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LONDON,
1 July 2003 (BWNS) --
Two members of the Baha'i Faith who left their
home countries to contribute to the development
of other societies will receive awards from
Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in July
2003.
Bruce
Saunders, an Australian living in the Solomon
Islands, and David Lambert, an Englishman now
living in Mongolia, will receive an OBE and MBE
respectively.
An
OBE is an Officer of the Order of the British
Empire, and an MBE is a Member of the Order of
the British Empire. These awards are made in
some countries of the British Commonwealth for
valuable service to the nation. They rank below
a knighthood. The OBE is the higher award. |
Mr Bruce Saunders
|
Such
distinguished awards follow recommendations to the Queen
by the governments of the proposed recipients.
Bruce
Saunders, 61, is receiving his award for service to the
community and business in the Solomons.
Mr.
Saunders is currently chairman of the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of the Solomon Islands.
For 10
years, he served as a member of the Continental Board of
Counsellors in Australasia, a senior Baha'i advisory
body that assists 17 Baha'i national governing councils
(National Spiritual Assemblies).
Mr.
Saunders is from Australia where he studied the catering
industry. He and his wife, Keithie, moved to the Cook
Islands to assist the Baha'i community there.
Mr.
Saunders is the only expatriate member of the city
council of Honiara, the country's capital. He has been
appointed to the position for the past six years by the
Minister of Home Affairs. Mr. Saunders also assists in
the attempts to preserve the forests of the country and
in the promotion of solar energy.
He has been
vice-chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and a member of
a Government consultative body which interacted between
the people and the Government. He has also been on the
board of Rotary International, a foundation member of
the Lions club, and a member of other organizations.
Mr.
Saunders has been closely involved in the development of
a civil society network.
Mr.
Lambert, 62, is being honored for his services to the
development of English language studies in Mongolia. He
is chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of Mongolia.
He and his
wife, Lois, are the longest serving volunteers in the
British Volunteer Service Overseas organization.
Mr. Lambert
went with Lois in 1992 to Mongolia where he devised a
course to train teachers of English how to use modern
participatory methods in their work. The Mongolian
government has since adopted the course for use
nationwide.
Mr. Lambert
has also personally taught English to many prominent
Mongolians. He is currently Director of Studies at the
English for Special Purposes Foundation, which was set
up by the United Nations Development Program and now run
as a Mongolian non-governmental organization.
He is a
member of the first Arts Council of Mongolia, which
supports, funds and promotes the arts and culture of
Mongolia.
Mr. Lambert
developed at Ulaanbaatar's University of Humanities an
English language library that is the most extensive in
the country. He arranged for British publishers to
donate many books and for the United Kingdom government
to transport them to Mongolia.
Mr.
Lambert, originally from Kent in England, had trained
English and drama teachers at the University of Leeds.
Before that he headed the English department in a
secondary school in England.
It was
after teaching English at the University of Nankai in
Tianjin in China that Mr. and Mrs. Lambert went to
Mongolia.
"We
volunteered because we wanted to be of service to
humanity, to work for the development of the less
advantaged countries and to apply Baha'i principles more
fully in our lives and work," said Mr. Lambert.
