Sister Ana Rodríguez Arango will be honored by the Orfeón La Paz de La Laguna at the XXXI edition of the Gala de Exaltación a la Mujer Canaria, which will be held on Wednesday, July 10 at the Teatro Leal de La Laguna, whose maintainer will be Francisco Hernández Delgado, Official Chronicler of Teguise and vice president of the Official Chroniclers of the Canary Islands.
Sister Ana, who has been working for years for the most disadvantaged in Lanzarote, was born in Santianes de Pravia, Asturias, and is the second of three sisters. At the age of 23, she entered the "Congregation of Daughters of Mary Mother of the Church" and her first destination as a sister was in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where she performed health care work and began her studies as a nurse. Later she was also assigned to Colombia, Peru and Santander, and in 1989, to the community of the Congregation in Lanzarote, where she began working as a nurse at the Insular Hospital.
In 1996, from the religious Community and in view of the problem of a large population victim of drug addiction and in a situation of marginalization and without access to any type of resource, being active consumers, the work of the "Association of Reception and Risk Prevention Calor y Café" was born, thanks to the sisters and a group of volunteers.
After several changes of location, it is currently located in the industrial area of Puerto Naos, where it continues daily with the service, although at present and since the crisis of 2010 the profile of the users is diverse, since in addition to people with addictions, others with scarce economic resources come. Sister Ana retired in August 2010 as a nurse and since then she has been dedicating all her time to her assistance work in Calor y Café.
This Gala, which will be presented by Joam Walo, "aims to honor a woman who represents, with her contribution to the defense and dissemination of the island values throughout her life, the effort and work of all the women of this land", according to the organizers.
