SPEECH BY MARISOL FRÍAS, THE DIRECTOR
GENERAL FOR THE ELDERLY AND FOR SOCIAL
ASSISTANCE AT THE MADRID CITY COUNCIL, AT THE
EVENT AT FACIAM
Dear Ambassador,
Deputy President of FACIAM,
Good morning to you all
As in previous years, as a tribute to Nelson Mandela, the
Embassy of South Africa, represented by its Ambassador,
has handed over a generous donation of food to social
institutions that work with the disadvantaged. This year, the
chosen institution is the FACIAM network which has been
helping the homeless in the city of Madrid since 1979.
The excellent cooperation that exists between the City
Council and FACIAM, a network of centers, provides 40%
of the total assistance offered by the Madrid City Council to
the
homeless
on
Madrid’s
streets.
The
ongoing
collaboration between the Madrid City Council and FACIAM
has empowered this important network of centers, allowing
it to provide accommodation, shelter and food to the needy.
It is important for the disadvantaged to not only receive
services but also loving care and understanding from the
many people that work with them every day. The assistance
that FACIAM offers to the city of Madrid when it comes to
helping the homeless has enhanced the efficiency of the
service provided by our public social welfare system to
these people.
I would also like to thank the Embassy of South Africa for its
generosity. I would like to express my special appreciation
to the Ambassador, HE Lulama Smuts Ngonyama, who has
always shown that he is willing to help those who are in
need and I would also like to thank you all for being here.
Allow me to end by quoting President Mandela’s favorite
poem:
INVICTUS –William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.