Photo: Shawn Robertson
Sister Margaret O’Neill
Margaret O’Neill is a Sister of Charity from New Jersey, US. She is known to the world as “Hermana Peggy” and has lived in Suchitoto, El Salvador, since 1987. She has a doctorate in Religion from New York University. O’Neill has taught at Iona College, US, for 25 years. She has also taught, for 18 years, for the program Casa de Solidaridad [Solidarity House], at Santa Clara University, El Salvador, and for the Global Education Program at Augsburg University, US. She has received honorary degrees from Canisius University, Furman College, College of St. Elizabeth, and Marquette University for her work in El Salvador. She is the founder and director of Centro Arte para La Paz [Centre for Art and Peace CAP], a healing space for youth born post-Peace Accords. The mission and vision of the Center is to build a culture of peace, both personal and social, using art as the vehicle. At the Center, there is the community museum La Memoria Vive [Memory Lives], which has provided the space to explore historical memory, clearly contributing to the ongoing healing process.