Filipino nun wins Magsaysay award

Filipino nun wins Magsaysay award

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.