Monsignor Enrique (“Kike”) Figaredo, an Asturian Jesuit who has dedicated nearly 35 years of his life to the care of the needy. Kike began his work in 1985, in the refugee camps located near the Thailand-Cambodia border, focusing on supporting people with disabilities.
In 1991 he founded Banteay Prieb (Casa de la Paloma), near Phnom Penh: a vocational training center for the disabled where currently study more than 200 students and where the famous wheelchair “Mekong” was created, producing and distributing more than 1,400 units of this chair throughout the country.
“Despite the suffering, you see those smiles that pierce you”.
Kike también trabajó estrechamente con la Campaña Internacional para Prohibir las Minas Terrestres (ICBL). Esta campaña impulsó la firma del tratado internacional de Ottawa en 1997 y recibió el Premio Nobel de la Paz en el mismo año.
Kike also worked closely with the ICBL (International Campaign to Ban Landmines). This campaign promoted the signature of the Ottawa Treaty in 1997 and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in the same year.
In 2000, Kike was appointed Apostolic Prefect of Battambang, position that currently combines with that of president of Caritas Cambodia. Under his supervision, the Prefecture has developed social and humanitarian projects of different types, including support for people with disabilities, education, agriculture and environment, health and socio-economic development, currently benefiting about 80,000 people.
