Amritanandamayi Devi to bless Singaporeans

Singapore, Mar 26 (UNI) India's ''hugging saint'', Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, is expected to bless some 20,000 Singaporeans this week, having started her ''meet-the-people'' session from today.

The 55-year old Kerala-born ''Amma'', as she is called, will also donate 30 wheelchairs to local insitutions for the disabled and distribute food hampers to the needy, her visit organisers, the Amritsewari Society said today.

Tomorrow, the Amma is to hand out 100 bursaries of 150 dollars each to students and give 50 saplings to the Singapore National Evironment Agency for planting at a local nature reserve.

Blood donation campaign will be held in conjunction with the visit of Amma, who was born in 1953 in a family of poor fisherman in Kerala.

According to the organisers, the Amma has hugged about 27 million people from around the world in the past 37 years.

UNI XC ARB HT1310