Zoroastrians Abroad
Hong Kong honor
"For her outstanding and dedicated community and charitable service,” particularly her contributions to The Hong Kong Tuberculosis, Chest and Heart Diseases Association (HKTCHDA) and Mothers’ Choice, Purviz Rusy Shroff was conferred the Medal of Honour by Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on October 27, 2018.
Altogether 282 recipients in 11 award categories were included in the 2018 Honours List of HKSAR as published in the Government Gazette of July 1, 2018. The Medal of Honour is presented "in recognition of community service in a district or in a particular field over a long period of time. It is also awarded to non-directorate civil servants who have served with distinction,” states the government website info.gov.hk.
Board member of HKTCHDA from 2002, Shroff has been serving as vice chairman since 2006. Formerly known as The Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association, it was founded by Jehangir Ruttonjee who was the uncle, guardian and mentor of her late husband Rusy. She is additionally member of four of the Association’s committees: Hospital Governing Committee, Ruttonjee and Tang Shiu Kin Hospitals; Hospital Governing Committee, Grantham Hospital; Freni Care and Attention Home Management Committee; Sister Mary Aquinas and Purviz and Rusy Shroff Scholarship Committee.
Purviz’s association with Mother’s Choice where she is now patron spans close to three decades. At this institution providing care, counseling and shelter to babies, teens facing unplanned pregnancies and women in domestic conflicts, she has been serving as a role model. Endearingly addressing each of the young ones as her "little pumpkin,” she admitted that parting is difficult when they are taken up for adoption. "The most important thing for our babies is Vitamin T — Touch! Even we as adults need touch,” related Purviz when featured in a cover story in bharatratna.com. Volunteering her services four times a week at Mother’s Choice, she found fulfillment in their work when she joined them after losing her 36-year-old son Zarir in a tragic car crash in Switzerland in 1990.
Altogether 282 recipients in 11 award categories were included in the 2018 Honours List of HKSAR as published in the Government Gazette of July 1, 2018. The Medal of Honour is presented "in recognition of community service in a district or in a particular field over a long period of time. It is also awarded to non-directorate civil servants who have served with distinction,” states the government website info.gov.hk.
Board member of HKTCHDA from 2002, Shroff has been serving as vice chairman since 2006. Formerly known as The Hong Kong Anti-Tuberculosis Association, it was founded by Jehangir Ruttonjee who was the uncle, guardian and mentor of her late husband Rusy. She is additionally member of four of the Association’s committees: Hospital Governing Committee, Ruttonjee and Tang Shiu Kin Hospitals; Hospital Governing Committee, Grantham Hospital; Freni Care and Attention Home Management Committee; Sister Mary Aquinas and Purviz and Rusy Shroff Scholarship Committee.
Purviz’s association with Mother’s Choice where she is now patron spans close to three decades. At this institution providing care, counseling and shelter to babies, teens facing unplanned pregnancies and women in domestic conflicts, she has been serving as a role model. Endearingly addressing each of the young ones as her "little pumpkin,” she admitted that parting is difficult when they are taken up for adoption. "The most important thing for our babies is Vitamin T — Touch! Even we as adults need touch,” related Purviz when featured in a cover story in bharatratna.com. Volunteering her services four times a week at Mother’s Choice, she found fulfillment in their work when she joined them after losing her 36-year-old son Zarir in a tragic car crash in Switzerland in 1990.
Purviz Shroff (above and inset) receiving
Medal of Honour (inset) from Carrie Lam
Having come to be regarded as the Mother Teresa of Hong Kong, Purviz (née Moogat) was born in Calcutta, and completed her secondary education as head girl of the Dastur School in Poona. The youngest of seven siblings, her mother Hilla Moogat, who was the first lady principal in Valsad, was her source of inspiration. Even when two of Hilla’s daughters and two sons passed away within a week of each other, the mother’s stoic response was, "Life has to go on. God closes one door and He opens another. We just have to keep faith in God.”
After a course in child psychology and education, Purviz started teaching at Queen Mary School in Bombay. In the late 1960s she was instructed to go to the airport and receive a "very important wine merchant” from Hong Kong. With a garland worth one-and-a-half rupees she went to the airport only to find that there were nearly 70 others there to receive him. Feeling embarrassed, she crumpled the garland but spotting her from a distance, Rusy walked up to her. "It was love at first sight for both of us,” she revealed. After their wedding in 1970, she moved to Hong Kong where she worked with Rusy on different charities and imbibed many of his humanitarian values.
Known for their philanthropy to Parsi causes, the couple has also set up scholarships and bursaries to support local students studying at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Among the other organizations Purviz has supported over the years are Women Helping Women, Hong Kong Cancer Fund, Riding for the Disabled Association, Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children, Lifeline Express Hong Kong Foundation, Youth Diabetes Action, Save the Children Hong Kong, ORBIS Hong Kong. In 2014 she received the Philanthropy Award from Hong Kong Tatler and the Excellence Award from The India Association Hong Kong.
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