Name: Vicente Ferrer (April 9th, 1920 Barcelona – June 19th, 2009 Anantapur).

Early life and Education:

As Vicente Ferrer would say, “I was born in Barcelona in 1920. And I was reborn in spirit in 1939, one night during the Ebro battle during the Spanish Civil War”. 

Vicente Ferrer was studying high school in Barcelona when, at the age of 16, he had to fight with the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Those days led him to the definitive conviction that God exists and that we have no other choice than to fight for the good in this world. From that day, these are the foundations that have accompanied him all his life. 

After the Spanish Civil War, he started pursuing a law degree. However, after three years, he decided to drop out and on October 17th, 1944, he entered the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, to begin his ecclesiastical studies. 

Career:

In 1952 Vicente Ferrer arrived in India for the first time to complete his training in the Society. His first destination was Manmad, near Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra. There, Vicente started his long-life path to fight for a dignified life for all. Over the next ten years, he fought against the rigid social hierarchy prevalent at that time and worked to improve the land and water systems and to form grassroots teams. 

In 1957 he was sent to the South of India, in Kodaikanal (Tamil Nadu), to finalise his theological studies, with a year of spiritual retreat as a Jesuit. During that year of studies, meditation and prayers, Vicente realised that he had read many books about India and its mysticisms and mystery. But what he was seeing was people suffering not from lack of religion or faith but from the uncertainty of having daily food. “I had two paths to follow: the path of prayer or the path of action”. He had it very clear, and from that day, all his life would be focused on the power of action to eradicate human suffering. 

In 1968 an order to expel Vicente from India was issued under the pressure from local moneylenders, who viewed his work with the field labourers as a threat. Demonstrations along the streets of Mumbai took place after the news came live. The media covered the events, including a weekly newspaper where Anne Perry, the future co-founder of Rural Development Trust and Vicentes’ future wife, worked. After covering all the protests, she became the secretary of the Citizens’ Committee for Justice that was created to revocate Vicentes’ expulsion order. Thousands of people defended his work, and he achieved social support with little precedent.

Amidst these events, the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, allowed Vicente Ferrer to return to India. However, this time, the destination would be Anantapur, a drought prone area with extreme poverty and social discrimination. Due to the constant droughts, the district suffered from high levels of migration causing even greater hardship to people. Vicente Ferrer believed in the power of action. 

He was accompanied by the journalist Anne Perry (later known as Anne Ferrer) and two other volunteers: “We were a dreaming peace army,” explains Vicente himself. 

In 1969 they founded Rural Development Trust, a non-political and non-religious organisation with the mission of empowering rural communities and supporting them in their struggle to eradicate poverty, suffering and injustice. From that day onwards, Rural Development Trust worked beyond duty to pursue excellence and achieve a caring, just and equitable society. In the moment that Vicente Ferrer founded RDT, he had already quit the Society of Jesus, and one year later, in 1970, he married the journalist Anne Perry.

Position of Responsibilities:

Founder of Rural Development Trust and executive director from 1969 till 2009

Distinguished achievements:

In 1969 Vicente Ferrer and Anna Ferrer founded Rural Development Trust, an organisation that has been supporting the empowerment of rural communities in India and supporting them in their struggle to eradicate poverty, suffering and injustice for more than 50 years. 

After years of hard work, dedication and action, Vicente and Anna have built a multi-sectorial organisation, in which all the interventions follow at least one of these basis:

• Guaranteeing sustained access to quality education at all levels
• Promoting equal rights and opportunities for a society free from gender discrimination and violence
• Improving access to health and wellbeing to achieve communities free from the burden of diseases
• Offering affordable and quality healthcare to rural communities through RDT’s hospital network
• Encouraging equal rights and opportunities for persons with disabilities through inclusion and rehabilitation programs
• Building resilient climate communities by promoting sustainable livelihoods and ecological regeneration
• Strengthening the access to basic services and dignified shelter to break the cycle of poverty
• Leveraging the power of sport to achieve sustainable social change

 Today, with the support of 2,500 staff members in India, RDT successfully executes comprehensive development projects involving all areas of development in more than 3,775 villages. The impact of all the work done till today has led the organisation and its founders to receive numerous recognitions and accolades in India and internationally. Most notably, Vicente was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.  

Awards and honours:

Vicente Ferrer worked all his life with the most disadvantaged communities with the philosophy of action as a fundamental pillar. Through his way of thinking and acting, Vicente Ferrer managed to involve people and their communities in improving their living conditions and their own progress. This way of understanding development has been recognised by many people.

• Prince of Asturias Award for Concord
• Member of the Commission for the Eradication of Poverty, Government of Andhra Pradesh.
• Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Huelva.
• 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2008. Population Control Board Award, from the state of Andhra Pradesh, for the good work done in the RDT’s hospitals.
• Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Solidarity, of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of Spain.
• 2006-2010. Government Member - NGO Coordination Committee for Rural and Urban Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh.
• Honorary Degree by Sri Krishnadevaraya University of Anantapur

Personal Life:

Vicente Ferrer based his life on the power of action. For many, he represented the symbol of overcoming suffering and transforming society into humanity. He lived with his wife Anne Ferrer and his three children - Tara, Moncho and Yamuna – in Anantapur from that first day in January 25^th 1969 till the day he died, turning the place into his home. There, he lived with the aim of reaching as many poor as possible through Rural Development Trust, an organisation in which goal is to eradicate social and economic poverty in the most disadvantaged communities.

He died on June 19th, 2009, but his legacy, message, work, and spirit are more alive than ever through the great family of RDT and thousands of people who believe, like Vicente Ferrer, in a good action for another.

Publications:

By Vicente Ferrer:

• El encuentro con la realidad, Vicente Ferrer (2003)
• The power of Action
• El poder de la acción

By other authors:

• Vicente Ferrer. La revolución silenciosa by Alberto Oliveras Mestre (2000)
• Expect a miracle by Anne Ferrer (2009)

Movie:

• Vicente Ferrer, the movive (2013)

Documentary:

• La ciudad del infinito (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aCmKkM_C2Q)

Reference:

External links:

Rural Development Trust Annual Report 2019-2020

https://rdtfvf.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/RDT-Annual-Report-16.04.21.pdf

RDT WEBSITE

https://rdtfvf.org/