Ahmadiyya Muslim Peace Prize to Honour Founder of School Feeding Charity Mary's Meals
LONDON, November 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
The 11th National Peace Symposium of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK will honour the Christian founder of school feeding charity Mary's Meals, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, at its prize ceremony in London on Saturday (8th November).
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which strongly rejects violence and terrorism in any form and for any reason, founded the prize to recognise important contributions to the advancement of global peace.
Mary's Meals is a global movement, founded by MacFarlane-Barrow in 2002, which sets up community-run school feeding programmes in some of the world's poorest communities. By providing a nutritious daily meal in school, Mary's Meals attracts chronically hungry children to the classroom, where they can receive an education that can be their first step on the ladder out of poverty.
The National Peace Symposium prize-giving ceremony will take place at Western Europe's largest Mosque-The Baitul Futuh Mosque in Morden, London. MacFarlane-Barrow will receive his prize from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Caliph, His Holiness Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, who leads the global community that is established in 206 countries and lives by its motto of 'Love for All Hatred for None'.
His Holiness will deliver the keynote address on Caliphate and peace. Condemning the horrific acts of extremists, he said:
"As Muslims it is our duty to remind people of the true and peaceful nature of Islam. In fact all religions taught peace as can be seen from the lives of all prophets. I call upon all good natured people to unite against hate and through prayer and perseverance work to bring peace to the world."
Other distinguished guests at the event include Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening; Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Davey; and Catholic Archbishop Kevin McDonald, who will all be speaking at the event.
Rafiq Hayat, National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK said:
"It will be a privilege to welcome Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow at our landmark event. His fantastic work is an inspiration for us all and we are delighted to honour him. In these turbulent times we must do even more to promote, education, justice and peace. This is the message of our Caliph and is the need of the hour."
Last year the Ahmadiyya Muslim Prize for the Advancement of Peace was awarded to Dr Boachie-Adjei of Ghana, founder of FOCOS (Foundation of Orthopedics and Complex Spine).
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, founder and CEO of Mary's Meals, said: "We began this work more than a decade ago, with a pilot programme providing meals for just 200 children in one primary school in Malawi. The way the work has grown and developed over the last twelve years is truly amazing, and, I believe, a fruit of prayer.
"Now, well over 900,000 children are receiving our meals every day and it is wonderful now to meet young people in college or university or paid employment that tell us they would never have been able to attend school without those meals.
"I have been motivated to do this work by my own Christian, Catholic faith, but this has always been a mission that has involved people of lots of different faiths and none, united in a common desire to see the hungry child fed and educated.
"To have the work of Mary's Meals recognised by a community that promotes peace and inter-faith understanding means a huge amount to me personally."
Ahmadiyya Muslim Community contact:
Basharat Nazir media@ahmadiyya.org.uk
Tel +44-7703-483-384
http://www.LoveForAllhatredForNone.org
More information on Mary's Meals:
http://www.marysmeals.org.uk
Share this article