Enrique Figaredo (born 21 September 1959) is a Jesuit priest and the Apostolic Prefect of Battambang, known as the Bishop of the Wheelchairs for his humanitarian assistance in Cambodia. [1]
Enrique Figaredo (born 21 September 1959) is a Jesuit priest and the Apostolic Prefect of Battambang, known as the Bishop of the Wheelchairs for his humanitarian assistance in Cambodia. [1]
Born to Alberto Figaredo, a member of an important industrialist family in the north of Spain, and Ana María Alvargonzález. Enrique was the seventh of eight children. He is the cousin of the Spanish politician Rodrigo Rato Figaredo.
Enrique attended the Jesuit's School in Gijon, Colegio de la Inmaculada, and graduated in 1976. On 15 October 1979, he joined the Jesuit Novitiate. He has a degree in economics, Theology and Philosophy.
In 1985, during his university studies, he volunteered for the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and was sent to a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. [2] He returned to Spain to finish his studies and to be ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1992, but then immediately went back to Cambodia.
First in Thailand and later in Cambodia, Figaredo has dedicated his life to help people with disabilities, initially those maimed by landmines. [3] He also cooperates with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which was awarded the Peace Nobel Prize. Figaredo has launched many initiatives to raise funds and help these victims.
In 1991, in Phnom Penh, he founded Banteay Prieb ("The Dove House") where children maimed by landmines receive education and people with disabilities can make wheelchairs following the Mekong model (a wooden wheelchair with three wheels). [4]
In Battambang he founded the "Arrupe Center" and promoted development all over the diocese with projects in education, vocational training for adults, infrastructure and relief aid. [5]
Figaredo still takes part in Cambodia's development by means of different NGOs and at present takes part in the Ban Cluster Bomb Campaign.
Dance tours have been an initiative fostered by Figaredo in order to promote Cambodia, its culture and its reality. [6] It is also a means of raising funds for the aid and development projects in Cambodia. Up to date there have been three dance tours in the years 2000, 2005 and 2008.
"Cambodia Within Reach" was the slogan adopted for the 2008 dance tour, in which "Tahen’s Dance Group" travelled throughout Spain for 6 weeks in September and October 2008. Tahen's Dance Group is made up of 65 members and divides in 4 smaller groups. One group is made up of 14 dancers between 14 and 17 years old, another with 18 dancers between 18 and 20. A third group has 15 dancers from the Arrupe Centre for people with disabilities (maimed by landmines and cluster bombs or who suffer from poliomyelitis). The last group is that made up of 10 musicians and 3 people for management and assistance.
Each performance included 6 or 7 traditional dances. In "The Blessing Dance" 7 dancers dressed up as apsaras (celestial nymphs) bless and thank the audience with delicate movements and flowers. The walls of the Angkor Watt hold evidence of the origins of this traditional dance in its reliefs. "The Coconut Dance", "The Fish Dance" and "The Harvest Dance" reflect Cambodia's traditions and everyday life. These are some of the dances of the 20 piece repertory of Tahen's Dance Group.
The group held 17 performances in 12 different Spanish cities: Madrid, Valladolid, Gijon, Oviedo, Alicante, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Córdoba, Seville and Badajoz.
Alvargonzalez has received numerous prizes and awards for his humanitarian work in Cambodia. These include the Grand Cross of Civil Order of Social Solidarity, awarded by the Spanish government and the Golden Amuravela, a prize granted every year by the Friends of Cudillero Association.
Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the Segunda Division. Known as Los Rojiblancos because of their red and white striped jerseys, their home ground is El Molinón stadium, the oldest professional football ground in Spain, in use since at least 1908. Traditionally their red and white shirts are accompanied by blue shorts with the socks recently also being blue. Its Asturian name is Real Sporting de Xixón.
The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF), established in 1980, now the Veterans for America (VFA), is a Washington, D.C.-based international humanitarian organization that addresses the consequences of war and conflict. The founder of VVAF is Bobby Muller, a former U.S. Marine lieutenant and Vietnam veteran.
Luis Enrique Martínez García, known as Luis Enrique, is a Spanish football manager and former player. He is the manager of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain.
Rodrigo de Rato y Figaredo is banker and politician who served in the Council of Ministers of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He also served as the ninth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2004 to 2007 and the president of Bankia from 2010 to 2012.
Pedro Arrupe Gondra, SJ was a Spanish Basque priest who served as the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983. He has been called a second founder of the Society, as he led the Jesuits in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council, especially with regard to faith that does justice and preferential option for the poor.
Javier Clemente Lázaro is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a midfielder.
Estadio El Molinón, officially Estadio Municipal El Molinón-Enrique Castro "Quini", is an association football stadium in Gijón, Asturias, Spain. The stadium is the home ground of Real Sporting de Gijón. With a capacity of 29,029 seats, El Molinón is the 20th largest stadium in Spain and the second largest in Asturias.
Enrique Castro González, known as Quini, was a Spanish footballer who played as a striker.
The Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang is a territorial subdivision of the Roman Catholic Church in Cambodia.
Abelardo Fernández Antuña, known simply as Abelardo as a player, is a Spanish former footballer who played as a central defender, currently a manager.
Aki Ra is a former Khmer Rouge conscripted child soldier who works as a deminer and museum curator in Siem Reap, Cambodia. He has devoted his life to removing landmines in Cambodia and to caring for young landmine victims. Aki Ra states that since 1992 he has personally removed and destroyed as many as 50,000 landmines, and is the founder of the Cambodian Landmine Museum.
Humanity & Inclusion is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in 1982 to provide help in refugee camps in Cambodia and Thailand. Headquartered in France and Belgium, since its creation, it has opened branches in six other countries : Switzerland, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and the United States.
Colegio de la Inmaculada is a Catholic school for primary and secondary education run by the Jesuits in Gijón, Spain since 1890.
Roberto Canella Suárez is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back.
Santiago Denia Sánchez, commonly known as Santi, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central defender, currently manager of the Spain under-21 national team.
Manuel 'Manolo' Mesa Quirós is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a right winger.
Fulgencio Argüelles, is a Spanish writer and psychologist.
Christopher Minko is an Australian musician and co-founder of the Phnom Penh-based Delta blues group called Krom. Living in Cambodia since 1996, Minko is also the founder and Secretary General of the Cambodian National Volleyball League (Disabled) NGO, also known as CNVLD.
Jesús Antonio Castro González was a Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Yves Ramousse was a French Catholic bishop, member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (MEP) and Vicar Apostolic Emeritus of Phnom Penh in Cambodia since 2001.