KSO honours Dr T Lunkim
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 30 2018:
The Kuki Students Organisation (KSO) General Headquarters has honoured Dr T Lunkim in acknowledgement of his outstanding achievements and contribution towards social and political betterment of the Kuki people.
Dr T Lunkim was honoured during the 'Kuki Students Organisation Honors' held at Tribal Research Institute (TRI), Imphal.
The Kuki Students Organisation Honors is an event organised by the KSO General Headquarters to honour notable persons in Kuki society, who encompasses outstanding achievements, contributes a great deal for the social, economic and political betterment of the Kuki people, said a statement of the secretary Information KSO David Letgoulien Gangte today.
Dr T Lunkim was born in 1926 at Kamu Saichang village, Manipur.
'He embraced Christianity and received education against the norms of the atheist Kuki society of that time'.
After finishing school, he joined Serampore College and passed BD Degree with distinction.
Later, he pursued M Th Degree at the Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, USA.
In order to give the living words of the bible to his own people, he translated the Holy Bible from Hebrew and Greek languages into Kuki in 1971 and help made possible multitude of Kuki people read the Bible in their own dialects.
His exceptional skill as a linguist has also contributed to the translation of the Bible into Meitei language and was also appointed as the Chief Translator of the Bible by the Bible Society of India for a period of time.
His pioneering zeal for evangelism has made him the founder of Churches among the Liangmai Nagas, Mikir, Cacharis, Nepalese and others.
He established the Kuki Christian Church with an independent and inter-denominational character to serve the people in the North-Eastern States of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura, said the statement of the KSO.
He also established the Trulock Theological Seminary and the Restoration Theological College at Imphal, Manipur.
In recognition of his service to the Church and theological education in India, he was conferred the Degree of Doctor of Divinity by the Serampore University.
To provide medical and health care for the poor and the underprivileged section of the society in the State he established the Imphal Christian Hospital and Nursing College at Imphal.
Dr T Lunkim was instrumental in restoring the Kuki Inpi, the apex traditional Government of the Kuki tribes in 1993 in the backdrop of the 'genocide perpetrated against his people' during the 1990's .
He became founder chairman of the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights and under his leadership the organisation has attained Special Consultative Status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council.