INDIVIDUAL CATEGORY
- Tel-Aviv, Israel
Aside from being away from their
families, OFWs face various challenges living abroad. Lourdes Levi has witnessed the difficulties
that OFWs like her face abroad, and this prompted her desire to help her fellow
Filipinos.
In 2005, she organized KALAHI whose
primary advocacy is to help OFWs in Israel who are victims of injustice and
provide free medical assistance to Filipino patients. She is also the founder and chairwoman of
Medical Mission in Israel for Filipinos.
Lourdes is also the chairperson of
the board of the Federation of Filipino Communities in Israel from 2005 to
present. She assisted Filipinos to find
honest Israeli layers to help them secure visas and to bring to prosecution
those lawyers who have defrauded some Filipinos charging them with big amounts
but issuing fake visa, instead of a residence visa.
Her help goes as far as assisting
Filipinos by becoming a translator in court hearings. She also files cases against Israelis who
resort to sexual harassment among Filipinos who incur loans with 10% interest
if they fail to pay. She also report
Israelis who confiscate the original passport as a means of harassing their
employees.
One of the persons she was able to
help is a fellow Filipina who was dragged to the fields, raped and beaten by a
group of men because she failed to her loan.
Through her help, the rapists were prosecuted and imprisoned.
Lourdes is a selfless individual who
goes out of her way to help her fellow Filipinos in Israel. She makes herself available whenever someone
calls for her help. Like many OFWs, she
has proven, time and again, that wherever there are Filipinos, there are
heroes.
COUNTRY FINALISTS
- Bhea M. Tabuso - Ramat Gan, Israel; Umingan Pangasinan (Country Finalist)
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