Spain : A Moroccan woman awarded for helping refugees

The work of Souad Benkaddour, a Spanish citizen of Moroccan origins, has just been awarded by the Rodolfo Benito Samaniego Foundation. She was indeed granted the 2018 Values of Conviviality Award.

As La Luna de Alcalá explains, the awards given by the foundation reward individuals and groups who work on strengthening the values of coexistence and tolerance in society.

For Souad Benkaddour, everything started in September 2015, as she explained to El País. Her neighbors had asked her to translate the words of a Syrian refugee. The latter was a mother of three children who had to go to Paris. After several phone calls, Souad Benkaddour had even managed to find someone in the French capital to house her.

Before leaving, she had left her phone number to this Syrian refugee. Since then, she has received almost 30 calls each day. She has helped more than 500 refugees from Syria, Bangladesh, Iraq and Palestine. Associations and important organizations, such as the Red Cross, are now seeking her services.

«I will turn off my phone when the war in Syria stops,» said Souad Benkaddour, who said she does not define herself as an activist, but a human being, following her heart.

The awards ceremony will take place on March the 10th in the emblematic auditorium of the University of Alcalá, in the municipality of Alcalá de Henares (Autonomous Community of Madrid).