institute in Kiev, Ukraine humanitarian help after the Association “S.O.S 86 Kinder von Techomobyl in Cauelland e V.” has asked for assistance.
Mariapia sends school material and health supplies to Father E. Ratti, head of the Franciscan Foreign Missions, who helps needy children in Luhwinya, Congo.
She sends relief to the “Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation” in Karachi, Pakistan. |
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2002 |
After the fall of the Taleban regime, she sends a shipload of essential supplies, medicine, school material and clothing to the port of Karachi, Pakistan; with the help of Abdul Sattar Edhi (creator of a large network of aid and medical assistance centres for Afghan refugees) the cargo is transported in 15 trucks to Kandahar, Afghanistan, the first western relief supplies to reach the city.
She distributes aid to the population and reaches Kabul bringing medical supplies for the hospital and school material for an abandoned orphanage.
She has it rebuilt with the help of the Italian military contingent in Afghanistan.
She helps the Franciscan foreign missions in the relief centre in Luhwinya in Kiwu province, Congo, hit by earthquakes and epidemics.
She sends humanitarian aid to the Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation in Karachi, Pakistan, to aid the Afghan refugees.
She gives medical supplies, clothing and toys to the orphanages “Reyasat Darul Etam” and “Parwarishga” in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Maripia gives health supplies, school material and clothing to the International Charitable Organisation for Humanitarian Assistance in Haifa and to the French Hospital in Bethlehem, Palestine.
She gives the “Jordan Charity Association for Phenilketonuria” in Jordan medical supplies and medicine to help the people suffering from that disease.
She donates the “Fundacion por la Paz y la Amistad de los Pueblos” in Argentina the aid needed to help the population, dramatically impoverished by the country’s economic crisis.
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2003 |
To support the peace mission of the Italian Army in Iraq, she prepares a large amount of humanitarian aid for villages, schools and hospitals in the area of Nasiriyah.
She organizes a humanitarian mission in Bulgaria, bringing staples to hospitals and schools. |
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2004 |
Mariapia sends aid on board the ship Agdal for the earthquake victims in Hoceima, Morocco, distributed by HRH Princess Lalla Meryem. Other supplies are delivered to the Ministry of Health. Aid distribution is completed by Mariapia.
She sends medical supplies and clothing on board the ship Romea to the Italian Army stationed in Nasiriyah, Iraq. Thanks to the Ambassador Pérez de Cuellar, the cargo is escorted from the harbour of Shuwach to Nasiriyah.
With HRH Princess Maria Luisa she consigns humanitarian aid to the Bulgarian Red Cross in Sofia, Bulgaria, destined to various centres which assist children and the elderly.
She sends food to the Franciscan and Battistini Missions in Kalulushi, Zambia, who provide relief for the local population.
Thanks to the support of the Head Chief Guido Bertolaso, the Italian Civil Protection Agency places an airplane at Mariapia’s disposal so that she can assist the children victims of the terrorist attack at the school of Beslan, in Ossetia. She gives aid and toys to the parents’ committee.
She also sends playground equipment to the Vice President of North Ossetia Alania Oleg Khantsaev for the “Rainbow” kindergarten in Beslan and donates a vehicle to the “Republic Children’s Clinic Hospital” in Vladikavkaz, Ossetia.
She sends a shipload of aid to institutes in various regions of Poland that provide assistance to the elderly, the blind, the infirm, and the terminally ill, including the old peoples home of Olsztyn, the centres in Poznan and Puszczykowo and the centre for abandoned children of the Sisters of S. Vincenzo di Paola in Krakow.
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2005 |
With the assistance of the Honorary Consul of Rwanda in Italy Dr. Francesco Alicicco, she sends a cargo of humanitarian aid to the “Centre Des Jeunes Gatenga – Opere di Don Bosco” in Kigali, Rwanda.
She provides humanitarian help for the “Fondation Bon Samaritain” in Kinshasa, Congo, that aims to gather goods for children and victims of wars and political instability.
She donates clothing and medical supplies to the “Congregatia Inimiil Neprihanite” of Bucharest, Romania.
She sends provisions, school equipment and medical supplies to the children of the Salesian Missions of Don Bosco in Asmara, Eritrea. |
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2005 |
She consigns humanitarian aid to H.R.H. Princess Maria Luisa of Bulgaria, to the Bulgarian Red Cross, and to the Italian Embassy in Sophia, Bulgaria, so that they can distribute it personally to the poor.
She sends the “Jesuit Refugee Service”, in Indonesia, school material to be distributed among schools and missions in the wake of the devastating tsunami.
She donates school material and provisions to Sister Grazia Micaelli’s “Associacion XXI” in El Alto, Bolivia.
She starts sending regular provisions to “Basma” an NGO founded and chaired by H.E. Laila Ben Alì, in Tunisia, to promote job opportunities for the disabled and assistance for the needy. The help program is still operating today.
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2006 |
She sends provisions and baby products to the Association “Cruz Blanca” in Lima, Peru.
She has clothes and toys delivered to the “Fondation Mohammed V pour la Solidarité”, in Morocco.
She sends health supplies and food in support of the activities of seven missions in Kalulushi, Zambia.
In response to an appeal made by Father Ramiro Rodriguez (President of the “Fundacion con Cristo”), she sends clothing to help the disabled children of the “Casa degli Angeli” in Quito, Ecuador.
She donates school material, health supplies, clothing and baby products to the “Italo-Georgian Association.”
She consigns aid to a children’s organisation founded by the Egyptian First Lady, Mrs. Mubarak, one of the many humanitarian activities promoted by her.
She delivers food, toys, school and medical supplies to the Bulgarian Red Cross, to be distributed to the needy.
She donates provisions, clothing, school and medical supplies to the “Congregatia Inimiil Neprihanite” in Bucharest, Romania.
She has medical and school supplies, clothing and provisions provided to the “Kolpingova Rodina Smecno” Association, in Smecno, Czech Republic.
In collaboration with the Embassy of the Sovereign Military Order of Malt in Warsaw and with H.E. Cardinal Stanislao Dziwisz she sends humanitarian aid to welfare institutions in various regions of Poland that assist infants, ill and the elderly. |
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2007
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She sends food and school supplies to the Association “Cruz Blanca” in Lima, Peru.
She sends school supplies, food and clothing to the orphanage of “Congregatia Inimil Neprihanitecasa Pentru Copii in Dificultate “Sfantul Iosif”” in Romania.
She sends clothing and toys to the “Fondation Mohammed V pour la Solidarité” in Morocco.
She distributes 80,000 books received from Marisa Monti Riffeser, in the belief that culture can free humanity from slavery and ignorance.
In the past, Marisa Monti Riffeser’s contribution has been essential in carrying out many important projects, such as the “Silver Train” which crossed Italy to bring help and support senior citizens in difficult situations. |
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xxx
These pages represent the notebook of her life till now, but in her soul Mariapia vividly carries the memories, the pain, the hopes and most of all the torment of meeting the desperation in so many corners of the earth of those who own only their misfortune.
The determination to aid and support those in need without discriminating against religion, race and sex – especially if weak, ill, old, or abandoned – is generated by her desire to know.
Throughout her humanitarian missions, her need to learn more about the world, in its many different forms and variations, with its beauty and its tragedy has grown with time. It has been a path that can only have peace at its finishing line.
She has lived, she has seen, she has suffered with those who cry out for help, longing to change the world. Mariapia’s whole life has been a long, endless journey, a continuous and assiduous prayer for mankind’s dignity that can only be preserved through justice and peace.
xxx
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