Isorana teacher María del Carmen Larai Martín, better known as Sor Larai and named Favorite Daughter of the municipality of Guía de Isora in 1994 for her humanitarian work in different African countries, died this Thursday in Rome.
On the occasion of his death, the official flags of the municipal corporation will fly at half-staff and will wear a black crepe as a sign of mourning.
The mayor, Josefa Mesa, and the City Council of Guia de Isora They deeply regret the death of the missionary and send their condolences to friends and family.
“Sor Larai is leaving, but she leaves us her teachings: the value of caring for others, dedication to others and care for the most disadvantaged,” Mesa said in a note.
Mari Carmen, born to an Isoran mother and an Indian father, was raised by her aunt Benigna after her father returned to India and her mother died when she was only four years old.
After finishing his studies in Guide to Isora She went to the Hogar Escuela in the capital of Tenerife, run by nuns from the Congregation of Mary Help of Christians.
A year before finishing his teaching studies, he became part of the order and later dedicated himself to teaching at the same center.
Sister Larai, a life dedicated to others
However, her true vocation was to work as a missionary, with Zaire – now the Democratic Republic of the Congo – being her first destination and the place where she would remain for seventeen years.
From there she went to Rwanda, a country where she would work as a teacher in a school until the arrival of the ethnic conflict in which the Hutus ethnic group would face the Tutsi after the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, both of the Hutu ethnic group, were victims of an attack perpetrated against the plane in which they were traveling on April 6, 1994.
This bloody conflict, which Sor Larai described in statements to the newspaper ‘El Día’ as “a carnage”, lasted three months and resulted in the murder of between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people.
This meant that, despite her wish to remain in the country, Sor Larai had to flee and return to Spain, since the intention to assassinate the foreigners who remained on the ground had already been announced.
Her humanitarian work in these countries in conflict and her commitment to the most vulnerable was what led the City Council of Guía de Isora, the municipality where she grew up, to grant her the status of Favorite Daughter on June 16, 1994.
