Maechee Khunying Kanitha Wichiencharoen

Thailand

Maechee Khunying Kanitha Wichiencharoen opened the first shelter for women and children in distress in southeast Asia. In twenty years, she served over 40,000 women and children.

As an international lawyer by training, she networked resources into Thailand from overseas and domestically; she wrote early legislation to establish equality for women in Thailand.

Spiritually, she did not personally engage in ceremony or chanting. Instead, her life was her prayer and message.

In the twilight years of her late 70s, while struggling with cancer, she pioneered the first collegefor Buddhist women in southeast Asia, Mahapajapati Theri College.