Mary’s Meals founder is honoured for charity work
THE Royal Scottish Geographical Society has named Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow OBE from Dalmally as the recipient of its latest Livingstone Medal in recognition of his dedication to changing the lives of millions of children across the world through the work of Mary’s Meals.
The Livingstone Medal, awarded for an outstanding contribution to humanitarian work with a geographical dimension, recognises Magnus’s work over the past 15 years to take Mary’s Meals from a simple idea to a major charity that feeds more than one million school children in 12 countries around the world every day.
Magnus was awarded his medal by RSGS board member Vanessa Collingridge at an event held in Glasgow University on November 16.
The Livingstone Medal was endowed by RSGS co-founder Agnes Livingstone-Bruce in memory of her father, Dr David Livingstone and was first awarded in 1901 to explorer Sir Harry H Johnston. Since 1901, the medal has only been awarded a further 66 times.
Recently the RSGS Livingstone Medal was awarded to Annie Lennox for her work to raise awareness of HIV/Aids. In her acceptance speech she mentioned admiration for Magnus.
It is fitting that the last two Livingstone Medallists, Annie and now Magnus, are being recognised for their work in the very country in which Livingstone himself did most of his work, Malawi.
Speaking about receiving the medal, Magnus said: ‘When we began this work, we wanted to bring hope to people in desperate situations and help them to change their lives for the better. Now there is a global movement of people, all working towards the same goal – that every child receives one daily meal in their place of education.’