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Concern’s Seeds of Hope Dinner  Nobel
Laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel was the 2007 recipient of
the Concern Worldwide Seeds of Hope award.
Elie Wiesel, the author of more than 40 books, including the memoir Night
about the horror of his experiences at Auschwitz, was honored for his
tireless efforts to promote peace and respect for human rights at a ceremony
in New York City.
The 79-year-old Romanian-born Jewish scholar was presented with the accolade
at Concern’s largest ever single fundraising event in the United
States in December. In a moving address to the 500-strong audience, Wiesel
spoke about the perils of indifference. “Will the world ever learn,”
he asked, “that when one community is targeted, it affects us all?
What adds to the suffering of the victim is always the notion that nobody
cares.”
A vocal advocate of international intervention in conflict-ridden regions
such as Darfur, Professor Wiesel paid tribute to the work of Concern,
which marks its 40th anniversary in 2008. “You are there when you
are needed,” he said of Ireland’s largest international humanitarian
organization.
Born September 30, 1928, Wiesel grew up in a small village in Romania.
In 1944 his family was moved to Auschwitz where his mother and younger
sister died. Elie survived Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald, where he joined
his father who died just before liberation; his final word was “Elie.”
Wiesel spent a few years in a French orphanage and went on to study journalism.
His acquaintance with Nobel
laureate Francois Mauriac eventually persuaded Wiesel to break his vow
of silence and write of his experience in the concentration camps. He
has since published over 30 books, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Wiesel, who was introduced by Ted Koppel, said that while he had seen
examples of “humanity in human beings,” his experience with
Concern was the first time he experienced “humantity in an entire
organization.” Concern chief executive Tom Arnold described Elie
Wiesel as a “witness and storyteller” whose words were “an
inspiration, a guide and a moral compass.” Down the years, Concern
staff, too, he said, have been witnesses and told – when possible
– the story of ordinary people caught up in disasters and conflicts
from the famine in Biafra, to the killing fields of Cambodia, to the genocide
in Rwanda.
More than one million dollars was raised by the New York event –
all of which will go towards Concern’s projects overseas, including
current emergency programs in Bangladesh and Chad. (Siobhan Walsh, executive
director of Concern Worldwide U.S., spoke movingly about her recent trip
to Chad).
“When you consider that the cost of treating a child for malaria
is five dollars, for example,” said Tom Arnold, “the impact
of a million dollars is simply enormous. This money directly translates
into improving the lives of some of the world’s poorest and most
vulnerable people.”
Father Angus Finucane, the founder of Concern, and the first speaker of
the evening, thanked Tom Moran for all that he has done to grow the organization
in the United States.
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