Annalena Tonelli: She Carried the Torch

Today’s missionary hero is a woman of our times, Annalena Tonelli.

Annalena was born on April 2, 1943 in Forli, Italy.  As a young adult, she became a lawyer specializing in providing legal service to those in most need of her town – the poor, the orphans, the mentally ill, the disabled, and the abused children.

In 1969, as a young woman, Annalena went to Kenya in East Africa sponsored by the Committee Against World Hunger of Forli.

In Kenya, Annalena began working as a teacher in a secondary school in the area of Wajir, but after some years, she decided to enter nursing school to prepare to serve the sick in her area.  As a nurse, she worked more than a decade caring for those most in need.

In 1976, Annalena headed up a pilot project for the World Health Organization for treating tuberculosis in nomadic people.  To ensure that the patients would take their medications faithfully over a treatment course of six months, Annalena invited the nomad tuberculosis patients to come to the Rehabilitation Centre for the Disabled that she was running with the help of other women volunteers.  The pilot project was a success, and World Health Organization adopted this model for other areas of the world.

Annalena also created a deaf school in Wajir.  Many of the graduates of this school went on to start schools in Somali-speaking Africa, and it was in this school, that Somali Sign Language was first used.

In 1984, the Kenyan army engaged in the massacre of 5,000 Somali boys and men.  Though many of the people were killed, some survived.  Annalena and her volunteers followed the trail of blood to collect the bodies of the dead and treat the wounded.  Annalena brought with her a photographer to document this male genocide. From that moment on, she was seen as an enemy of the Kenyan government and was banned from the country.

From Kenya, Annalena moved to Somalia, and there she stayed for the next 19 years.  During this time, she started a tuberculosis hospital, and her family and friends in Italy helped finance the hospital by contributing money each month to maintain it.

In June of 2003, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees awarded Annalena Tonelli the Nansen Refugee Award.  This prize is given annually to recognize outstanding service to the cause of refugees.

Unfortunately, in October of 2003, just four months after receiving her international award, unknown gunman assassinated Annalena at the tuberculosis hospital she had founded.  There are many theories about why she was killed.  Some say it was because she brought HIV/AIDS patients to the area.  Others felt she was spreading disease in the town.  Others said it was a disgruntled former worker who had been fired.  And others said it was a radical Islamic terrorist group that wanted her dead.

Two weeks after Annalena Tonelli’s killing, two other workers were murdered in Somalia at their school.  Many believe the assassins were members of the same terrorist group that assassinated Annalena.