The Harmony Foundation has awarded the prestigious International Mother Teresa Award to Gladys Staines, widow of Pastor Graham Staines, an Australian missionary assassinated in 1999 by Hindu radicals together with the couple’s two youngest children. Mrs. Staines was honored for her commitment to the leprosy patients in the Indian state of Orissa.
Speaking to AsiaNews about the prize, she said: “I have never worked for awards, and was amazed to be chosen for this honor. I have not lived in India for some time, but I periodically visit Orissa and take great interest in the work for leprosy being carried out there. I thank God for his help in enabling me to carry out the work of caring for people with leprosy, even after my husband was killed.”