Human Spirit Award
2014 Talents

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Dominique Lapierre

French author DominiqueLapierre has long chronicled the strength of the human spirit: first as a journalist for Paris Match, later as the co-author of bestsellers Is Paris Burning?, ...Or I'll Dress You in Mourning, O Jerusalem, Freedom at Midnight, and The Fifth Horseman, which he wrote with Larry Collins.

In the wake of the success of Freedom at Midnight, the book that recounts the Indian struggle for independence, Lapierre knew he had to give something back to the nation with which he had fallen in love.
Equipped with a check for $50,000 of royalty earnings, Lapierre and his wife, also named Dominique, paid a visit to Mother Teresa, certain she would know how best to put their donation to use. It was a meeting that would forever change their lives. Watching the Saint of Calcutta pursue her mission of mercy, Lapierre realized that "conditions could be changed, that poverty was not a fatality, that compassion could restore hope that a little bit of love could do marvels."

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Mother Teresa introduced him to Englishman James Stevens who had opened a home for children from the slums of Calcutta suffering from leprosy. In the course of fifteen years, he had rescued, cured and educated several thousand children. When Stevens met Lapierre in 1981, he was in a deep financial crisis: the home had exhausted his own personal funds, and had no other source of support. It seemed as if he would be forced to return 150 children to their hovels in the slums. Lapierre pledged that such a tragedy would not come to pass, that the refuge that Stevens had named Udayan – Resurrection – would never close its doors.

Since that day, Lapierre's promise has only increased in scope. In 1984, in tribute to the inhabitants of the slum that was fast becoming his second home, Lapierre wrote The City of Joy, which became an international bestseller. His commitment has deepened, his projects expanded.

Since 1981, the Lapierres have supported the work of 1000 social workers, doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and educators. They have contributed to the rescue, shelter, treatment, cure, education, and rehabilitation of over 4 million patients suffering from tuberculosis, cholera, leprosy, and the other diseases that exist in the shadow of poverty. The Resurrection Home for children suffering from leprosy has cured nine thousand children infected by this devastating but treatable disease.

The list of their good works goes on and on. Unlike many humanitarian aid organizations, City of Joy Aid has no offices or paid staff. The Lapierres absorb all overhead expenses from their own pocket, and personally ascertain that every dollar given from the author's royalties or received from donors goes directly to Calcutta to serve a priority.

Mr. Dominique Lapierre's crusade has received the homage of several prestigious national and international awards: the US Christopher Award (1987, 2003), the International Rainbow Award (1999), the Great Cross of the Civil Order of Social Solidarity (Spain, 2002), the “Premio Internacional Convivencia Ciudad Autonoma de Ceuta” (Spain, 2002), Chevalier in the National Order of the Legion of Honour (France, 2003), the “Prize Boccacio” (Italy, 2003), the International Prize of Religious Literature (2004, Italy), the Ambrogino d’Oro of the City of Milan (2006, Italy), the “Save the Children – Premio Amigo de los Ninos 2008”
(Spain), and, in 2008, India’s Padma Bhushan Award (The Ornament of the Lotus), the highest civil decoration, very rarely given to a foreigner.

VIDEOS OF DOMINIQUE LAPIERRE
PHOTOS WITH DOMINIQUE LAPIERRE
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VIDEOS OF DOMINIQUE LAPIERRE

PHOTOS WITH DOMINIQUE LAPIERRE