Scotland aid worker Habib Malik wins Burns Humanitarian Award

LONDON - Habib Malik, the Scotland area manager of Islamic Relief, has been named for the Burns Humanitarian Award for his aid work in some of the poorest parts of the world.

Malik was honoured for distributing aid at trouble spots including Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami, northern Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake, Sudan, Niger and Somalia.

Currently, he is involved in the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)’s fundraising campaign for the victims of the Haiti earthquake.

“My work with Islamic Relief has never been for my sake, but for the sake of those voiceless millions around the world who scream but are not heard. Robert Burns himself was born into poverty and has been described as a poet of the poor, and an advocate for social change,” The Times quoted him, as saying.

Other nominees included Mark and Caroline Cook, from Wiltshire, founders of the housing charity Hopes and Homes for Children, and 11-year-old Zachary Bonner, from Florida, founder of the Little Red Wagon Foundation, which helps underprivileged children.

“It is particularly poignant to present this award at a time when its recipient is heavily involved in the international effort to assist those experiencing intolerable suffering and human tragedy in Haiti. I congratulate Habib on winning this award and for his commitment to international relief work over many years,” Scottish Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop said.

The Burns Humanitarian Award was established in 2002 to recognise groups and individuals that enriched the lives of others through their self-sacrifice, public service or charity work.

The winner of the award receives 1759 guineas, a sum which signifies the year of Burns’s birth and the coinage then in circulation, as well as a specially commissioned hand-made award. (ANI)