The philanthropist Magda Gobran, known as both Mama Maggie and Egypt’s Mother Teresa, is among the candidates nominated for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. Garnett Genuis, a conservative parliament member from Alberta, Canada, nominated the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox activist for serving “the poor and disadvantaged,” which he said she does “regardless of faith or ethnicity.”

“She works to cross widening divides and heal those who have been hurt,” Genuis said in the nomination letter on Jan. 23 to the Nobel Committee. The letter also gave compelling examples of the children helped by Mama Maggie's association, Stephen’s Children, such as Muslim Hawwa and Christian Anthony, both of whom faced poverty, discrimination and abuse. The letter also pointed out that Stephen’s Children, one of the largest charities in the region, gives equal compassion to people regardless of their religion at a time when violent acts of religious persecution are rising in Egypt.

Copts in Egypt have been witnessing a series of sectarian violence, religious persecution, and attacks on their churches and worship places. In November 2018, Islamic militants ambushed three buses carrying Christian pilgrims on their way to a remote desert monastery, killing seven people. In December 2016, 25 people were killed and 49 others were wounded by suicide bombers while praying in St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo. The Islamic State declared responsibility for this attack.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo receives nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and then prepares a shortlist of candidates. The laureates are announced in October; winners receive the Nobel medal and diploma in December in Oslo.