(aka Subry Govender)
A former farm boy, who has been an educator for nearly 40 years, is still continuing his service to humanity at the age of 79.
In addition to the educational and religious organisations he serves, Mr Moodley is the life blood of the Verulam Hospice, an organisation that he and a number of other community workers established 12 years ago.
Despite his age, Mr Moodley is at the Verulam Hospice headquarters in Riyadh, Verulam, everyday from 8am in the morning to 4pm.
"It is the community that has made us what we are today. Therefore, we must serve selflessly till we go to the grave," an unassuming Mr Moodley told me in an interview at the Verulam Hospice centre recently.
The gentle and humble giant believes in the philosophy that "the world does not owe us anything".
"We are born to serve. Service to humanity is service to God."
Mr Ganasen Konapalan Moodley, who is popularly known as "GK", has come a long way from the farming area of Inanda where he was born on June 4, 1932. He was the eldest of 10 brothers and three sisters and belonged to a large extended family. Three brothers and one sister are now late.
Although his parents were working class people, they emphasised the importance of education among all their children.
"All of us had to do our stints on the farm but for some reason or the other I was allowed to concentrate on my education."
He first attended a school in 1939 under a wattle tree in Inanda and, thereafter, went onto to complete his primary school education at the famous Moonsamy Government-Aided Indian School in Inanda. He attended the Tongaat High School where he was one of four pupils who attained first class passes in standard eight. Mr Moodley and three other class mates were accepted by Sastri College in Durban where they completed their matriculation.
He, thereafter, qualified as a teacher at the Springfield College of Education and started to teach at the age of 19 at the Tongaat High School. He was at Tongaat High for only one month and, thereafter, moved to the Doringkop Primary School on the North Coast where he taught for three years. Over the next 35 years, Mr Moodley taught at various schools throughout the province as a teacher, deputy principal and principal.
The schools include Wild Memorial and Moonsamy Primary in Inanda, Verulam High (which is now known as Verulam Secondary), Estcourt Secondary(vice-principal), S L Naidoo in Winterton(principal), Weenen Primary(principal), Deccan Road Primary in Pietermaritzburg(deputy principal), Stanger Primary School (principal), Chaks Primary School (principal), Chatsworth New Haven, Highstone Primary (Phoenix) and finally Mounthaven Primary in Verulam.
Mr Moodley retired in 1991 at the age of 59 from Mounthaven Primary where he served as principal for eight years. He was an educator for nearly 40 years.
"The standard of education in those days was very very high because the children showed a great deal of respect to their teachers. For instance, when I taught at Verulam High we had Mr Simon David, who as the principal instilled commitment and dedication among both teachers and pupils.
"I sincerely wish we could inculcate this discipline, dedication and commitment in our schools today."
He has been so dedicated to his profession that throughout his teaching career, he has not taken a single day of "sick leave".
Mr Moodley began his public life in the early 1960s when, together with other ex-pupils of the Moonsamy Primary School, he helped to build extensions at the school. When he moved into Verulam in 1972, Mr Moodley, who is a deeply religious person, joined the Shri Siva Subramaniam Alayam in Umdloti Drift where he used to organise the Sunday services. He served the temple as a secretary, vice-chairman, and chairman. He now serves the temple as a trustee.
He was also responsible for the establishment of the Verualm Retired Teachers' Association, an organisation he has been the treasurer of for the past 14 years, and the Verulam Historical Society, of which he is also the treasurer.
In 1997, Mr Moodley and a number of other community workers became involved in the establishment of the Verulam Hospice to help the terminally ill. After occupying a number of premises in Verulam, the organisation moved to their present premises in Riyadh in 2004. He has been the chairman for 12 years and currently serves as the HLVP of the organisation.
"Providing this service brings immense joy to all of us."
For his community service, Mr Moodley has been given a number of awards. These include the "community development" award by the Verulam 150th Anniversary Committee; Paul Harris Fellow Award by the Umhlanga Rocks Rotary for his "good relations and fellowship"; and Shri Siva Subramaniam Golden Anniversary Award for his services to the temple.
Mr Moodley, who speaks and writes Tamil, said for him the adherence to tradition and culture was just as important as "service to humanity".
"Without our languages and cultures we will be lost. It's, therefore, vitally important that all attempts are taken to ensure that our languages and cultures are promoted."
Mr Moodley, who married Ruby Moodley in 1957, has five adult daughters, six grand-children and one great-grand-child who is five-months-old.
Mr Moodley has been described as a person "who has realised that his human life is constructed in such a manner that he has to perform actions that will make him move towards a spiritual destination".
Mr Moodley himself has taken a leaf out of the lives of great philosophers, swamis and spiritual leaders.
One of them is George Bernardt Shaw who once said: "I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle for me. It is sort of a splendid torch, which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on the future generations."
A person of great humility, commitment, dedication, integrity, dignity and honesty, Mr Moodley is a shining example of a selfless community worker, not only in the town of Verulam, but humanity as a whole. ends - subrygovender@gmail.com February 2011
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