Bangladeshi nun receives Mahatma Gandhi Peace Award 2022

Catholic Sister Mary Rina Magdeline Cruze received the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Award 2022 for her special contribution to the field of education.

The nun belongs to the Associates of Mary Queen of Apostles (Santa Maria Regina Apostolum or SMRA), Bangladesh’s largest Catholic women’s religious order.

The recognition was given to Sister Rina from Kolkata, West Bengal, in India, by the South Asia Social Cultural Forum and CPDR (Human Rights).

Sister Rina was born in Bhurlia village in Nagari Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Church. She pronounced her first religious vows on January 6, 1980, and her final vows on January 6, 1986.

For 43 years she has been providing various services to society through the teaching profession.

She has served in various capacities at the Kumudini Nursing Institute for 26 years and is currently the principal of the institution.

"I think this achievement will be of great importance to our Christian women,” said Sister Rina.

 "This achievement will give more encouragement to the people … especially women,” she said.

"It will give women more strength and courage to participate in social development by working in different sectors of society," added the nun.

 The Indian government launched the award to pay tribute to Gandhi’s ideology on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 125th birth anniversary in 1995.

The award is given to an individual or institution for his or her special contribution to socio-economic or political change through non-violence and other Gandhian methods.

It was a dream of the founder of the Kumudini Welfare Trust, Rai Bahadur Ranada Prasad Shaha, to establish a women's medical college in the Hospital Complex in Mirzapur, Tangail.

The Kumudini Women’s Medical College was established in 2001 and has become one of the institutions of Kumudini Welfare Trust, which has over 80 years of experience in the field of health and education. - Nikhil Gomes