Carmelite nun bags 'Best Humanitarian International Award 2022'

A Carmelite nun from Hyderabad, south India, on March 13 received the “Best Humanitarian International Award 2022.”
 
The award was given by a group of NGOs such as Social Justice, Peace and Legal Experts Organization, Human Care Human Rights Protection and Emergency Action Network-Co-op International.
 
A. Joseph, president of the NGOs, lauded the efforts of Sister Manju Devarapalli, a Carmelite Missionary, for promoting human rights and dignity among marginalized communities in India.
 
In her acceptance speech, Sister Manju said engaging in the humanitarian cause for the poor and needy is part of her calling as a nun.
 
“Receiving the award for humanitarian service does not highlight my work or me, rather it recognizes the issues and concerns of the poor and the people with whom I work,” she told RVA news.
 
She also thanked the organizers and the awarding committee for selecting her for the award.
 
Last January, Sister Manju, a social worker and advocate, was named as the first national secretary of the National Dalit Christian Watch (NDCW), a civil society body that promotes, advocates, and champions the rights of Dalits in India.
 
She hails from a remote village in Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, South India. She joined the Carmelite Missionaries, an international Catholic religious order in 1988 at the age of 16 and became a nun by the age of 21.
 
For decades, she has been into various grass-root undertakings with Dalits and indigenous people who are vulnerable and striving to bring about justice and equality.
 

At present, she is pursuing her Master's degree in Business Administration at St. Joseph’s College, Hyderabad.
 
She has a Diploma in Catechism of Catholic Church from Saint Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bangalore, south India and a Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in Wollongong Diocese, Sydney, Australia.
 
In the past, Sister Manju has received other awards, such as the ‘Best Social Worker Award’ from District Magistrate, West Godavari in 2011 and ‘Archbishop Oscar Romero Brilliant Star Award’ for the outstanding work among the Dalits by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, Office for Dalits and Backward Classes.
 
Besides, the All India Christian Federation conferred on her the ‘Bharat Ratna Mother Theresa Award’ in 2021.  
 
Her areas of work have been marginalized people’s rights and their education, rural women, girl child education, human rights, slum dwellers, housing rights, formation of micro-financial groups for men and women and youth, pastoral and catechetical needs, and promotion of donation of body organs through Project Vision at Ahmadabad – Gujarat, western India.
 
“People who are less fortunate, vulnerable, and downtrodden need guidance and inspiration. For their welfare, I am passionate about their empowerment. May the Best Humanitarian International Award 2022 enable me to commit to the causes of others with compassion,” Sister Manju said.