Filipino nun wins Magsaysay award

Tue, 22 Jul 1997 | Source: AP

MANILA (AP): A Filipino surgeon-nun known as the "Healing Nun" was awarded an honor yesterday that is often viewed as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize.

Sister Eva Fidela Maamo, who has given spiritual guidance and free medical aid to Filipino tribesmen and squatters, was named winner of the 1997 Ramon Magsaysay award for community leadership.

The Manila-based award committee praised her "compelling example in bringing humane assistance and the healing arts to the poorest Filipinos."

In 1974, she volunteered to build a medical mission on the shores of Lake Sebu in South Cotabato, home of many of the poorest Filipino tribes. Without ready medical supplies, she improvised by conducting operations in a crude bamboo infirmary lighted only by a flashlight and used coconut water instead of dextrose.

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