Mother Mangalam to receive public service award

The Gandhi Memorial Trust (GMT) is to present a special award to Life President of The Pure Life Society, Datin Paduka Mother A. Mangalam for her immense contribution towards public service for more than 60 years. GMT chairman S. Radhakrishnan said the award would be presented to Mangalam, 88, in conjunction with the United Nations international day of non-violence at an event to be held at the Royal Lake Club in Kuala Lumpur this Thursday. "Mother Mangalam is an outstanding teacher and caring mother extraordinaire to the poor and downtrodden," he told Bernama. Mother Mangalam, who has largely been compared to the legendary Mother Theresa, started teaching in 1948 until she took optional retirement from the teaching service in 1977 to devote full time work for the Pure Life Society's orphanage. The Pure Life Society, founded in 1949 by Swami Satyanandaji, runs an orphanage which houses, among others, abandoned children and those from broken homes. Meanwhile Radhakrishnan said two well-known speakers would give their views on how to deal with the relevance of Mahatma Gandhi's teachings today at the same event. Chief Executive Officer of Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah and University of Malaya's Faculty of Medicine Deputy Dean Prof Datuk Dr Christopher Boey Chiong Meng will pay tributes to Gandhi. He said the special lecture is to commemorate the 145th birthday anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, which is celebrated as the international day of non-violence. United Nations Resident Coordinator for Malaysia, Michelle Gyles-McDonnough, is scheduled to launch the event.