THE founder of Scottish charity Mary's Meals has been named as a finalist for a major humanitarian award.
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, who launched the charity in 2002, will vie with Nigerian lawyer Zannah Bukar Mustapha and pioneering surgeon David Nott for the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award 2016.
The Robert Burns Humanitarian Award – or RBHA – is a globally-respected, humanitarian accolade supported by South Ayrshire Council and Scotland's Winter Festivals, with sponsorship from Burns Crystal and The Herald, Sunday Herald and heraldscotland.com.
It takes its inspiration from Robert Burns who viewed everyone as equal and genuinely lived as a true humanitarian, as recognised in his famous lines: 'That Man to Man, the world o'er, Shall brothers be for a' that'.
Mr MacFarlane-Barrow was moved to establish Mary's Meals after meeting a teenager in Malawi who said all he hoped for in life was enough food to eat, and go to school one day. Mary’s Meals now feeds more than one million school children in 12 countries every day.
He said: “It’s wonderful for Mary’s Meals to receive this recognition as a finalist for the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award, and in turn I’d like to recognise the many wonderful people who contribute to this work, giving their skills, time, donations, and prayers to allow us to continue reaching out to the next hungry child.”
Zannah Bukar Mustapha is a lawyer who works to make lives better for children and young people affected by the conflict between the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram and government forces in Nigeria.
He founded the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation, a primary school for orphans and less privileged children from both sides of the conflict which provid.
David Nott has spent more than two decades working in danger zones around the world, earning him the nickname, the ‘Indiana Jones of surgery’.
Councillor Bill McIntosh, Leader of South Ayrshire Council and Chair of the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award, said: “Robert Burns was a man who viewed everyone as equal and genuinely lived as a true humanitarian – someone devoted to the promotion of human welfare and to social reforms.
“Magnus, Zannah and David are outstanding examples of people who continue to do that day in and day out, and they are a real inspiration not just to those who see them in action – but to people the world over. They are very worthy finalists and I wish them all the best of luck for the ceremony later this week.”
The winner of the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award 2016 will be announced at the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award Celebration Concert at the Brig O’Doon Hotel in Alloway - the birthplace of Burns - on Thursday 21 January.
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