Korean Named 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Public Service
Asia's equivalent to Nobel Prize to be awarded to Kim Sun-tae and 6 others on Aug. 31
Korean Kim Sun-tae has been named by the board of trustees of the Manila-based Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation one of this year's Ramon Magsaysay Awardees.
Kim, 67, is cited for "his inspiring ministry of hope and practical assistance to his fellow blind and visually impaired citizens." He is the foundation's awardee for public service.
Kim, together with six others from Asia, will receive his 2007 Magsaysay Award for Public Service and cash prize at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Manila on August 31.
What made Kim's achievements laudable was that he accomplished so much despite being an orphan and blind since he was 10 years old.
Kim lost his parents in the civil war that divided his country in the 1950s. To fend for himself, he had to scavenge for food. It was during his trip to the dump that a mortar shell fell near him. Shrapnels injured his eyes that left him totally blind.
Because of his helplessness Kim's relatives abandoned him to survive on the streets of Seoul. He moved from one orphanage to another to keep his body together until he enroled himself in a government high school. He was the first ever blind graduate in his alma mater.
Despite being ostracized by society and threatened by the military junta he enroled in college and later earned his master's degree in theology at Soongsil University in downtown Seoul.
In a country where almost half of the population is without religion, being a graduate of theology was already extraordinary.
With his bulldog tenacity and focused determination with the dark as his torch, Kim, in 1972, formed Korea's first church for the blind.
With hundreds of members Kim later established the Siloan Eye Hospital that offers modern sight restoration surgery to the poor for free.
To serve those living in the countryside, Kim introduced the mobile eye clinic. His outreach program also trained those visually impaired but could see a little in livelihood skills to make them self-employed.
His medical and skill training program has benefited more than 200,000 Koreans.
The award, which was first bestowed in 1958 "to individuals whose life and work are characterized by selfless service which impact on the lives of many," has become one of the world's premier distinctions, and is thought of as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
The award was named after the late Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay, a mechanic at the former American naval base in Olongapo City who rose to lead the country with selfless dedication for which he is remembered. He,however, died without finishing his term when his plane crashed on Mount Manunggal in Cebu province in the 1950s.
Other awardees are Chinese Chung To and Chen Guang Cheng for emergent leadership, Tang Xiyang for peace and international understanding; Indian Palagummi Sainath for journalism, literature and creative communication arts; Nepalese Mahabir Pun for community leadership, and former Philippine senator Jovito S. Salonga for government service.
Paterno Jr Rebosura
Korean Kim Sun-tae has been named by the board of trustees of the Manila-based Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation one of this year's Ramon Magsaysay Awardees.
Kim, 67, is cited for "his inspiring ministry of hope and practical assistance to his fellow blind and visually impaired citizens." He is the foundation's awardee for public service.
Kim, together with six others from Asia, will receive his 2007 Magsaysay Award for Public Service and cash prize at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Manila on August 31.
What made Kim's achievements laudable was that he accomplished so much despite being an orphan and blind since he was 10 years old.
Kim lost his parents in the civil war that divided his country in the 1950s. To fend for himself, he had to scavenge for food. It was during his trip to the dump that a mortar shell fell near him. Shrapnels injured his eyes that left him totally blind.
Because of his helplessness Kim's relatives abandoned him to survive on the streets of Seoul. He moved from one orphanage to another to keep his body together until he enroled himself in a government high school. He was the first ever blind graduate in his alma mater.
Despite being ostracized by society and threatened by the military junta he enroled in college and later earned his master's degree in theology at Soongsil University in downtown Seoul.
In a country where almost half of the population is without religion, being a graduate of theology was already extraordinary.
With his bulldog tenacity and focused determination with the dark as his torch, Kim, in 1972, formed Korea's first church for the blind.
With hundreds of members Kim later established the Siloan Eye Hospital that offers modern sight restoration surgery to the poor for free.
To serve those living in the countryside, Kim introduced the mobile eye clinic. His outreach program also trained those visually impaired but could see a little in livelihood skills to make them self-employed.
His medical and skill training program has benefited more than 200,000 Koreans.
The award, which was first bestowed in 1958 "to individuals whose life and work are characterized by selfless service which impact on the lives of many," has become one of the world's premier distinctions, and is thought of as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
The award was named after the late Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay, a mechanic at the former American naval base in Olongapo City who rose to lead the country with selfless dedication for which he is remembered. He,however, died without finishing his term when his plane crashed on Mount Manunggal in Cebu province in the 1950s.
Other awardees are Chinese Chung To and Chen Guang Cheng for emergent leadership, Tang Xiyang for peace and international understanding; Indian Palagummi Sainath for journalism, literature and creative communication arts; Nepalese Mahabir Pun for community leadership, and former Philippine senator Jovito S. Salonga for government service.
Paterno Jr Rebosura
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
8:56 PM
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