Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dipv0YGF5s
VOLUNTEERS - SEVA - SEWA - TKN
American professor helps improve quality of life globally
Over the last ten years, several Jamati institutions have moved to a far more sophisticated, evidence-driven process for long-term planning for their Jamats. This is in no small part due to the tremendous efforts put in by a business school professor from Florida and a lot of trust placed in her by Jamati leaders. During these 10 years, Dr. Seema Pissaris, Clinical Professor of Management at Florida International University’s College of Business, has partnered with Ismaili Councils around the world to use research driven intelligence to improve the quality of life for families.
It all began with a simple call that Dr. Seema received from the Council for India, in late 2011. This phone call led to many more, culminating in a TKN assignment to launch India’s first Quality of Life (QoL) study, benchmarking to similar studies conducted by the Councils for USA and Canada. Using surveys, focus groups, and interviews, the QoL study covers a variety of qualities and attributes including income, education, housing, healthcare, skills and language; it provides insights about the needs and trajectory of the Jamat to help better decision-making.
“The Quality of Life Assessment establishes the scope and scale of certain issues, identifies patterns of challenges, pockets of opportunities, and areas of upward mobility,” Dr. Seema said. “It lets us assess whether or not we are moving in the right direction and gives us the ability to make evidence-based decisions with statistical rigor and confidence. It enables institutional leaders to create a path forward for their Jamats, understanding not only the what, but also the why and the how.”
Over time, the Ismaili Council for India has completed three rounds of the QoL study, most recently in 2019, to continue to improve the quality of life of the Jamat. Each round has used superior techniques, better software and advanced analytics to improve decision making. Building on India’s success, a core team that included Dr. Seema and Ashish Merchant, President of the Ismaili Council for India, was asked to support other countries in implementing the QoL study.
Since then, many other countries have adopted the QoL Assessment including Russia, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Dr. Seema has travelled to visit leaders of these countries and provide context and training to ensure a successful outcome. In each country, local TKN teams are formed to lead and manage the work on the ground with continued support from the global core team. In Tajikistan for example, the local team consists of volunteers, all of whom work for AKF Tajikistan, bringing even greater collaboration and expertise to the project.
India Council’s President Merchant said, "Dr. Seema Pissaris has been a stalwart in helping Jamati institutions evolve from ‘gut-feel’-based decision making to developing and leveraging sophisticated decision support systems that are built from a disciplined collection and use of research data. I have enjoyed collaborating with her on QoL exercises in India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Russia and other countries. She embodies the finest ethics of the TKN spirit to serve, and demonstrates how TKN volunteers can be a force to bring about permanent and powerful change in our institutions"
Dr. Seema’s TKN efforts did not stop at information alone. Armed with data collected through multiple surveys in India, she helped bring two important programs to life. An academic residential camp teaching English, math and critical thinking skills that helps students from poor families access quality education. Another significant effort is the development of income pathways designed to provide a source of income for families living in poverty. Both these initiatives are now being scaled and improved upon and have the potential for global adoption.
“My TKN work has been extremely rewarding,” Dr. Seema said. “I have met incredible people from around the world and have experienced the words 'one Jamat'. It has opened my eyes to the global challenges we face but has also brought me enormous joy and lifelong friendships.” Each country assignment prepares her for the next opportunity, and she brings this global work to her classroom, informing her teaching, making her a better professor, a better person. She is grateful for what she has been able to contribute as well as for the immense blessings she has received.
Amir Baig, President of the Ismaili Council for Afghanistan, said “The QoL project was immensely helpful for Afghanistan and our strategic planning process. The QoL team, of which Dr. Seema Pissaris was an integral part, has helped us to understand the needs of our Jamat and identify pathways forward in many areas including education, health care, habitat and economic activity. The Council for Afghanistan continues to utilize the assets created by the QoL project in our programmatic activity across the country, as it often serves as the basis of our planning. We are thankful to all the members of the QoL team including Dr. Pissaris from the USA, President Ashish of India, Vice-President Hadi Alizadeh of Afghanistan, AKEB Chairman Aslam of India, and Shazmin Dosani from Department of Jamati Institutions (DJI). This was indeed a global collaboration of members from the Councils for Afghanistan, India and USA, as well as DJI.”
Photos at:
https://the.ismaili/tkn/american-profes ... e-globally
Over the last ten years, several Jamati institutions have moved to a far more sophisticated, evidence-driven process for long-term planning for their Jamats. This is in no small part due to the tremendous efforts put in by a business school professor from Florida and a lot of trust placed in her by Jamati leaders. During these 10 years, Dr. Seema Pissaris, Clinical Professor of Management at Florida International University’s College of Business, has partnered with Ismaili Councils around the world to use research driven intelligence to improve the quality of life for families.
It all began with a simple call that Dr. Seema received from the Council for India, in late 2011. This phone call led to many more, culminating in a TKN assignment to launch India’s first Quality of Life (QoL) study, benchmarking to similar studies conducted by the Councils for USA and Canada. Using surveys, focus groups, and interviews, the QoL study covers a variety of qualities and attributes including income, education, housing, healthcare, skills and language; it provides insights about the needs and trajectory of the Jamat to help better decision-making.
“The Quality of Life Assessment establishes the scope and scale of certain issues, identifies patterns of challenges, pockets of opportunities, and areas of upward mobility,” Dr. Seema said. “It lets us assess whether or not we are moving in the right direction and gives us the ability to make evidence-based decisions with statistical rigor and confidence. It enables institutional leaders to create a path forward for their Jamats, understanding not only the what, but also the why and the how.”
Over time, the Ismaili Council for India has completed three rounds of the QoL study, most recently in 2019, to continue to improve the quality of life of the Jamat. Each round has used superior techniques, better software and advanced analytics to improve decision making. Building on India’s success, a core team that included Dr. Seema and Ashish Merchant, President of the Ismaili Council for India, was asked to support other countries in implementing the QoL study.
Since then, many other countries have adopted the QoL Assessment including Russia, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Dr. Seema has travelled to visit leaders of these countries and provide context and training to ensure a successful outcome. In each country, local TKN teams are formed to lead and manage the work on the ground with continued support from the global core team. In Tajikistan for example, the local team consists of volunteers, all of whom work for AKF Tajikistan, bringing even greater collaboration and expertise to the project.
India Council’s President Merchant said, "Dr. Seema Pissaris has been a stalwart in helping Jamati institutions evolve from ‘gut-feel’-based decision making to developing and leveraging sophisticated decision support systems that are built from a disciplined collection and use of research data. I have enjoyed collaborating with her on QoL exercises in India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Russia and other countries. She embodies the finest ethics of the TKN spirit to serve, and demonstrates how TKN volunteers can be a force to bring about permanent and powerful change in our institutions"
Dr. Seema’s TKN efforts did not stop at information alone. Armed with data collected through multiple surveys in India, she helped bring two important programs to life. An academic residential camp teaching English, math and critical thinking skills that helps students from poor families access quality education. Another significant effort is the development of income pathways designed to provide a source of income for families living in poverty. Both these initiatives are now being scaled and improved upon and have the potential for global adoption.
“My TKN work has been extremely rewarding,” Dr. Seema said. “I have met incredible people from around the world and have experienced the words 'one Jamat'. It has opened my eyes to the global challenges we face but has also brought me enormous joy and lifelong friendships.” Each country assignment prepares her for the next opportunity, and she brings this global work to her classroom, informing her teaching, making her a better professor, a better person. She is grateful for what she has been able to contribute as well as for the immense blessings she has received.
Amir Baig, President of the Ismaili Council for Afghanistan, said “The QoL project was immensely helpful for Afghanistan and our strategic planning process. The QoL team, of which Dr. Seema Pissaris was an integral part, has helped us to understand the needs of our Jamat and identify pathways forward in many areas including education, health care, habitat and economic activity. The Council for Afghanistan continues to utilize the assets created by the QoL project in our programmatic activity across the country, as it often serves as the basis of our planning. We are thankful to all the members of the QoL team including Dr. Pissaris from the USA, President Ashish of India, Vice-President Hadi Alizadeh of Afghanistan, AKEB Chairman Aslam of India, and Shazmin Dosani from Department of Jamati Institutions (DJI). This was indeed a global collaboration of members from the Councils for Afghanistan, India and USA, as well as DJI.”
Photos at:
https://the.ismaili/tkn/american-profes ... e-globally
Navroz Mubarak from the UK Jurisdiction Ismaili Volunteer Corps Executive.
The IVC Exec wish all volunteers and your families and all our brothers and sisters in our jamats a safe, healthy and happy Navroz. We pray that the current set of challenges are resolved as quickly as possible. May Mawlana Hazar Imam bless the Jamat with the strength and fortitude to face any further difficulties that may arise. Ameen.
Whilst we, globally, find ourselves in unprecedented times, the spirit of unity, brotherhood and kindness is stronger than ever within our Jamat. As we face the current adversities and challenges, many volunteers have generously offered their time and services to assist other members of the jamat. The need for social distancing and self-isolation has created significant challenges in facilitating your voluntary service and your health, safety and well-being is our priority. For all of our volunteers who are working on the front-line, particularly our health workers, we thank you and we salute you and we wish you the strength to continue this amazing work.
In the next few days, an on-line form will be available, through which you will be able to offer your services. All resources will be collated and where appropriate, you will be contacted to assist our efforts.
In the meantime, whilst you are being encouraged to be physically isolated, please be anything but isolated electronically and on the phone! Please run through your contact list and take time to call on your old friends, jamati members and anyone else in your network who may be in need. Only a few minutes of your time will mean an incalculable amount to someone feeling lonely.
We are looking forward to working with all our volunteers again very soon!
Navroz signifies a a time for spiritual renewal and physical rejuvenation. Please stay physically strong by exercising at home and eating well. Please also stay mentally strong; to that end, we will shortly be updating you regarding Headstart which gives you the opportunity to study vocational training courses online. We hope to roll out additional training online in the near future as well.
We will get through this together. You are not alone. And soon we will again be #oneIVC, #oneJamat.
Navroz Mubarak to you.
The IVC Exec
https://the.ismaili/uk/navroz-mubarak-t ... -executive
The IVC Exec wish all volunteers and your families and all our brothers and sisters in our jamats a safe, healthy and happy Navroz. We pray that the current set of challenges are resolved as quickly as possible. May Mawlana Hazar Imam bless the Jamat with the strength and fortitude to face any further difficulties that may arise. Ameen.
Whilst we, globally, find ourselves in unprecedented times, the spirit of unity, brotherhood and kindness is stronger than ever within our Jamat. As we face the current adversities and challenges, many volunteers have generously offered their time and services to assist other members of the jamat. The need for social distancing and self-isolation has created significant challenges in facilitating your voluntary service and your health, safety and well-being is our priority. For all of our volunteers who are working on the front-line, particularly our health workers, we thank you and we salute you and we wish you the strength to continue this amazing work.
In the next few days, an on-line form will be available, through which you will be able to offer your services. All resources will be collated and where appropriate, you will be contacted to assist our efforts.
In the meantime, whilst you are being encouraged to be physically isolated, please be anything but isolated electronically and on the phone! Please run through your contact list and take time to call on your old friends, jamati members and anyone else in your network who may be in need. Only a few minutes of your time will mean an incalculable amount to someone feeling lonely.
We are looking forward to working with all our volunteers again very soon!
Navroz signifies a a time for spiritual renewal and physical rejuvenation. Please stay physically strong by exercising at home and eating well. Please also stay mentally strong; to that end, we will shortly be updating you regarding Headstart which gives you the opportunity to study vocational training courses online. We hope to roll out additional training online in the near future as well.
We will get through this together. You are not alone. And soon we will again be #oneIVC, #oneJamat.
Navroz Mubarak to you.
The IVC Exec
https://the.ismaili/uk/navroz-mubarak-t ... -executive
Reflections Reading:
Holding Hands and Caring for Others
“The children of Adam, created of the self-same clay, are members of one body.
When one member suffers, all members suffer likewise.
O thou who art indifferent to the sufferings of thy fellow,
thou art unworthy to be called man.”
Sa’di Shirazi, Bani Adam
On March 29, 2020, Mawlana Hazar Imam sent a special message to the global Jamat. In it, he noted: “The world is facing a challenging time, and in these moments it is important that the Jamat remains united and focused on helping those who will need assistance and hand-holding.”
At a time of unprecedented global challenges brought about by the current pandemic, Mawlana Hazar Imam is asking us to think about generosity and helping those in need. This is a reminder of the central importance of the social conscience in Islamic traditions.
Videos and more...
https://iicanada.org/national/holding-h ... for-others
Holding Hands and Caring for Others
“The children of Adam, created of the self-same clay, are members of one body.
When one member suffers, all members suffer likewise.
O thou who art indifferent to the sufferings of thy fellow,
thou art unworthy to be called man.”
Sa’di Shirazi, Bani Adam
On March 29, 2020, Mawlana Hazar Imam sent a special message to the global Jamat. In it, he noted: “The world is facing a challenging time, and in these moments it is important that the Jamat remains united and focused on helping those who will need assistance and hand-holding.”
At a time of unprecedented global challenges brought about by the current pandemic, Mawlana Hazar Imam is asking us to think about generosity and helping those in need. This is a reminder of the central importance of the social conscience in Islamic traditions.
Videos and more...
https://iicanada.org/national/holding-h ... for-others
Message for National Volunteers Week by President Ameerally Kassim-Lakha
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6cDjkp ... e=youtu.be
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6cDjkp ... e=youtu.be
Ismaili Civic COVID-19 Volunteer Guidelines
Thank you for your support with the volunteer initiative to support those affected by COVID-19. However, the health and safety of our volunteers is our primary concern. We therefore ask that all volunteers comply with the following guidelines to participate in service which may require you to be physically present.
If any of the following apply to you, then you should not be volunteering in a way where you will potentially come into contact with people.
However, we would still like to invite all members of the Jamat to volunteer virtually through our various social distancing volunteering projects.
Click here to register to volunteer (requires IIUK login)
• You have a temperature, a new continuous cough or any of the other documented symptoms of coronavirus and live on your own
• Someone in your household has a temperature, a new continuous cough or any of the other documented symptoms of coronavirus
• You are pregnant
• You are an adult with an underlying health condition:
- Long-term respiratory diseases – such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Long-term heart disease – such as heart failure
- Kidney disease
- Liver disease – such as hepatitis
- Neurological conditions – such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis, a learning disability, or cerebral palsy
- Diabetes
- Problems with your spleen – such as sickle cell disease, or your spleen has been removed
- Weakened immune system – resulting from conditions such as HIV and AIDS, or medicines such as steroid tablets or chemotherapy
- Seriously overweight (body mass index of 40+)
- Clinical conditions that put you at a higher risk of severe illness. Examples include: having received an organ transplant or if you are on immunosuppression medication; have cancer and on active chemotherapy or radiotherapy; being treated for a cancer of the blood or bone marrow; have severe chest conditions such as cystic fibrosis or severe asthma; severe diseases of body systems, such as severe kidney disease needing dialysis
If you are unsure about whether you are well enough to volunteer, or you have any concerns about it, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]
https://the.ismaili/uk/ismaili-civic-co ... guidelines
Thank you for your support with the volunteer initiative to support those affected by COVID-19. However, the health and safety of our volunteers is our primary concern. We therefore ask that all volunteers comply with the following guidelines to participate in service which may require you to be physically present.
If any of the following apply to you, then you should not be volunteering in a way where you will potentially come into contact with people.
However, we would still like to invite all members of the Jamat to volunteer virtually through our various social distancing volunteering projects.
Click here to register to volunteer (requires IIUK login)
• You have a temperature, a new continuous cough or any of the other documented symptoms of coronavirus and live on your own
• Someone in your household has a temperature, a new continuous cough or any of the other documented symptoms of coronavirus
• You are pregnant
• You are an adult with an underlying health condition:
- Long-term respiratory diseases – such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
- Long-term heart disease – such as heart failure
- Kidney disease
- Liver disease – such as hepatitis
- Neurological conditions – such as Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis, a learning disability, or cerebral palsy
- Diabetes
- Problems with your spleen – such as sickle cell disease, or your spleen has been removed
- Weakened immune system – resulting from conditions such as HIV and AIDS, or medicines such as steroid tablets or chemotherapy
- Seriously overweight (body mass index of 40+)
- Clinical conditions that put you at a higher risk of severe illness. Examples include: having received an organ transplant or if you are on immunosuppression medication; have cancer and on active chemotherapy or radiotherapy; being treated for a cancer of the blood or bone marrow; have severe chest conditions such as cystic fibrosis or severe asthma; severe diseases of body systems, such as severe kidney disease needing dialysis
If you are unsure about whether you are well enough to volunteer, or you have any concerns about it, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]
https://the.ismaili/uk/ismaili-civic-co ... guidelines
Music Video: Heal a Heart
During these difficult times, kindness and generosity continue to bring warmth, light, and hope to our Jamat and humanity at large. This musical tribute, featuring members of the Jamat from 20 countries, is a small token of appreciation to all volunteers and health workers who are serving in ways seen and unseen, known and unknown.
https://the.ismaili/global/news/global- ... heal-heart
During these difficult times, kindness and generosity continue to bring warmth, light, and hope to our Jamat and humanity at large. This musical tribute, featuring members of the Jamat from 20 countries, is a small token of appreciation to all volunteers and health workers who are serving in ways seen and unseen, known and unknown.
https://the.ismaili/global/news/global- ... heal-heart
The Value of Seva Presented by Taslim Tharani
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... KR5n_u0wNk
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... KR5n_u0wNk
Session on Women’s Rehabilitation being conducted by Yasmin.
Women’s Health Physiotherapist delivers comprehensive training program at Aga Khan University Hospital
Yasmin Jumabhai Ransome, a TKN volunteer from the United Kingdom, conducted an in-depth three-week training and certification program, focusing on women’s health rehabilitation, at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Pakistan in November and December 2017.
Although she had extensive relevant experience and expertise, Yasmin had just retired from the profession when asked to serve on this assignment. In order to ensure that she was fully prepared to deliver this program successfully, Yasmin reviewed her many past presentations and lectures and had discussions with her former professional colleagues before her departure. She was also aware that there was no similar training programme in Pakistan for women’s health, so she would have to start with the basics.
On her first day in the Physiotherapy Department, Yasmin met the female physiotherapists (from AKUH and its satellite clinics) who were going to participate in this program. They were apprehensive but excited and, when they realised that Yasmin could also converse fluently in Urdu, it helped her to form a very strong bond with them.
Yasmin says, “The term ‘Women's Health Physiotherapy’ is misleading because continence issues, both urinary and faecal, affect both men and women. Consequently, during this training program, we studied the anatomy and physiology of both genders. Our primary focus, however, was on how pregnancy affects a woman’s body and the conditions that can result from a difficult childbirth, and also on prevention and treatment options”.
She adds, “When the male physiotherapists learnt that we were discussing continence issues, they also requested a session. This was a little challenging for me, considering I was in a conservative society and had to discuss the male anatomy and causes of incontinence in men, but it turned out to be a very productive session”
In Pakistan, it is common for women not to seek medical attention for incontinence, which has repercussions for both their physical health and social interactions. Yasmin and the AKUH Physiotherapy Department introduced the hospital’s urogynecologists to the newly trained physiotherapy team with the goal that this partnership would lead to earlier referrals for women affected by incontinence. Yasmin closely collaborated on this project with Ata Mohammad, Assistant Manager, Physiotherapy Department, and credits him with having the foresight and initiative to organize this much-needed training and certification initiative. In addition to delivering the three-week training program, Yasmin was also able to visit AKUH’s satellite clinics.
Yasmin says, “Everyone was very friendly and went out of their way to make me feel at home, and we continued to correspond after I returned home. An absolute highlight of my trip was the opportunity, on the morning of my departure for the UK, to attend Mawlana Hazar Imam’s didar during his Diamond Jubilee visit to Pakistan. I felt truly blessed- an acceptance and fulfilment of my TKN commitment to give back to the community in a small way”.
Ata Mohammad says that, “Yasmin’s most generous contribution of her time, talent and expertise as a TKN volunteer was deeply appreciated by AKUH. Because of her exemplary dedication and competence, we were able to conduct an intensive three-week certified training course on Women’s Health Rehabilitation, which was attended by our ten Physiotherapists. Yasmin’s exceptional teaching skills, enthusiasm and courteous personality enabled the participants to acquire new skills, added knowledge and significant insights. Her excellent ideas and input will also be most helpful in making valuable improvements to our future programs and services.”
Photos and more...
https://the.ismaili/tkn/womens-health-p ... university
Women’s Health Physiotherapist delivers comprehensive training program at Aga Khan University Hospital
Yasmin Jumabhai Ransome, a TKN volunteer from the United Kingdom, conducted an in-depth three-week training and certification program, focusing on women’s health rehabilitation, at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Pakistan in November and December 2017.
Although she had extensive relevant experience and expertise, Yasmin had just retired from the profession when asked to serve on this assignment. In order to ensure that she was fully prepared to deliver this program successfully, Yasmin reviewed her many past presentations and lectures and had discussions with her former professional colleagues before her departure. She was also aware that there was no similar training programme in Pakistan for women’s health, so she would have to start with the basics.
On her first day in the Physiotherapy Department, Yasmin met the female physiotherapists (from AKUH and its satellite clinics) who were going to participate in this program. They were apprehensive but excited and, when they realised that Yasmin could also converse fluently in Urdu, it helped her to form a very strong bond with them.
Yasmin says, “The term ‘Women's Health Physiotherapy’ is misleading because continence issues, both urinary and faecal, affect both men and women. Consequently, during this training program, we studied the anatomy and physiology of both genders. Our primary focus, however, was on how pregnancy affects a woman’s body and the conditions that can result from a difficult childbirth, and also on prevention and treatment options”.
She adds, “When the male physiotherapists learnt that we were discussing continence issues, they also requested a session. This was a little challenging for me, considering I was in a conservative society and had to discuss the male anatomy and causes of incontinence in men, but it turned out to be a very productive session”
In Pakistan, it is common for women not to seek medical attention for incontinence, which has repercussions for both their physical health and social interactions. Yasmin and the AKUH Physiotherapy Department introduced the hospital’s urogynecologists to the newly trained physiotherapy team with the goal that this partnership would lead to earlier referrals for women affected by incontinence. Yasmin closely collaborated on this project with Ata Mohammad, Assistant Manager, Physiotherapy Department, and credits him with having the foresight and initiative to organize this much-needed training and certification initiative. In addition to delivering the three-week training program, Yasmin was also able to visit AKUH’s satellite clinics.
Yasmin says, “Everyone was very friendly and went out of their way to make me feel at home, and we continued to correspond after I returned home. An absolute highlight of my trip was the opportunity, on the morning of my departure for the UK, to attend Mawlana Hazar Imam’s didar during his Diamond Jubilee visit to Pakistan. I felt truly blessed- an acceptance and fulfilment of my TKN commitment to give back to the community in a small way”.
Ata Mohammad says that, “Yasmin’s most generous contribution of her time, talent and expertise as a TKN volunteer was deeply appreciated by AKUH. Because of her exemplary dedication and competence, we were able to conduct an intensive three-week certified training course on Women’s Health Rehabilitation, which was attended by our ten Physiotherapists. Yasmin’s exceptional teaching skills, enthusiasm and courteous personality enabled the participants to acquire new skills, added knowledge and significant insights. Her excellent ideas and input will also be most helpful in making valuable improvements to our future programs and services.”
Photos and more...
https://the.ismaili/tkn/womens-health-p ... university
Ashan Donates 3D Printed Face Shields
When lockdown set in on 23rd March 2020, Ashan Dharamsi, a Recruitment Consultant from Peterborough was unable to continue with his job with a National Trade College. Like many others, Ashan wanted to do what he could during the pandemic crisis to help the community.
As news quickly spread that NHS staff were working tirelessly around the clock to do all that they could as COVID-19 was rapidly spreading throughout the country, Ashan frequently listened to the daily news reports that NHS staff were struggling to source PPE equipment.
Being inspired by the amazing work of the NHS and that of his wife, Shemin, an NHS Clinical Psychologist, Ashan, an engineer by background decided that this was the area that he could best utilise his skills to support the community.
Ashan bought a 3D printer and spent his spare time designing face shields. Through trial and error over a few days, Ashan was able to produce his final product.
Through social media posts, Ashan started to let the local community know that he was donating face shields to Keyworkers and vulnerable individuals. He was quickly inundated with hundreds of requests. He was contacted by various departments at Peterborough City Hospital. These included the Accident and Emergency Department, Critical Care Wards, Amazon Children’s ward, Mental Health inpatient wards and Paramedics. One team that were particularly struggling with PPE were the Hospital & Community Midwifes as the number of home births during lockdown has significantly increased. However, this was no problem at all for Ashan who supplied them with what they needed to continue working safely.
As word spread that Ashan was donating Face Shields, other teams and individuals got in touch. The demand for the face shields didn’t stop! Therefore, Ashan decided to buy a second 3D printer so that he could print twice as many to keep up with the demand!
To add to the above, Ashan has donated face shields to Care Homes, GP Surgeries, Pharmacies, Social Care departments, delivery drivers and many more.
Ashan has received great feedback regarding his face shields; Keyworkers have reported that his face shields are the most comfortable ones that they have had! Hearing such comments and seeing the appreciation and smiles on people’s face when he has delivered the face shields, makes it all worthwhile for Ashan.
Ashan’s keyworker friends and family across the country who have been struggling to access PPE have also contacted him. So, it wasn’t long before Ashan started posting his face shields across the UK. He also had international requests which he has been more than happy to supply.
The hospital contacted the local paper to raise awareness of the generous work Ashan has been doing, and he was grateful to them for helping him to reach more Keyworkers.
Ashan continues to donate the face shields as requests are ongoing. He is happy to donate these to Keyworkers in the Ismaili Community who may be in need. Please get in touch with Ashan by emailing him at [email protected].
Ashan has been featured in his local newspaper, to read this article visit: https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/new ... usband-ins...
https://the.ismaili/uk/ashan-donates-3d ... ce-shields
******
OB/GYN Doctor and 15-year-old Son Help Patients and Communities during Pandemic
Physician delivering babies in difficult circumstances is recognized and thanked by celebrity patients.
As Dr. Shamsah Amersi’s colleagues began to shut down their respective medical practices due to fear of risking their safety and that of their families, she was determined that the ethical imperative to provide care for her pregnant patients was greater than fear for her own safety. Pleas on social media by her and her son for donations of personal protective equipment (PPE) and groceries for those in need garnered national attention and support from Mayor of Hermosa Beach, Stacey Armato, renowned tennis player, Naomi Osaka, and Los Angeles Lakers co-owner, Jesse Buss, among others.
“My patients need me now more than ever,” explained Shamsah. She and her staff delivered many babies, including twins, where mothers had tested positive for COVID-19 over recent months. “Mothers were unable to hold their babies for 14 days after delivery,” recounts Shamsah. “We continued to do our best to preserve joy and provide support to them now more than ever.”
headshot_-_shamsah.jpg
Dr. Shamsah Amersi
Dr. Shamsah Amersi
When her colleagues contracted COVID-19, Shamsah stepped in and volunteered to cover for their patients. She helped create guidelines for delivering babies with infected mothers, including methods to optimize the well-being of the mothers during the difficult 14-day period of not being able to hold their babies.
While she spent day and night at her practice, considered the busiest in Southern California, Shamsah’s 15-year-old son, Jaden Amersi Anselmo, was also determined to provide support to his community while unable to physically attend school.
What began with Jaden and his classmates delivering groceries to the local Red Cross evolved into his endeavor being featured on Fox News and developing a partnership with Whole Foods and other local grocery stores.
Jaden’s food drive quickly caught the attention of businesses and non-profit organizations. He began collaborating with Venice Family Clinic, a local non-profit organization in Los Angeles, received donations of toothbrushes and toothpaste from dentists, thousands of water bottles from Voss Water, and skin care items from Dermalogica.
As an avid pianist, Jaden continued his work with "Music Mends Minds," a nonprofit that creates musical support groups for patients with Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Every week while his mother was at work, Jaden would spend part of his day playing music virtually to the elder patients who he normally plays with weekly.
Well-known singer and artist, Usher, who is also expecting a baby during this pandemic and under the care of Shamsah said, "Dr. Amersi - thank you for all that you and your son are doing during this crisis. You are both incredible."
Similar to healthcare professionals throughout the country, Shamsah and her entire hospital staff were faced with the critical lack of PPE. “It was similar to asking the doctors to enter a war scene with flip flops and a T-Shirt,” she explained. “Instead of waiting and being passive, we decided to be resourceful.”
In a remarkable showing of support, a generous outpouring of contributions arrived from high-profile clients including Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy, Adam Levine from Maroon 5, and Headspace Meditation App co-founder Andy Puddicombe. Patients and friends including Diane Keaton, Courteney Cox, Blake Griffin and Usher generously donated meals for the entire hospital to feed the frontline health care providers on behalf of Shamsah’s request for support.
Los Angeles Lakers owner, Jesse Buss, was inspired by Shamsah’s care during the delivery of his son, Ashton, in the midst of a global pandemic. He and his partner, Sarah Hair, generously donated masks for the entire hospital in honor of Shamsah. Madame Li Xiaolin, President of The Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, donated masks from China to support her and other healthcare professionals.
Mayor of Hermosa Beach, Stacey Armato, and a patient of Shamsah, collaborated with Chinese Royalty and donated N95 masks, personally driving to her home to deliver them. In the
headshot_-_shamsah_and_jaden.jpg
Dr. Shamsah Amersi and her son, Jaden Amersi Anselmo.
Dr. Shamsah Amersi and her son, Jaden Amersi Anselmo.
evenings,Shamsah and Jaden would drive to personally drop off PPE to other doctors, particularly elder doctors in the community especially vulnerable for infection.
Her compassion for her patients and calmness during difficult times were acknowledged by Shamsah’s clients. “You have a magical way about you and an incredible ability to quell my fears and provide comfort through every phase of my life,” said actress Diane Keaton. “Being pregnant during a pandemic is hard. Delivering a baby while infected is unimaginable,” said Natalie, a patient of Shamsah who had tested positive for COVID-19. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
In appreciation of having successfully delivered their baby at 34 weeks of gestation, Shamsah’s patient Sarah Martin and her husband Kyle, Senior Manager for Vans, donated custom Vans shoes to every healthcare provider at the hospital. Patti Stanger, star of Bravo and the cast of Real Housewives, recognized Shamsah on her social media account: "Meet our friend Shamsah Amersi who is on the frontline delivering life while others die. She is our hero."
Naomi Osaka, regarded as the best tennis player in the world, chose Shamsah as her personal hero for a national REAL HERO campaign: Naomi wrote the name “Dr. Amersi” on her tennis championship jacket and shared her admiration for her work on the frontlines. The World Tennis Association recognized Shamsah as their hero and donated $10,000 to her practice for her inspiring work during the global pandemic. 72and Sunny, an international advertising company, personally delivered face shields to Shamsah’s home so she could distribute them to her frontline colleagues.
Dr. Amersi received her Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Psychobiology from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and her medical degree from University of California, San Francisco’s School of Medicine. She is recognized as a leading obstetrician and gynecologist in the country. She serves as a mentor to medical students and physician assistants from Yale University, and has personally delivered over ten thousand newborns.
https://the.ismaili/usa/our-community/o ... g-pandemic
When lockdown set in on 23rd March 2020, Ashan Dharamsi, a Recruitment Consultant from Peterborough was unable to continue with his job with a National Trade College. Like many others, Ashan wanted to do what he could during the pandemic crisis to help the community.
As news quickly spread that NHS staff were working tirelessly around the clock to do all that they could as COVID-19 was rapidly spreading throughout the country, Ashan frequently listened to the daily news reports that NHS staff were struggling to source PPE equipment.
Being inspired by the amazing work of the NHS and that of his wife, Shemin, an NHS Clinical Psychologist, Ashan, an engineer by background decided that this was the area that he could best utilise his skills to support the community.
Ashan bought a 3D printer and spent his spare time designing face shields. Through trial and error over a few days, Ashan was able to produce his final product.
Through social media posts, Ashan started to let the local community know that he was donating face shields to Keyworkers and vulnerable individuals. He was quickly inundated with hundreds of requests. He was contacted by various departments at Peterborough City Hospital. These included the Accident and Emergency Department, Critical Care Wards, Amazon Children’s ward, Mental Health inpatient wards and Paramedics. One team that were particularly struggling with PPE were the Hospital & Community Midwifes as the number of home births during lockdown has significantly increased. However, this was no problem at all for Ashan who supplied them with what they needed to continue working safely.
As word spread that Ashan was donating Face Shields, other teams and individuals got in touch. The demand for the face shields didn’t stop! Therefore, Ashan decided to buy a second 3D printer so that he could print twice as many to keep up with the demand!
To add to the above, Ashan has donated face shields to Care Homes, GP Surgeries, Pharmacies, Social Care departments, delivery drivers and many more.
Ashan has received great feedback regarding his face shields; Keyworkers have reported that his face shields are the most comfortable ones that they have had! Hearing such comments and seeing the appreciation and smiles on people’s face when he has delivered the face shields, makes it all worthwhile for Ashan.
Ashan’s keyworker friends and family across the country who have been struggling to access PPE have also contacted him. So, it wasn’t long before Ashan started posting his face shields across the UK. He also had international requests which he has been more than happy to supply.
The hospital contacted the local paper to raise awareness of the generous work Ashan has been doing, and he was grateful to them for helping him to reach more Keyworkers.
Ashan continues to donate the face shields as requests are ongoing. He is happy to donate these to Keyworkers in the Ismaili Community who may be in need. Please get in touch with Ashan by emailing him at [email protected].
Ashan has been featured in his local newspaper, to read this article visit: https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/new ... usband-ins...
https://the.ismaili/uk/ashan-donates-3d ... ce-shields
******
OB/GYN Doctor and 15-year-old Son Help Patients and Communities during Pandemic
Physician delivering babies in difficult circumstances is recognized and thanked by celebrity patients.
As Dr. Shamsah Amersi’s colleagues began to shut down their respective medical practices due to fear of risking their safety and that of their families, she was determined that the ethical imperative to provide care for her pregnant patients was greater than fear for her own safety. Pleas on social media by her and her son for donations of personal protective equipment (PPE) and groceries for those in need garnered national attention and support from Mayor of Hermosa Beach, Stacey Armato, renowned tennis player, Naomi Osaka, and Los Angeles Lakers co-owner, Jesse Buss, among others.
“My patients need me now more than ever,” explained Shamsah. She and her staff delivered many babies, including twins, where mothers had tested positive for COVID-19 over recent months. “Mothers were unable to hold their babies for 14 days after delivery,” recounts Shamsah. “We continued to do our best to preserve joy and provide support to them now more than ever.”
headshot_-_shamsah.jpg
Dr. Shamsah Amersi
Dr. Shamsah Amersi
When her colleagues contracted COVID-19, Shamsah stepped in and volunteered to cover for their patients. She helped create guidelines for delivering babies with infected mothers, including methods to optimize the well-being of the mothers during the difficult 14-day period of not being able to hold their babies.
While she spent day and night at her practice, considered the busiest in Southern California, Shamsah’s 15-year-old son, Jaden Amersi Anselmo, was also determined to provide support to his community while unable to physically attend school.
What began with Jaden and his classmates delivering groceries to the local Red Cross evolved into his endeavor being featured on Fox News and developing a partnership with Whole Foods and other local grocery stores.
Jaden’s food drive quickly caught the attention of businesses and non-profit organizations. He began collaborating with Venice Family Clinic, a local non-profit organization in Los Angeles, received donations of toothbrushes and toothpaste from dentists, thousands of water bottles from Voss Water, and skin care items from Dermalogica.
As an avid pianist, Jaden continued his work with "Music Mends Minds," a nonprofit that creates musical support groups for patients with Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Every week while his mother was at work, Jaden would spend part of his day playing music virtually to the elder patients who he normally plays with weekly.
Well-known singer and artist, Usher, who is also expecting a baby during this pandemic and under the care of Shamsah said, "Dr. Amersi - thank you for all that you and your son are doing during this crisis. You are both incredible."
Similar to healthcare professionals throughout the country, Shamsah and her entire hospital staff were faced with the critical lack of PPE. “It was similar to asking the doctors to enter a war scene with flip flops and a T-Shirt,” she explained. “Instead of waiting and being passive, we decided to be resourceful.”
In a remarkable showing of support, a generous outpouring of contributions arrived from high-profile clients including Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy, Adam Levine from Maroon 5, and Headspace Meditation App co-founder Andy Puddicombe. Patients and friends including Diane Keaton, Courteney Cox, Blake Griffin and Usher generously donated meals for the entire hospital to feed the frontline health care providers on behalf of Shamsah’s request for support.
Los Angeles Lakers owner, Jesse Buss, was inspired by Shamsah’s care during the delivery of his son, Ashton, in the midst of a global pandemic. He and his partner, Sarah Hair, generously donated masks for the entire hospital in honor of Shamsah. Madame Li Xiaolin, President of The Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, donated masks from China to support her and other healthcare professionals.
Mayor of Hermosa Beach, Stacey Armato, and a patient of Shamsah, collaborated with Chinese Royalty and donated N95 masks, personally driving to her home to deliver them. In the
headshot_-_shamsah_and_jaden.jpg
Dr. Shamsah Amersi and her son, Jaden Amersi Anselmo.
Dr. Shamsah Amersi and her son, Jaden Amersi Anselmo.
evenings,Shamsah and Jaden would drive to personally drop off PPE to other doctors, particularly elder doctors in the community especially vulnerable for infection.
Her compassion for her patients and calmness during difficult times were acknowledged by Shamsah’s clients. “You have a magical way about you and an incredible ability to quell my fears and provide comfort through every phase of my life,” said actress Diane Keaton. “Being pregnant during a pandemic is hard. Delivering a baby while infected is unimaginable,” said Natalie, a patient of Shamsah who had tested positive for COVID-19. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
In appreciation of having successfully delivered their baby at 34 weeks of gestation, Shamsah’s patient Sarah Martin and her husband Kyle, Senior Manager for Vans, donated custom Vans shoes to every healthcare provider at the hospital. Patti Stanger, star of Bravo and the cast of Real Housewives, recognized Shamsah on her social media account: "Meet our friend Shamsah Amersi who is on the frontline delivering life while others die. She is our hero."
Naomi Osaka, regarded as the best tennis player in the world, chose Shamsah as her personal hero for a national REAL HERO campaign: Naomi wrote the name “Dr. Amersi” on her tennis championship jacket and shared her admiration for her work on the frontlines. The World Tennis Association recognized Shamsah as their hero and donated $10,000 to her practice for her inspiring work during the global pandemic. 72and Sunny, an international advertising company, personally delivered face shields to Shamsah’s home so she could distribute them to her frontline colleagues.
Dr. Amersi received her Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Psychobiology from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and her medical degree from University of California, San Francisco’s School of Medicine. She is recognized as a leading obstetrician and gynecologist in the country. She serves as a mentor to medical students and physician assistants from Yale University, and has personally delivered over ten thousand newborns.
https://the.ismaili/usa/our-community/o ... g-pandemic
Tujhay Samroo II Dedicated to our Beloved Hazar Imam & Global Ismaili Volunteers
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... e=emb_logo
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... e=emb_logo
Canadian Jamat works to improve healthcare systems around the world
Mawlana Hazar Imam has frequently commented on the value of sharing our time and knowledge with Jamats around the world and with the communities in which they live. Canadian Ismaili health professionals have taken that message to heart, having a long history of partnering with the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) to improve the quality of life of people around the world.
Over the past two decades, health professionals have focused on building capacity within health systems to promote continuous and sustainable improvements in the quality of health care. Dr Azim Juma, a family physician and assistant professor at the University of Toronto, has been involved since his first volunteer assignment in Tajikistan over two decades ago. It was then that he became associated with an initiative to implement a nationwide family medicine programme with the Aga Khan Health Service and the Tajik government.
“Family medicine health professionals, including family doctors, were largely absent in Tajikistan, therefore, embarking on this work was entirely new territory,” said Dr Juma.
The project involved the re-training of local health professionals to focus on the health of families within communities and for physicians and registered nurses trained in family medicine to be the initial point of contact for primary health care. Dr Juma was asked to spearhead this initiative which included renovating facilities and establishing protocols for referrals and recordkeeping. With a single pilot project which began in 2007, there are now 250 centres in three provinces.
Dr Karim Damji, an Edmonton-based ophthalmologist and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Alberta, recounts his efforts and that of local and visiting eye care professionals, including optometrists and nurses, to improve the quality of eye surgery and research in Kenya and Pakistan. From 1995 to 2001, various eyecare professionals from Canada had set up a rotating schedule such that every three to four months, someone was on the ground at the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi to help build capacity. This involved mentoring local ophthalmologists to perform cataract and glaucoma surgeries in line with international standards and implementing ophthalmology training programmes within the curriculum for medical students and residents. Doctors from Nairobi who wished to continue their training in fellowship programmes were invited to train at the University of Alberta, or in other locations such as India, to further improve their skills. Currently, ophthalmologists in Nairobi are utilising cutting edge technology as well as engaging in and publishing regionally relevant research.
Dr Damji emphasises that “fostering professional development, including leadership skills, as well as partnerships to develop enabling local environments has been the key to the success of our endeavours.”
Allied health professionals have also been part of these engagements with AKDN institutions. Zabin Mawji, a radiation therapist from Toronto, travelled to the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, to help develop a radiation oncology department that opened in 2006. Zabin’s work involved knowledge-exchange with local radiation therapists to improve quality of care and implement standardised policies and procedures for treatment. After her time as a volunteer was finished, she was employed by AKU to develop a training programme in radiation therapy, the first of its kind in Karachi. Zabin feels she “was part of something bigger as the work led to improving capacity within the entire country.”
The importance of generating local capacity through mutual knowledge-exchange, integrating regional expertise and experience, and understanding the local context, are common themes emphasized by all three health professionals, that were essential for the success of their respective projects.
Dr Juma highlighted his learning of the importance of allowing local leadership to make decisions that are appropriate for their contexts and environments. For instance, it was appropriate for registered nurses with training in family health to be the first point of contact with the health system in smaller villages.
Building strong relationships with people was an important learning for Dr Damji, as coordinating efforts was key to sustaining work over-time.
Zabin said she learned that anything is possible. She was able to recognise the creativity of her colleagues in Pakistan who shared with her different approaches to treating patients, which she now uses in her practice in Canada.
It is their hope that partnerships such as these will continue to be developed and strengthened to promote the unity and health of the global Jamat.
https://the.ismaili/global/news/communi ... -the-world
Mawlana Hazar Imam has frequently commented on the value of sharing our time and knowledge with Jamats around the world and with the communities in which they live. Canadian Ismaili health professionals have taken that message to heart, having a long history of partnering with the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) to improve the quality of life of people around the world.
Over the past two decades, health professionals have focused on building capacity within health systems to promote continuous and sustainable improvements in the quality of health care. Dr Azim Juma, a family physician and assistant professor at the University of Toronto, has been involved since his first volunteer assignment in Tajikistan over two decades ago. It was then that he became associated with an initiative to implement a nationwide family medicine programme with the Aga Khan Health Service and the Tajik government.
“Family medicine health professionals, including family doctors, were largely absent in Tajikistan, therefore, embarking on this work was entirely new territory,” said Dr Juma.
The project involved the re-training of local health professionals to focus on the health of families within communities and for physicians and registered nurses trained in family medicine to be the initial point of contact for primary health care. Dr Juma was asked to spearhead this initiative which included renovating facilities and establishing protocols for referrals and recordkeeping. With a single pilot project which began in 2007, there are now 250 centres in three provinces.
Dr Karim Damji, an Edmonton-based ophthalmologist and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Alberta, recounts his efforts and that of local and visiting eye care professionals, including optometrists and nurses, to improve the quality of eye surgery and research in Kenya and Pakistan. From 1995 to 2001, various eyecare professionals from Canada had set up a rotating schedule such that every three to four months, someone was on the ground at the Aga Khan University (AKU) in Karachi to help build capacity. This involved mentoring local ophthalmologists to perform cataract and glaucoma surgeries in line with international standards and implementing ophthalmology training programmes within the curriculum for medical students and residents. Doctors from Nairobi who wished to continue their training in fellowship programmes were invited to train at the University of Alberta, or in other locations such as India, to further improve their skills. Currently, ophthalmologists in Nairobi are utilising cutting edge technology as well as engaging in and publishing regionally relevant research.
Dr Damji emphasises that “fostering professional development, including leadership skills, as well as partnerships to develop enabling local environments has been the key to the success of our endeavours.”
Allied health professionals have also been part of these engagements with AKDN institutions. Zabin Mawji, a radiation therapist from Toronto, travelled to the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, to help develop a radiation oncology department that opened in 2006. Zabin’s work involved knowledge-exchange with local radiation therapists to improve quality of care and implement standardised policies and procedures for treatment. After her time as a volunteer was finished, she was employed by AKU to develop a training programme in radiation therapy, the first of its kind in Karachi. Zabin feels she “was part of something bigger as the work led to improving capacity within the entire country.”
The importance of generating local capacity through mutual knowledge-exchange, integrating regional expertise and experience, and understanding the local context, are common themes emphasized by all three health professionals, that were essential for the success of their respective projects.
Dr Juma highlighted his learning of the importance of allowing local leadership to make decisions that are appropriate for their contexts and environments. For instance, it was appropriate for registered nurses with training in family health to be the first point of contact with the health system in smaller villages.
Building strong relationships with people was an important learning for Dr Damji, as coordinating efforts was key to sustaining work over-time.
Zabin said she learned that anything is possible. She was able to recognise the creativity of her colleagues in Pakistan who shared with her different approaches to treating patients, which she now uses in her practice in Canada.
It is their hope that partnerships such as these will continue to be developed and strengthened to promote the unity and health of the global Jamat.
https://the.ismaili/global/news/communi ... -the-world
American Ismailis Partner to Build a Secondary School in the Kigoma Region
How a wedding helped transform the education and lives of children, and the destiny of a village.
In rural areas of Tanzania, the number of schools beyond primary levels are few and far between. Families with the ambition to climb out of poverty find it nearly impossible to do so without access to secondary education.
“I wanted to provide access,” explains Shelmina Abji, on why she wanted to open a school in Tanzania. She recalls leaving her hometown of Mwanza, a city in northern Tanzania, at the age of 15, and the impact it had on her life to be the first in her family to receive higher education.
Children of Mgaraganza, a village in the Kigoma region of Tanzania, were travelling on foot to the nearest High School, three miles away. With oppressive rains and humidity, an overwhelming number of students dropped out of school, in particular female students, due to safety concerns.
The educational infrastructure in rural Tanzania needs much improvement. In the 1998 Census, the Kigoma region ranked 15th in the illiteracy rate among the 20 surveyed. “This region is historically the most underdeveloped as far as secondary education, college and primary education are concerned,” notes a report by the Rural Integrated Development Program. It also adds that “Kigoma is counting 48 primary schools, 25 kindergarten schools, which are not operating properly due to lack of means.”
The results of a 2012 study from the University of Dar es Salaam stated that teachers’ commitment to the profession was “devastatingly low, with only a handful of teachers reporting that they wanted to join the teaching profession in the first place.” Poor teachers’ commitment to the teaching profession was attributed to poor working conditions in schools, and the low status accorded to the teaching profession. In fact, a few years ago, the average salary for a teacher in this area was only US $400 per month. Poor schools and a lack of committed and qualified teachers are impediments to a better quality of life for these students and their families.
“God used us as an instrument to exercise his will,” explain Seattle residents Shelmina and her husband Minaz, on having connected online with Ms. Rai Farrelly, a Master’s student living in Utah, who had worked in Tanzania for an NGO. She was aware of the lack of facilities in Mgaraganza, a rural area, and also wanted to build a school there, having collected $2,000 for this cause. Through an initiative entitled Project Wezesha – supported by Global Giving and in partnership with village leaders of Mgaraganza - Rai had established the necessary framework for the school but found the initiative was short of resources, needing US $50,000 to complete the project.
After weeks of discussions, Shelmina and Minaz printed invitations for their upcoming wedding, suggesting that instead of gifts to the couple, guests donate towards the Amahoro Secondary School. The couple provided the gifts and added their own funds to complete the financing required for the school.
Rai had worked with Lucas Lameck, a local youth who had participated in meetings with the Village Chief about the school, and the village agreed to donate the land and labour to build the school. The school opened in 2012 for Form 1, and each year thereafter, another classroom was built and opened for the students moving up.
Shelmina refers to the “outsize impact” the school has had since having opened. The dropout rate had been eliminated entirely, and children now walked five to fifteen minutes to get to school. Children from nearby villages were travelling to attend the new school and the number of classrooms and chairs was falling short. The first graduating class in 2018 comprised of nearly 130 students, with a total enrolment of 500 students at the school.
“Parents are now learning from the students. The decision-making ability of these students expands,” explains Shelmina. Minaz believes “the impact will be felt exponentially ten years from now when the children become adults in their communities.”
The initial contributions provided for 16 classrooms, furnished with desks and chairs for the increasing number of students. Minaz found it remarkable the lengths their contributions were taken. “The kind of impact we can have in these communities is outstanding. I was amazed at what they were able to achieve and the number of students they had.” Shelmina remarks that although there was much-needed work yet to be completed, the village and the students are grateful for the facilities.
“Driving in the car, we see students and they start singing and laughing,” says Minaz of their visit to the school in February 2020. “They were so appreciative. We were able to touch and see the impact.” The couple met with the students, the villagers who provided the necessary labour to construct the school, and Lucas – project manager for Project Wezesha and an integral part of Rai’s initiative.
Since their recent visit, Shelmina and Minaz have supplemented their initial contribution to the Amahoro School that will go towards building a sanitation room for female students, installing a larger water tank, completing an additional seven classrooms, providing for a new photocopy machine, and installing solar panels for electricity. The chief of the village stated, “we are changing the destiny of the village.”
Shelmina recalls the challenges in finding and partnering with the right organisation to open a school in a rural part of Tanzania. Many organizations found it daunting to open a school where infrastructure was nonexistent, and where villages were not considered focus sites. She then reflects on the visit to the Amahoro sSchool, and being greeted by the students, as being the happiest day of her life. “It’s all serendipity,” she says.
Minaz also wanted to make an impact on education in Uganda, where he was born. He partnered with IREAD, donating funds for the opening of an ECD in the Kanungu district in rural Uganda. IREAD’s mission is to develop Early Childhood Centers (ECD) in the developing world and has built 10 in Uganda and 11 in Northern Pakistan. The centers in Uganda are certified and registered with the Ministry of Education and follow the national ECD curriculum. The centres in Pakistan are monitored by the Aga Khan Education Services and follow their curriculum.
https://the.ismaili/tanzania/american-i ... oma-region
How a wedding helped transform the education and lives of children, and the destiny of a village.
In rural areas of Tanzania, the number of schools beyond primary levels are few and far between. Families with the ambition to climb out of poverty find it nearly impossible to do so without access to secondary education.
“I wanted to provide access,” explains Shelmina Abji, on why she wanted to open a school in Tanzania. She recalls leaving her hometown of Mwanza, a city in northern Tanzania, at the age of 15, and the impact it had on her life to be the first in her family to receive higher education.
Children of Mgaraganza, a village in the Kigoma region of Tanzania, were travelling on foot to the nearest High School, three miles away. With oppressive rains and humidity, an overwhelming number of students dropped out of school, in particular female students, due to safety concerns.
The educational infrastructure in rural Tanzania needs much improvement. In the 1998 Census, the Kigoma region ranked 15th in the illiteracy rate among the 20 surveyed. “This region is historically the most underdeveloped as far as secondary education, college and primary education are concerned,” notes a report by the Rural Integrated Development Program. It also adds that “Kigoma is counting 48 primary schools, 25 kindergarten schools, which are not operating properly due to lack of means.”
The results of a 2012 study from the University of Dar es Salaam stated that teachers’ commitment to the profession was “devastatingly low, with only a handful of teachers reporting that they wanted to join the teaching profession in the first place.” Poor teachers’ commitment to the teaching profession was attributed to poor working conditions in schools, and the low status accorded to the teaching profession. In fact, a few years ago, the average salary for a teacher in this area was only US $400 per month. Poor schools and a lack of committed and qualified teachers are impediments to a better quality of life for these students and their families.
“God used us as an instrument to exercise his will,” explain Seattle residents Shelmina and her husband Minaz, on having connected online with Ms. Rai Farrelly, a Master’s student living in Utah, who had worked in Tanzania for an NGO. She was aware of the lack of facilities in Mgaraganza, a rural area, and also wanted to build a school there, having collected $2,000 for this cause. Through an initiative entitled Project Wezesha – supported by Global Giving and in partnership with village leaders of Mgaraganza - Rai had established the necessary framework for the school but found the initiative was short of resources, needing US $50,000 to complete the project.
After weeks of discussions, Shelmina and Minaz printed invitations for their upcoming wedding, suggesting that instead of gifts to the couple, guests donate towards the Amahoro Secondary School. The couple provided the gifts and added their own funds to complete the financing required for the school.
Rai had worked with Lucas Lameck, a local youth who had participated in meetings with the Village Chief about the school, and the village agreed to donate the land and labour to build the school. The school opened in 2012 for Form 1, and each year thereafter, another classroom was built and opened for the students moving up.
Shelmina refers to the “outsize impact” the school has had since having opened. The dropout rate had been eliminated entirely, and children now walked five to fifteen minutes to get to school. Children from nearby villages were travelling to attend the new school and the number of classrooms and chairs was falling short. The first graduating class in 2018 comprised of nearly 130 students, with a total enrolment of 500 students at the school.
“Parents are now learning from the students. The decision-making ability of these students expands,” explains Shelmina. Minaz believes “the impact will be felt exponentially ten years from now when the children become adults in their communities.”
The initial contributions provided for 16 classrooms, furnished with desks and chairs for the increasing number of students. Minaz found it remarkable the lengths their contributions were taken. “The kind of impact we can have in these communities is outstanding. I was amazed at what they were able to achieve and the number of students they had.” Shelmina remarks that although there was much-needed work yet to be completed, the village and the students are grateful for the facilities.
“Driving in the car, we see students and they start singing and laughing,” says Minaz of their visit to the school in February 2020. “They were so appreciative. We were able to touch and see the impact.” The couple met with the students, the villagers who provided the necessary labour to construct the school, and Lucas – project manager for Project Wezesha and an integral part of Rai’s initiative.
Since their recent visit, Shelmina and Minaz have supplemented their initial contribution to the Amahoro School that will go towards building a sanitation room for female students, installing a larger water tank, completing an additional seven classrooms, providing for a new photocopy machine, and installing solar panels for electricity. The chief of the village stated, “we are changing the destiny of the village.”
Shelmina recalls the challenges in finding and partnering with the right organisation to open a school in a rural part of Tanzania. Many organizations found it daunting to open a school where infrastructure was nonexistent, and where villages were not considered focus sites. She then reflects on the visit to the Amahoro sSchool, and being greeted by the students, as being the happiest day of her life. “It’s all serendipity,” she says.
Minaz also wanted to make an impact on education in Uganda, where he was born. He partnered with IREAD, donating funds for the opening of an ECD in the Kanungu district in rural Uganda. IREAD’s mission is to develop Early Childhood Centers (ECD) in the developing world and has built 10 in Uganda and 11 in Northern Pakistan. The centers in Uganda are certified and registered with the Ministry of Education and follow the national ECD curriculum. The centres in Pakistan are monitored by the Aga Khan Education Services and follow their curriculum.
https://the.ismaili/tanzania/american-i ... oma-region
Create a sanctuary
Dear Friend,
I’ll always remember the first time I stepped foot in the Aga Khan Museum. I remember how it felt to have so many examples of the creativity and diversity of Muslim culture unfurling all around me.
I knew then how special the Museum was and have been a committed supporter ever since.
It’s why I also decided to become a matching donor for the Museum’s Reignite campaign and why I’m inviting you to join me today.
Together, with a group of donors*, I am matching the first $40,000 raised for the Aga Khan Museum and I’m pleased to share that, in the first week, you have stepped up to the challenge and contributed more than $86,000! Thank you!
I hope that we can continue to rally together to reach the Museum’s goal of raising $200,000 towards its Rebuild 2020 programs.
As the Aga Khan Museum welcomes back its visitors once again, will you help me support this treasured cultural institution by giving $50 or $100 today?
In these uncertain times, I know the Museum is uniquely positioned to become a sanctuary of healing and restoration in Toronto.
I was moved to learn of the Museum’s plan to give the community a safe space to remember and pay tribute to the complex emotions from these past few months.
With your gift today, you can support the Remember community project that will give people the opportunity to plant tulip bulbs in the Aga Khan Park in tribute either to essential workers or to a loved one, with proceeds going to a local charity.
With four such community projects in the works, the Museum will hold space for our shared experiences.
I know this is a challenging time for many, which is why I'm honoured to step forward as a matching donor.
I assure you that your gift will go a long way—no matter the size.
PLEASE GIVE TODAY
https://agakhanmuseum.org/support/donat ... n=reignite
Together, we will fortify the Aga Khan Museum’s ability to serve as a sanctuary of healing and remembrance in our community.
Thank you.


Warmly,
Abdul Pirbhai
P.S. We’re 63% towards our goal of $200,000 for Reignite. Please support us with a gift today! If you made a donation, thank you – it is truly appreciated.
*Thank you to additional matching donors Bayview Hospitality Group, Jim Fleck and one anonymous donor.
https://mailchi.mp/e719a9ba91d6/reignit ... d857cac673
Dear Friend,
I’ll always remember the first time I stepped foot in the Aga Khan Museum. I remember how it felt to have so many examples of the creativity and diversity of Muslim culture unfurling all around me.
I knew then how special the Museum was and have been a committed supporter ever since.
It’s why I also decided to become a matching donor for the Museum’s Reignite campaign and why I’m inviting you to join me today.
Together, with a group of donors*, I am matching the first $40,000 raised for the Aga Khan Museum and I’m pleased to share that, in the first week, you have stepped up to the challenge and contributed more than $86,000! Thank you!
I hope that we can continue to rally together to reach the Museum’s goal of raising $200,000 towards its Rebuild 2020 programs.
As the Aga Khan Museum welcomes back its visitors once again, will you help me support this treasured cultural institution by giving $50 or $100 today?
In these uncertain times, I know the Museum is uniquely positioned to become a sanctuary of healing and restoration in Toronto.
I was moved to learn of the Museum’s plan to give the community a safe space to remember and pay tribute to the complex emotions from these past few months.
With your gift today, you can support the Remember community project that will give people the opportunity to plant tulip bulbs in the Aga Khan Park in tribute either to essential workers or to a loved one, with proceeds going to a local charity.
With four such community projects in the works, the Museum will hold space for our shared experiences.
I know this is a challenging time for many, which is why I'm honoured to step forward as a matching donor.
I assure you that your gift will go a long way—no matter the size.
PLEASE GIVE TODAY
https://agakhanmuseum.org/support/donat ... n=reignite
Together, we will fortify the Aga Khan Museum’s ability to serve as a sanctuary of healing and remembrance in our community.
Thank you.


Warmly,
Abdul Pirbhai
P.S. We’re 63% towards our goal of $200,000 for Reignite. Please support us with a gift today! If you made a donation, thank you – it is truly appreciated.
*Thank you to additional matching donors Bayview Hospitality Group, Jim Fleck and one anonymous donor.
https://mailchi.mp/e719a9ba91d6/reignit ... d857cac673
From Helpline to Lifeline: The Story of India's Jamati Helpline
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKfzg_RQhhM
On the occasion of Eid, the Ismaili India is pleased to bring you a brand new short film, which captures the spirit of service of our many volunteers who serve with the Jamati Helpline. Their courage, care and compassion has made the Helpline a Lifeline for the Jamat in these trying times.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKfzg_RQhhM
On the occasion of Eid, the Ismaili India is pleased to bring you a brand new short film, which captures the spirit of service of our many volunteers who serve with the Jamati Helpline. Their courage, care and compassion has made the Helpline a Lifeline for the Jamat in these trying times.
TKN filmmaker communicates scale and impact of AKDN and Jamati programmes to a global audience
On 11 July 2007, our worldwide Jamat witnessed for the first time Mawlana Hazar Imam’s live Golden Jubilee homage ceremony, when the Aiglemont media team telecasted this historic event globally. Karim Dossani was in Los Angeles at that time directing the local celebration event - a mere ensemble of five cameras and a skeletal crew of fifteen - his first major TKN assignment. “Why am I here and not there,” whispered a voice fleetingly from his heart to his mind.
His strong passion to further serve the Imam’s institutions was fulfilled a few years later. “I was starting to feel that I had chosen the wrong profession when I received a phone call in December 2014 requesting that I travel from Australia to Northern Pakistan for a TKN assignment,” Karim said.
A month later, Karim and his team travelled for 22 hours from Islamabad, through narrow-dirt-passages that cut through mountains, to arrive at the first of their several filming sites in Gilgit-Baltistan. Initially, overwhelmed by the breathtaking views of the snow-covered mountains, organic food, warmth, and hospitality of the local community, Karim said he was oblivious to some of the harsher realities until one evening when he interviewed the head of a local family. During the course of the interview, the man told Karim the story of how his grandson died in his arms because they could not reach a healthcare centre in time.
“Although bereft of several basic necessities, these people kept going on with life, with a smile adorning their faces,” Karim said. “The spark within me was beginning to rekindle. I had found my silver lining; telling stories about real people and their lives.”
Since that first life-changing TKN opportunity, Karim has been blessed with several TKN film assignments of varying nature: the International Jubilee Games in 2016, the opening of the Naryn Campus at the University of Central Asia, Mawlana Hazar Imam’s 80th birthday in France, the European Sports Festivals in 2017 and 2019, a global film on early childhood education for the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Geneva, the Aga Khan Centre opening in London, and numerous activities and events related to the Diamond Jubilee, to name but a few.
Over the past few years, Karim has predominantly documented AKDN’s impact in the fields of education, culture, and health, within the remote regions of Northern Pakistan and more recently Southeast Africa. While traversing these uncharted remote territories, he said he realised that the need for developmental interventions stem from social issues within these societies, attributed to disparity in socio-cultural and socio-economic ideologies.
“I learnt about people, learnt about cultures, life, thought processes … every step of the way, I learnt,” Karim said. “In my experience, non-fiction films make for a useful communication resource. However, where documentaries are potent carriers of information, I feel these also bear the power of transformation, when properly researched, developed, filmed, and post-produced. This aspiration informs, inspires, and underpins much of my assignment deliverables, in principle and spirit.”
Aysha Rajwani from the Global Encounters team, who worked with Karim on a recent TKN assignment mentioned his contribution to Connect, the first ever Global Encounters virtual camp: “What we admired most about working with Karim was his precision and attention to detail, inspiring creativity, strong work ethic and unparalleled professionalism in producing a high quality product. It has been a true pleasure collaborating with him.”
Karim concludes, “In retrospect, all my professional and personal experiences over the past decade since I first offered my Time and Knowledge niyat during the Golden Jubilee commemoration have been a rich learning process and a humbling opportunity to meaningfully contribute my skills. As a filmmaker, I hope to continue serving and contributing, through the dynamic TKN platform, to the improvement in the quality of life of all those marginalized.”
The diverse institutions Karim has served with have immensely appreciated his inspiring TKN commitment and exemplary contribution.
https://the.ismaili/tkn/tkn-filmmaker-c ... l-audience
On 11 July 2007, our worldwide Jamat witnessed for the first time Mawlana Hazar Imam’s live Golden Jubilee homage ceremony, when the Aiglemont media team telecasted this historic event globally. Karim Dossani was in Los Angeles at that time directing the local celebration event - a mere ensemble of five cameras and a skeletal crew of fifteen - his first major TKN assignment. “Why am I here and not there,” whispered a voice fleetingly from his heart to his mind.
His strong passion to further serve the Imam’s institutions was fulfilled a few years later. “I was starting to feel that I had chosen the wrong profession when I received a phone call in December 2014 requesting that I travel from Australia to Northern Pakistan for a TKN assignment,” Karim said.
A month later, Karim and his team travelled for 22 hours from Islamabad, through narrow-dirt-passages that cut through mountains, to arrive at the first of their several filming sites in Gilgit-Baltistan. Initially, overwhelmed by the breathtaking views of the snow-covered mountains, organic food, warmth, and hospitality of the local community, Karim said he was oblivious to some of the harsher realities until one evening when he interviewed the head of a local family. During the course of the interview, the man told Karim the story of how his grandson died in his arms because they could not reach a healthcare centre in time.
“Although bereft of several basic necessities, these people kept going on with life, with a smile adorning their faces,” Karim said. “The spark within me was beginning to rekindle. I had found my silver lining; telling stories about real people and their lives.”
Since that first life-changing TKN opportunity, Karim has been blessed with several TKN film assignments of varying nature: the International Jubilee Games in 2016, the opening of the Naryn Campus at the University of Central Asia, Mawlana Hazar Imam’s 80th birthday in France, the European Sports Festivals in 2017 and 2019, a global film on early childhood education for the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in Geneva, the Aga Khan Centre opening in London, and numerous activities and events related to the Diamond Jubilee, to name but a few.
Over the past few years, Karim has predominantly documented AKDN’s impact in the fields of education, culture, and health, within the remote regions of Northern Pakistan and more recently Southeast Africa. While traversing these uncharted remote territories, he said he realised that the need for developmental interventions stem from social issues within these societies, attributed to disparity in socio-cultural and socio-economic ideologies.
“I learnt about people, learnt about cultures, life, thought processes … every step of the way, I learnt,” Karim said. “In my experience, non-fiction films make for a useful communication resource. However, where documentaries are potent carriers of information, I feel these also bear the power of transformation, when properly researched, developed, filmed, and post-produced. This aspiration informs, inspires, and underpins much of my assignment deliverables, in principle and spirit.”
Aysha Rajwani from the Global Encounters team, who worked with Karim on a recent TKN assignment mentioned his contribution to Connect, the first ever Global Encounters virtual camp: “What we admired most about working with Karim was his precision and attention to detail, inspiring creativity, strong work ethic and unparalleled professionalism in producing a high quality product. It has been a true pleasure collaborating with him.”
Karim concludes, “In retrospect, all my professional and personal experiences over the past decade since I first offered my Time and Knowledge niyat during the Golden Jubilee commemoration have been a rich learning process and a humbling opportunity to meaningfully contribute my skills. As a filmmaker, I hope to continue serving and contributing, through the dynamic TKN platform, to the improvement in the quality of life of all those marginalized.”
The diverse institutions Karim has served with have immensely appreciated his inspiring TKN commitment and exemplary contribution.
https://the.ismaili/tkn/tkn-filmmaker-c ... l-audience
TKN Volunteers in Pakistan playing a key role during COVID-19
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, AKDN agencies and our Jamati institutions in Pakistan are playing a crucial role in helping to fight this pandemic. Our healthcare professionals and front-line essential workers are working tirelessly to help the vulnerable in the Jamat and in the wider community.
Over 300 dedicated TKN volunteers are also valiantly playing their part in helping to deal with this massive public health emergency. From making facemasks and data surveillance to dispelling myths and false information about this virus, their multi-disciplinary efforts and unknown sacrifices have curbed the virus from spreading in areas where they have been serving.
The short- and long-term actions of TKN volunteers include translating awareness messages into local languages, mapping relevant healthcare facilities and medical supplies, supporting people in lockdown, monitoring recovered patients and helping to mitigate the economic fallout.
“Frontline workers do not have the privilege of remaining in their homes to shield themselves from the virus. It is a harrowing decision to meet your children when you know you are exposed to the virus every day,” said TKN volunteer Abdul Majeed. Majeed, who screens frequent visitors to Gojal (a valley in Northern Pakistan), mentioned the difficult working conditions and lack of technical expertise in remote areas such as his. TKN volunteers on his team also explain to the local population the importance of self-isolating or quarantine—a gargantuan task in itself. Despite the challenges, Majeed and his team continue to provide succour to those in need.
“It is an axiom that the virus is indiscriminatory; this is not an inconvenience affecting one stratum of society. These are unprecedented times and the economic crisis has indeed taken a larger toll on some. We need to look out for each other,” Majeed added.
Patients are understandably anxious about their own health and the risks posed to their loved ones. This is exacerbated by concerns that the virus spread may worsen. With the mental health of many in serious jeopardy, TKN volunteers have not only reached out to families but also launched several helplines catering to patients experiencing any illness. From emergency arrivals to critical care, rapid response teams are meticulously involved in their recoveries and rehabilitation.
Simultaneously, tele-health services are being run to ensure that the Jamat has access to medical personnel in these crucial times. Healthcare professionals, operating under extreme uncertainty, also understandably experience trauma.
“I look around myself and I can sense the chaos. We are worried about not having sufficient PPEs to protect ourselves. We agonise over the prospect of running out of ventilators and having to withhold care from the dying. It is not only COVID-19 but also cases of anxiety, depression, burnout and other mental health issues within our healthcare community. This pandemic is not limited to the virus only; its consequences are multifaceted,” said Zumri Nazir, who works as a nurse at a local hospital in Gakuch, Gilgit-Baltistan.
As frontline workers around Pakistan attempt to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases, others appear to be leaning towards technology for support. Misinformation and a lack of knowledge during crises can fuel paranoia, stigma and trepidation, and result in an absence of precautionary measures. Virtual activities and online awareness sessions about the coronavirus and its unprecedented challenges are often held to educate and support members of the Jamat, within the safety of their own homes. While COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in our lives, it has also reminded us of the indomitable spirit of our Jamat and the shared values and ethics we uphold.
The inspiring heroism, dedication and perseverance displayed by health care professionals, frontline workers and our volunteers give the Jamat a degree of reassurance that we will overcome this virus. The pandemic may end in a year or two, but we will always remember who led the battle in helping to overcome this adversity – an important reminder that not all super-heroes wear capes.
Photos at:
https://the.ismaili/tkn/tkn-volunteers- ... g-covid-19
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, AKDN agencies and our Jamati institutions in Pakistan are playing a crucial role in helping to fight this pandemic. Our healthcare professionals and front-line essential workers are working tirelessly to help the vulnerable in the Jamat and in the wider community.
Over 300 dedicated TKN volunteers are also valiantly playing their part in helping to deal with this massive public health emergency. From making facemasks and data surveillance to dispelling myths and false information about this virus, their multi-disciplinary efforts and unknown sacrifices have curbed the virus from spreading in areas where they have been serving.
The short- and long-term actions of TKN volunteers include translating awareness messages into local languages, mapping relevant healthcare facilities and medical supplies, supporting people in lockdown, monitoring recovered patients and helping to mitigate the economic fallout.
“Frontline workers do not have the privilege of remaining in their homes to shield themselves from the virus. It is a harrowing decision to meet your children when you know you are exposed to the virus every day,” said TKN volunteer Abdul Majeed. Majeed, who screens frequent visitors to Gojal (a valley in Northern Pakistan), mentioned the difficult working conditions and lack of technical expertise in remote areas such as his. TKN volunteers on his team also explain to the local population the importance of self-isolating or quarantine—a gargantuan task in itself. Despite the challenges, Majeed and his team continue to provide succour to those in need.
“It is an axiom that the virus is indiscriminatory; this is not an inconvenience affecting one stratum of society. These are unprecedented times and the economic crisis has indeed taken a larger toll on some. We need to look out for each other,” Majeed added.
Patients are understandably anxious about their own health and the risks posed to their loved ones. This is exacerbated by concerns that the virus spread may worsen. With the mental health of many in serious jeopardy, TKN volunteers have not only reached out to families but also launched several helplines catering to patients experiencing any illness. From emergency arrivals to critical care, rapid response teams are meticulously involved in their recoveries and rehabilitation.
Simultaneously, tele-health services are being run to ensure that the Jamat has access to medical personnel in these crucial times. Healthcare professionals, operating under extreme uncertainty, also understandably experience trauma.
“I look around myself and I can sense the chaos. We are worried about not having sufficient PPEs to protect ourselves. We agonise over the prospect of running out of ventilators and having to withhold care from the dying. It is not only COVID-19 but also cases of anxiety, depression, burnout and other mental health issues within our healthcare community. This pandemic is not limited to the virus only; its consequences are multifaceted,” said Zumri Nazir, who works as a nurse at a local hospital in Gakuch, Gilgit-Baltistan.
As frontline workers around Pakistan attempt to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases, others appear to be leaning towards technology for support. Misinformation and a lack of knowledge during crises can fuel paranoia, stigma and trepidation, and result in an absence of precautionary measures. Virtual activities and online awareness sessions about the coronavirus and its unprecedented challenges are often held to educate and support members of the Jamat, within the safety of their own homes. While COVID-19 has wreaked havoc in our lives, it has also reminded us of the indomitable spirit of our Jamat and the shared values and ethics we uphold.
The inspiring heroism, dedication and perseverance displayed by health care professionals, frontline workers and our volunteers give the Jamat a degree of reassurance that we will overcome this virus. The pandemic may end in a year or two, but we will always remember who led the battle in helping to overcome this adversity – an important reminder that not all super-heroes wear capes.
Photos at:
https://the.ismaili/tkn/tkn-volunteers- ... g-covid-19
Redefining Charity - The Work of Aga Khan Scouts and Guides
The Founder of the Scout Mission, Sir Robert Baden Powell, once said, “Leave this world a little better than you found it.”
Charity, most typically, has been defined as money given to those in need through an established non-profit organization or as philanthropic donations to the poor and marginalized communities. It was a phenomenon limited to the elite who had the means to succour and provide help. Yet, over the years, it has acquired a variety of meanings - an act of kindness, tolerance in judging others, voluntary aid or selfless care to any around - that have made it a notion quite simple to comprehend and accessible to all of mankind; one that has no set boundaries and financial limitations.
Aligning with this ideology of selfless giving, the UN General Assembly in 2012 declared the International Day of Charity to be observed annually around the world. Commemorated with fundraisers, awareness events and charitable efforts globally, the International Day of Charity in 2020 marks the eighth year of this convention. It is central to acknowledging altruistic actions and aims to provide a common platform for charity related activities for individuals and volunteer organisations for their own purposes on any level. Most importantly, it serves to enhance and increase social responsibility and solidarity amongst us all, and to increase the public’s support for humanitarian causes.
For many years now, the Aga Khan Scouts and Guides Group (AKSG), as community volunteers and responsible members of civil society, have been viewed as a shining example when it comes to ‘doing their duty to God and their country’ and demonstrating social conscience through their actions. Founded in 1983, the organization is registered under the Dubai Scouts Mission and currently has over 300 members. Some members started volunteering as early as the age of seven. AKSG has always served willingly, dedicating Friday evenings to serve the community and also volunteer at non- denominational social events taking place at the Ismaili Centre Dubai and beyond. This includes events such as serving Iftar during Ramadan and leading Blood Donation drives.
The AKSG Band Group has depicted the true essence of philanthropy by performing at a number of initiatives that raise awareness regarding social issues including but not limited to: the Emirates NBD Unity Run for Down Syndrome Children, Dubai Cares Walk for Education, Sandscapes and the Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research. The Band also participates at the annual Emirates Environmental Group Clean Up Campaign, for the prosperity of the wider society within the country, exhibiting charity not only to humankind but also the environment.
Nabeel Shiraz, the Captain of the UAE AKSG Band Group, mentions that he wishes to play his part as a leader and a pivotal member of society “by further looking into social causes to support and contribute to the community at large.” Zohaib Jalal, an experienced AKSG member, believes that “AKSG outlines the meaning of voluntary service to the youth and is one of the ways to experience the tenets of Islam.”
His Highness the Aga Khan, on several occasions, has expressed how his duty to serve and enable the less fortunate holds a special place in the eyes of Islam. At the Conference of Indigenous Philanthropy, held in Islamabad, Pakistan in the year 2000, His Highness said “the best of charity, in Islamic terms, can go beyond material support alone. It can take the form of human or professional support such as the provision of education for those otherwise unable to obtain it, or of the sharing of knowledge to help marginalised individuals build different and better futures for themselves.” In our religion, charity lays at the foundation and is paramount to the teachings of Islam and its history. It strongly emphasizes the significance of charitable work and the collective responsibility we have as a community toward anyone in need.
In light of this year’s International Day of Charity, let us recognise the work of volunteers worldwide, our institutions and global organisations that contribute unwaveringly to the betterment of society. Let us think about our actions and how we can collectively lend a hand, to leave the world a bit better than we found it.
Written by: Insha Bandeali
https://the.ismaili/uae/redefining-char ... and-guides
The Founder of the Scout Mission, Sir Robert Baden Powell, once said, “Leave this world a little better than you found it.”
Charity, most typically, has been defined as money given to those in need through an established non-profit organization or as philanthropic donations to the poor and marginalized communities. It was a phenomenon limited to the elite who had the means to succour and provide help. Yet, over the years, it has acquired a variety of meanings - an act of kindness, tolerance in judging others, voluntary aid or selfless care to any around - that have made it a notion quite simple to comprehend and accessible to all of mankind; one that has no set boundaries and financial limitations.
Aligning with this ideology of selfless giving, the UN General Assembly in 2012 declared the International Day of Charity to be observed annually around the world. Commemorated with fundraisers, awareness events and charitable efforts globally, the International Day of Charity in 2020 marks the eighth year of this convention. It is central to acknowledging altruistic actions and aims to provide a common platform for charity related activities for individuals and volunteer organisations for their own purposes on any level. Most importantly, it serves to enhance and increase social responsibility and solidarity amongst us all, and to increase the public’s support for humanitarian causes.
For many years now, the Aga Khan Scouts and Guides Group (AKSG), as community volunteers and responsible members of civil society, have been viewed as a shining example when it comes to ‘doing their duty to God and their country’ and demonstrating social conscience through their actions. Founded in 1983, the organization is registered under the Dubai Scouts Mission and currently has over 300 members. Some members started volunteering as early as the age of seven. AKSG has always served willingly, dedicating Friday evenings to serve the community and also volunteer at non- denominational social events taking place at the Ismaili Centre Dubai and beyond. This includes events such as serving Iftar during Ramadan and leading Blood Donation drives.
The AKSG Band Group has depicted the true essence of philanthropy by performing at a number of initiatives that raise awareness regarding social issues including but not limited to: the Emirates NBD Unity Run for Down Syndrome Children, Dubai Cares Walk for Education, Sandscapes and the Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research. The Band also participates at the annual Emirates Environmental Group Clean Up Campaign, for the prosperity of the wider society within the country, exhibiting charity not only to humankind but also the environment.
Nabeel Shiraz, the Captain of the UAE AKSG Band Group, mentions that he wishes to play his part as a leader and a pivotal member of society “by further looking into social causes to support and contribute to the community at large.” Zohaib Jalal, an experienced AKSG member, believes that “AKSG outlines the meaning of voluntary service to the youth and is one of the ways to experience the tenets of Islam.”
His Highness the Aga Khan, on several occasions, has expressed how his duty to serve and enable the less fortunate holds a special place in the eyes of Islam. At the Conference of Indigenous Philanthropy, held in Islamabad, Pakistan in the year 2000, His Highness said “the best of charity, in Islamic terms, can go beyond material support alone. It can take the form of human or professional support such as the provision of education for those otherwise unable to obtain it, or of the sharing of knowledge to help marginalised individuals build different and better futures for themselves.” In our religion, charity lays at the foundation and is paramount to the teachings of Islam and its history. It strongly emphasizes the significance of charitable work and the collective responsibility we have as a community toward anyone in need.
In light of this year’s International Day of Charity, let us recognise the work of volunteers worldwide, our institutions and global organisations that contribute unwaveringly to the betterment of society. Let us think about our actions and how we can collectively lend a hand, to leave the world a bit better than we found it.
Written by: Insha Bandeali
https://the.ismaili/uae/redefining-char ... and-guides
Volunteering to Improve the Quality of Life for Seniors
iCARE HOPE and Care volunteers help seniors and families planning for, and during, retirement.
"Those who believe, and do good deeds, and pray regularly, and give charity—they will have their reward with their Lord; they will have no fear, nor shall they grieve."
(Holy Qur’an 2:277)
Getting old isn’t what it used to be. People are living longer than ever before, and traditional support systems like extended, multi-generational family networks, are more likely to be disrupted by distance and the increasing time demands of the workplace.
Planning for these two trends is an increasingly important priority for the Ismaili community. Helping seniors and their families plan for their aging years, and ensuring that they remain socially engaged are the aims of two separate but complementary Council programs: HOPE and iCare.
While HOPE is a program aimed at aging, it is not just for seniors: its target demographic is anyone in the workforce up to and including retirement. The acronym stands for Helping Options and Planning Endeavor. It’s a two-prong program: one directed at providing support to families caring for their seniors; the other prong is targeted at younger people, providing them the resources they need to plan for their own security in their old age. In both cases, advice and information are provided with discretion, with the goal of facilitating a family’s autonomy and respecting their privacy.
Zohra Momin has been a coordinator and volunteer with the HOPE program for close to four years in the Sugar Land Jamatkhana in Houston. “We want to have people at a place where they have their dignity maintained, and that they are not stressing their family,” she says, explaining that she aims to facilitate each family’s goals for their own quality of life. “Our main focus is giving people options, and letting them decide what is best for them.”
ahmina_kheraj-8327.jpg
Santa Monica Jamatkhana seniors making a gratitude tree together.
THE.ISMAILI
Zohra and her fellow HOPE volunteers act as facilitators, rather than providing direct assistance. Referrals come to them through the Access desk in Jamatkhana. Drawing on a network of subject matter experts, she and her team will coordinate support for people seeking in-home care for seniors or nursing care, health insurance, or applying for government benefits.
Zohra is proud of the successes she and her team have achieved but believes that HOPE can be most effective by preparing for the seniors of tomorrow. “It’s very hard to get people to think about planning for their old age. People like to think they can always put that off.”
Samira Maredia concurs. A fellow Houston-area HOPE volunteer, Samira says that reaching out to younger Jamati members is difficult work, but it is key to the long-term health and security of the community as a whole. She helps organize information sessions on social security and long-term planning aimed at younger members. “We talk about proactive longevity – planning for the future,” she says, adding, “I know when I started working, when I was young, I wasn’t serious about saving for my old age. Young people need to think about maintaining a healthy lifestyle, so they are healthy in their retirement.”
While HOPE focuses on helping families access resources and plan for their desired future, iCARE is geared towards direct outreach to seniors 65 and older. To judge by Alnoor Somji’s enthusiasm, volunteering for the program is a calling. He explains that he had volunteered with many different programs within the Jamat – from disaster management to the Youth and Sports Board, but says, “my heart was always with the seniors.”
Alnoor and the volunteers provide a number of direct outreach activities to benefit the seniors within the Orlando Jamat. This includes weekly check-in phone calls, hospital or in-care social visits, as well as occasionally providing rides to seniors living alone.
There is a need for the work of iCARE to be better known, and better understood, says Alnoor. With younger family members working full-time in demanding jobs, and with cultural and language barriers complicating care, services like iCARE are not a last resort, but a necessity for many families.
“We need to get rid of the stigma – we need to make it easier for families to get help. Right now, people often think that if we are involved, it is because there must be trouble,” he says.
icare_event.jpg
Houston Principal Center seniors enjoying puzzles and bingo.
THE.ISMAILI
Anwar Budhwani agrees. The Houston-area seniors came to the US only a few years ago, and do not speak English. He is effusive about the iCARE and HOPE volunteers who have helped him. He has had a number of medical problems since arriving in the United States, but volunteers have supported him, and followed up with him to check on his progress. “I would tell anyone coming here, as if they were my younger brother, to listen [to these volunteers] because they are there to help you,” he says. “I am very lucky to have been born in an Ismaili family, that we have these supports.”
“Family” is a word that iCare volunteer Samira Chagpar uses a lot to describe her work with the program, for which she has been volunteering since its genesis as the Aging Gracefully Initiative in 2009. The San Gabriel, California, resident was motivated, she explains, by her own mother’s difficulties with aging, for which there was limited institutional support at that time. Samira works with a small core of volunteers to reach out to seniors within the San Gabriel region. They call the seniors on their list regularly, visit them in their homes, and encourage them to attend Jamati events. She prefers to meet them in their homes, and listen to their stories – even when she’s heard them many times before.
Deeply connected and in tune with their needs, Samira knows that some tend to get anxious in the evening when it gets dark early, and others are eager to hear news from the goings-on in Jamatkhana. “I love going to speak to the seniors, “ Samira says, and “For every little amount of love that I am able to give them, they give so much more to me. That is what keeps me coming back.”
Photos at:
https://the.ismaili/usa/our-community/v ... fe-seniors
iCARE HOPE and Care volunteers help seniors and families planning for, and during, retirement.
"Those who believe, and do good deeds, and pray regularly, and give charity—they will have their reward with their Lord; they will have no fear, nor shall they grieve."
(Holy Qur’an 2:277)
Getting old isn’t what it used to be. People are living longer than ever before, and traditional support systems like extended, multi-generational family networks, are more likely to be disrupted by distance and the increasing time demands of the workplace.
Planning for these two trends is an increasingly important priority for the Ismaili community. Helping seniors and their families plan for their aging years, and ensuring that they remain socially engaged are the aims of two separate but complementary Council programs: HOPE and iCare.
While HOPE is a program aimed at aging, it is not just for seniors: its target demographic is anyone in the workforce up to and including retirement. The acronym stands for Helping Options and Planning Endeavor. It’s a two-prong program: one directed at providing support to families caring for their seniors; the other prong is targeted at younger people, providing them the resources they need to plan for their own security in their old age. In both cases, advice and information are provided with discretion, with the goal of facilitating a family’s autonomy and respecting their privacy.
Zohra Momin has been a coordinator and volunteer with the HOPE program for close to four years in the Sugar Land Jamatkhana in Houston. “We want to have people at a place where they have their dignity maintained, and that they are not stressing their family,” she says, explaining that she aims to facilitate each family’s goals for their own quality of life. “Our main focus is giving people options, and letting them decide what is best for them.”
ahmina_kheraj-8327.jpg
Santa Monica Jamatkhana seniors making a gratitude tree together.
THE.ISMAILI
Zohra and her fellow HOPE volunteers act as facilitators, rather than providing direct assistance. Referrals come to them through the Access desk in Jamatkhana. Drawing on a network of subject matter experts, she and her team will coordinate support for people seeking in-home care for seniors or nursing care, health insurance, or applying for government benefits.
Zohra is proud of the successes she and her team have achieved but believes that HOPE can be most effective by preparing for the seniors of tomorrow. “It’s very hard to get people to think about planning for their old age. People like to think they can always put that off.”
Samira Maredia concurs. A fellow Houston-area HOPE volunteer, Samira says that reaching out to younger Jamati members is difficult work, but it is key to the long-term health and security of the community as a whole. She helps organize information sessions on social security and long-term planning aimed at younger members. “We talk about proactive longevity – planning for the future,” she says, adding, “I know when I started working, when I was young, I wasn’t serious about saving for my old age. Young people need to think about maintaining a healthy lifestyle, so they are healthy in their retirement.”
While HOPE focuses on helping families access resources and plan for their desired future, iCARE is geared towards direct outreach to seniors 65 and older. To judge by Alnoor Somji’s enthusiasm, volunteering for the program is a calling. He explains that he had volunteered with many different programs within the Jamat – from disaster management to the Youth and Sports Board, but says, “my heart was always with the seniors.”
Alnoor and the volunteers provide a number of direct outreach activities to benefit the seniors within the Orlando Jamat. This includes weekly check-in phone calls, hospital or in-care social visits, as well as occasionally providing rides to seniors living alone.
There is a need for the work of iCARE to be better known, and better understood, says Alnoor. With younger family members working full-time in demanding jobs, and with cultural and language barriers complicating care, services like iCARE are not a last resort, but a necessity for many families.
“We need to get rid of the stigma – we need to make it easier for families to get help. Right now, people often think that if we are involved, it is because there must be trouble,” he says.
icare_event.jpg
Houston Principal Center seniors enjoying puzzles and bingo.
THE.ISMAILI
Anwar Budhwani agrees. The Houston-area seniors came to the US only a few years ago, and do not speak English. He is effusive about the iCARE and HOPE volunteers who have helped him. He has had a number of medical problems since arriving in the United States, but volunteers have supported him, and followed up with him to check on his progress. “I would tell anyone coming here, as if they were my younger brother, to listen [to these volunteers] because they are there to help you,” he says. “I am very lucky to have been born in an Ismaili family, that we have these supports.”
“Family” is a word that iCare volunteer Samira Chagpar uses a lot to describe her work with the program, for which she has been volunteering since its genesis as the Aging Gracefully Initiative in 2009. The San Gabriel, California, resident was motivated, she explains, by her own mother’s difficulties with aging, for which there was limited institutional support at that time. Samira works with a small core of volunteers to reach out to seniors within the San Gabriel region. They call the seniors on their list regularly, visit them in their homes, and encourage them to attend Jamati events. She prefers to meet them in their homes, and listen to their stories – even when she’s heard them many times before.
Deeply connected and in tune with their needs, Samira knows that some tend to get anxious in the evening when it gets dark early, and others are eager to hear news from the goings-on in Jamatkhana. “I love going to speak to the seniors, “ Samira says, and “For every little amount of love that I am able to give them, they give so much more to me. That is what keeps me coming back.”
Photos at:
https://the.ismaili/usa/our-community/v ... fe-seniors
How Women Are Stronger Together
Ismaili Women’s Groups offer skills workshops, community service, social events, sports clinics, mental wellbeing events, and book clubs.
Living in an individualistic society, we often maintain our distance and not inquire about other people’s personal lives. While some may find such gestures intrusive, one woman truly appreciates it and says it changed her life.
Elaheh Mirhashemi remembers not knowing much about the programs the Ismaili community in the US offered when she first moved from Tehran. “Women in Richmond Jamatkhana would often force me to send my kids to the Early Childhood Development Center,” she says, “but I didn’t want to.”
Shamsah Poonja Charania
THE.ISMAILI
Being legally blind in one eye and having weak vision in the other, Elaheh did not drive. It was concerning her that her kids would not have a way to get to class. “Mothers in Jamatkhana asked me many times,” she said, “but I continued to refuse…they even offered rides for my kids.”
After much persistence by the volunteers, Elaheh finally gave in and enrolled. Her twin boys are nine and a half years old now and she realizes that giving them education from their early years was the best decision she ever made. “If the other mothers wouldn’t have forced me, my kids would have missed out,” she confesses.
Beyond community programs, it was really the support system that Elaheh found from Ismaili women in Richmond who are now her friends. From learning to cook Indian and Pakistani food to selling it and earning an income to support herself, she is grateful to women who supported her and taught her many skills. “I was very shy to ask for help,” she says, “but the women I met taught me that it is okay to ask for help.”
This notion of a support system is integral in the values that the Ismaili Women’s Group (IWG) offers to the Jamat. More than 100 volunteers are involved across the US in programs such as skills workshops, community service, social events, sports clinics, mental wellbeing events, and book clubs.
One such volunteer is Shamsah Poonja Charania, who leads IWG initiatives in Chicago. For her, it is a goal to involve as many women of the Jamat as possible and “try not to leave anyone behind.” Seeing the growing number of women partaking in IWG is gratifying for Shamsah as she remembers starting it from scratch in her Jamatkhana. “It adds fuel to my fire,” she said.
Shamsah feels that “It’s much easier to achieve enlightenment through volunteerism and by serving humanity.” She adds, “When you serve, there's a sense of personal gratification, and when people come up to you and show their appreciation and respect for the programs you are planning and express how much they needed it, it's all just icing on the cake.”
In 2019 alone, more than 200 IWG programs were held across the US, thanks to the help of volunteers.
https://the.ismaili/usa/our-community/h ... r-together
Ismaili Women’s Groups offer skills workshops, community service, social events, sports clinics, mental wellbeing events, and book clubs.
Living in an individualistic society, we often maintain our distance and not inquire about other people’s personal lives. While some may find such gestures intrusive, one woman truly appreciates it and says it changed her life.
Elaheh Mirhashemi remembers not knowing much about the programs the Ismaili community in the US offered when she first moved from Tehran. “Women in Richmond Jamatkhana would often force me to send my kids to the Early Childhood Development Center,” she says, “but I didn’t want to.”
Shamsah Poonja Charania
THE.ISMAILI
Being legally blind in one eye and having weak vision in the other, Elaheh did not drive. It was concerning her that her kids would not have a way to get to class. “Mothers in Jamatkhana asked me many times,” she said, “but I continued to refuse…they even offered rides for my kids.”
After much persistence by the volunteers, Elaheh finally gave in and enrolled. Her twin boys are nine and a half years old now and she realizes that giving them education from their early years was the best decision she ever made. “If the other mothers wouldn’t have forced me, my kids would have missed out,” she confesses.
Beyond community programs, it was really the support system that Elaheh found from Ismaili women in Richmond who are now her friends. From learning to cook Indian and Pakistani food to selling it and earning an income to support herself, she is grateful to women who supported her and taught her many skills. “I was very shy to ask for help,” she says, “but the women I met taught me that it is okay to ask for help.”
This notion of a support system is integral in the values that the Ismaili Women’s Group (IWG) offers to the Jamat. More than 100 volunteers are involved across the US in programs such as skills workshops, community service, social events, sports clinics, mental wellbeing events, and book clubs.
One such volunteer is Shamsah Poonja Charania, who leads IWG initiatives in Chicago. For her, it is a goal to involve as many women of the Jamat as possible and “try not to leave anyone behind.” Seeing the growing number of women partaking in IWG is gratifying for Shamsah as she remembers starting it from scratch in her Jamatkhana. “It adds fuel to my fire,” she said.
Shamsah feels that “It’s much easier to achieve enlightenment through volunteerism and by serving humanity.” She adds, “When you serve, there's a sense of personal gratification, and when people come up to you and show their appreciation and respect for the programs you are planning and express how much they needed it, it's all just icing on the cake.”
In 2019 alone, more than 200 IWG programs were held across the US, thanks to the help of volunteers.
https://the.ismaili/usa/our-community/h ... r-together
Recording our History and the Development of Youth
A lifetime of service capturing and recording the Imam’s visits, and helping our youth.
The idea of volunteerism is ingrained deep in our hearts and for many of us, it is a part of our daily lives. One of those volunteers is Mahedi Lalani. Born in Kenya and arriving in the US in 1968. As a student, he received degrees in Film and Television production and in Broadcasting and Media Journalism.
There were only ten Ismaili students in Chicago at that time, who got together for Khushiali and special events. Mahedi assisted in producing the first Ismaili USA, which was two pages long, for Khushiali celebrations in Chicago in 1973.
Over time, Mahedi was given the opportunity to produce the 1983 Silver Jubilee video, his first major project, and the first time in the US for video production of Hazar Imam’s visit. By this time, he was already working in a television company as a producer and director. This was followed by the 1986 US visit video, 1987 Conference of the Birds video for the stage production, and Hazar Imam’s 40th Imamat Exhibit tour. He was also responsible for The Expressions of the Pamir (1999) live productions for the Pamiri artists’ visit to the US, along with the Atlanta Jamatkhana opening, and the Houston Ismaili Jamatkhana and Center Foundation ceremony.
Videographer Mahedi Lalani during the Jubilee Games, Dubai.
THE.ISMAILI
To add to his credits, he produced the videos for the Jubilee Games (2017), the US Diamond Jubilee Atlanta live production, and was part of the Lisbon Diamond Jubilee Darbar (2018) live production team, and other concerts at the Lisbon celebrations.
In 1982, Mahedi joined the organizers of Al-Ummah Camp, Mali and Lutaf Dhanidina, Fariyal Ross-Sheriff, Ali Asani, Azim Nanji, and others, to record all the activities at the camp, which he did for 20 years. “The dearest to me of all my services is the Al-Ummah program,” says Mahedi, and “Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of participants, counselors and directors. As I travel today to different Jamatkhanas in the USA, I’m proud to see so many Al Ummah participants, counselors as well as directors, who are involved in various Jamati and Imamat institutions.”
Every year Mahedi spent four weeks in the summer at Al-Ummah for 20 years, in various capacities. His reasoning for volunteering at Al-Ummah was the same as many of those who attended, to have the opportunity to work with our Ismaili youth and to facilitate in maintaining their identity, culture, faith, and values, along with their American identity.
From 2006 to 2008, Mahedi took the Director of Public Affairs and Communication position at Pamir Energy Company, an Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) project in Khorog, Tajikistan. During the Golden Jubilee, he learned about the Tajik Jamat and their traditions. “I was constantly requested to join our Pamiri Jamat at various gatherings and Jumo Namoz on Thursday evenings, where I got to know everyone first hand,” says Mahedi.
“The most heartfelt and touching experience I had was when I visited an orphanage in the district of Roshan, with infants and older teenagers,” recalls Mahedi. “The older children helped take care of the younger ones. I used to look forward to spending my time with them, playing games, dancing, and exchanging stories. I wonder where they are and how their lives are today.”
Given his commitment and interest in youth, no doubt Mahedi inspired them and left an indelible positive impression, especially about reaching out and helping others.
https://the.ismaili/usa/our-community/r ... ment-youth
A lifetime of service capturing and recording the Imam’s visits, and helping our youth.
The idea of volunteerism is ingrained deep in our hearts and for many of us, it is a part of our daily lives. One of those volunteers is Mahedi Lalani. Born in Kenya and arriving in the US in 1968. As a student, he received degrees in Film and Television production and in Broadcasting and Media Journalism.
There were only ten Ismaili students in Chicago at that time, who got together for Khushiali and special events. Mahedi assisted in producing the first Ismaili USA, which was two pages long, for Khushiali celebrations in Chicago in 1973.
Over time, Mahedi was given the opportunity to produce the 1983 Silver Jubilee video, his first major project, and the first time in the US for video production of Hazar Imam’s visit. By this time, he was already working in a television company as a producer and director. This was followed by the 1986 US visit video, 1987 Conference of the Birds video for the stage production, and Hazar Imam’s 40th Imamat Exhibit tour. He was also responsible for The Expressions of the Pamir (1999) live productions for the Pamiri artists’ visit to the US, along with the Atlanta Jamatkhana opening, and the Houston Ismaili Jamatkhana and Center Foundation ceremony.
Videographer Mahedi Lalani during the Jubilee Games, Dubai.
THE.ISMAILI
To add to his credits, he produced the videos for the Jubilee Games (2017), the US Diamond Jubilee Atlanta live production, and was part of the Lisbon Diamond Jubilee Darbar (2018) live production team, and other concerts at the Lisbon celebrations.
In 1982, Mahedi joined the organizers of Al-Ummah Camp, Mali and Lutaf Dhanidina, Fariyal Ross-Sheriff, Ali Asani, Azim Nanji, and others, to record all the activities at the camp, which he did for 20 years. “The dearest to me of all my services is the Al-Ummah program,” says Mahedi, and “Over the years, I have worked with hundreds of participants, counselors and directors. As I travel today to different Jamatkhanas in the USA, I’m proud to see so many Al Ummah participants, counselors as well as directors, who are involved in various Jamati and Imamat institutions.”
Every year Mahedi spent four weeks in the summer at Al-Ummah for 20 years, in various capacities. His reasoning for volunteering at Al-Ummah was the same as many of those who attended, to have the opportunity to work with our Ismaili youth and to facilitate in maintaining their identity, culture, faith, and values, along with their American identity.
From 2006 to 2008, Mahedi took the Director of Public Affairs and Communication position at Pamir Energy Company, an Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) project in Khorog, Tajikistan. During the Golden Jubilee, he learned about the Tajik Jamat and their traditions. “I was constantly requested to join our Pamiri Jamat at various gatherings and Jumo Namoz on Thursday evenings, where I got to know everyone first hand,” says Mahedi.
“The most heartfelt and touching experience I had was when I visited an orphanage in the district of Roshan, with infants and older teenagers,” recalls Mahedi. “The older children helped take care of the younger ones. I used to look forward to spending my time with them, playing games, dancing, and exchanging stories. I wonder where they are and how their lives are today.”
Given his commitment and interest in youth, no doubt Mahedi inspired them and left an indelible positive impression, especially about reaching out and helping others.
https://the.ismaili/usa/our-community/r ... ment-youth
Prescribe It Forward
How a medical student created an organization to assist disadvantaged medical students with mentoring
The timing of COVID-19 played a poignant role in Aaron Gilani’s life as his medical board exams were postponed, and he had time to put his focus on something new to leverage his business and medical school education.
While at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Aaron saw there was a large disparity between students. One group was made up of students whose family background included physicians, a parent or sibling who was a physician, or a supportive community encouraging a career in medicine. The second group, though smaller, included students who were mostly minorities, underrepresented, or came from a disadvantaged background.
Aaron is a first-generation medical student himself, and he saw a need. He decided to use his Master in Business Administration (MBA) degree, which he received in 2017, to create a 501(c)(3) nonprofit called “Prescribe It Forward.” The organization offers a complimentary mentorship for pre-medical and medical students. This service assists those that are underrepresented minorities, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Pansexual, Transgender, Genderqueer, Queer, Intersexed, Agender, Asexual, and Ally community (LGBTQIA+), non-traditional, disadvantaged, or others to navigate the complexities and nuances of the medical education system.
“Pre-medical students are in multiple stages of the process who want mentorship,” says Aaron. “It could be a freshman pre-medical student in college wanting advice on what classes to take to someone who is looking to apply to medical school and wants to discuss with someone about their grades and which programs could be a good fit.”
In a short period of four months, Prescribe it Forward has 950 mentors across 42 states, and his team states over 1,000 pre-medical students have received mentorship from current medical students. The mentorship includes everything from advice on taking the Medical College Admission Tests (MCATs), personal statement guidance for medical school applications, and even course selection recommendations.
“Overall, I’d be happy if this program helped just one person with their dream of becoming a physician, so for us to have already helped over a thousand, and that is a true blessing,” says Aaron.
Prescribe It Forward just launched a Scholarship Fund that takes 100% of donations to assist disadvantaged students to offset the costs associated with applying to medical school.
“We take pride in our matching system,” Aaron notes. “We read about the applicant’s stories and we aim to match people who come from similar backgrounds as it is more valuable to get advice from someone who knows where you’ve been and understands your hurdles.”
Aaron’s passion for understanding the underrepresented begins at home. “I have a deaf and blind brother, and I grew up spending a lot of time in hospitals and that gave me a passion for medicine.”
Remembering that when he graduated and had little work experience, Aaron says he relied upon his classmates to provide context and perspective to the real-world applications of the material based on their own professional experiences. “I wasn’t able to apply that knowledge right away but I was able to understand the challenges that people had in their careers and how it could manifest in my own life,” he recalls.
Aaron worked at Procter and Gamble Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, for one year, after he received his MBA. “It was a really fun time and a fun year but after that, I decided I really wanted to go to medical school,” he remarks.
Now beginning his third year of medical school, Aaron is taking his Board exams as well as starting rotations at a hospital. His goal is to pursue the path of general surgery. He hopes to work eventually in healthcare administration, healthcare technology, or private equity.
Aaron plans to continue to grow Prescribe it Forward to include pre-dental and dental students, physician assistant students, and nursing students with the potential to expand the mentorship further into the medical community by connecting residents with medical students and attending physicians with residents.
“I think the end vision is to be the one-stop-shop for all things mentorship in medicine,” explains Aaron. “When I think about success in medicine, I think of making content free and accessible for educational purposes and I think of mentorship.
https://the.ismaili/usa/our-community/p ... it-forward
How a medical student created an organization to assist disadvantaged medical students with mentoring
The timing of COVID-19 played a poignant role in Aaron Gilani’s life as his medical board exams were postponed, and he had time to put his focus on something new to leverage his business and medical school education.
While at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Aaron saw there was a large disparity between students. One group was made up of students whose family background included physicians, a parent or sibling who was a physician, or a supportive community encouraging a career in medicine. The second group, though smaller, included students who were mostly minorities, underrepresented, or came from a disadvantaged background.
Aaron is a first-generation medical student himself, and he saw a need. He decided to use his Master in Business Administration (MBA) degree, which he received in 2017, to create a 501(c)(3) nonprofit called “Prescribe It Forward.” The organization offers a complimentary mentorship for pre-medical and medical students. This service assists those that are underrepresented minorities, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Pansexual, Transgender, Genderqueer, Queer, Intersexed, Agender, Asexual, and Ally community (LGBTQIA+), non-traditional, disadvantaged, or others to navigate the complexities and nuances of the medical education system.
“Pre-medical students are in multiple stages of the process who want mentorship,” says Aaron. “It could be a freshman pre-medical student in college wanting advice on what classes to take to someone who is looking to apply to medical school and wants to discuss with someone about their grades and which programs could be a good fit.”
In a short period of four months, Prescribe it Forward has 950 mentors across 42 states, and his team states over 1,000 pre-medical students have received mentorship from current medical students. The mentorship includes everything from advice on taking the Medical College Admission Tests (MCATs), personal statement guidance for medical school applications, and even course selection recommendations.
“Overall, I’d be happy if this program helped just one person with their dream of becoming a physician, so for us to have already helped over a thousand, and that is a true blessing,” says Aaron.
Prescribe It Forward just launched a Scholarship Fund that takes 100% of donations to assist disadvantaged students to offset the costs associated with applying to medical school.
“We take pride in our matching system,” Aaron notes. “We read about the applicant’s stories and we aim to match people who come from similar backgrounds as it is more valuable to get advice from someone who knows where you’ve been and understands your hurdles.”
Aaron’s passion for understanding the underrepresented begins at home. “I have a deaf and blind brother, and I grew up spending a lot of time in hospitals and that gave me a passion for medicine.”
Remembering that when he graduated and had little work experience, Aaron says he relied upon his classmates to provide context and perspective to the real-world applications of the material based on their own professional experiences. “I wasn’t able to apply that knowledge right away but I was able to understand the challenges that people had in their careers and how it could manifest in my own life,” he recalls.
Aaron worked at Procter and Gamble Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, for one year, after he received his MBA. “It was a really fun time and a fun year but after that, I decided I really wanted to go to medical school,” he remarks.
Now beginning his third year of medical school, Aaron is taking his Board exams as well as starting rotations at a hospital. His goal is to pursue the path of general surgery. He hopes to work eventually in healthcare administration, healthcare technology, or private equity.
Aaron plans to continue to grow Prescribe it Forward to include pre-dental and dental students, physician assistant students, and nursing students with the potential to expand the mentorship further into the medical community by connecting residents with medical students and attending physicians with residents.
“I think the end vision is to be the one-stop-shop for all things mentorship in medicine,” explains Aaron. “When I think about success in medicine, I think of making content free and accessible for educational purposes and I think of mentorship.
https://the.ismaili/usa/our-community/p ... it-forward
Mentoring Nurses in the Pamirs
Nurse Naseem Khuwaja’s knowledge of the medical field, ability to teach, and will to volunteer, function as the perfect equation for her service. She traveled to Tajikistan for three months to mentor 32 local nurses. If the trip itself does not reflect her altruistic persona, she also helped create the proposal for the project, including budgeting, providing supplies, and devising the implementation plan. This goes beyond her involvement in Jamati local lifestyle projects, where she engages in one-on-one counseling to improve the health of individuals.
Currently teaching at Gwinnett Institute in Orlando, Naseem graduated from the Aga Khan University in 1983 and completed her graduate degree in 1990, followed by a midwifery program.
Her training was put to good use at the Aga Khan Medical Centre, Khorog, Tajikistan (AKMCK), which opened about four months before her trip to the Pamirs. The geography and condition of Khorog pose obstacles to the development of healthcare quality. Due to the economic conditions, mountainous area, and lack of resources, there are difficulties in providing sufficient healthcare for the residents. This is where Naseem’s efforts paid dividends.
Aside from working on the proposal for the AKMCK project, Naseem took with her ten boxes of supplies, and arranged for high fidelity simulators to be shipped. With the logistical difficulties of transporting a large number of supplies to the region, she thought it a miracle that only a bottle of hand sanitizer broke in transit.
Upon arrival, Naseem put into action the modules that she had created. She taught about universal nursing standards, such as oxygenation paths, nutrition, physiology of the human body, etc. To scratch the surface of her mentoring, the nurses learned to distinguish between the normal and abnormal heart and breath sounds, along with how to assess and treat any abnormalities observed.
These modules were constructed to help teach the nurses, but Naseem says that she learned from the nurses as well, who worked 14-15 hour night-shifts. “My joy came from their motivation,” she says. Furthermore, she gained an appreciation for the comfortable life that she leads in America when seeing the constant smiles of the people in Khorog, who make do with far less in creature comforts.
When asked what motivates her to serve, she answered with no hesitation, “That little light that comes from the other side.” She has a sense of purpose and derives satisfaction from providing knowledge that can improve the health of others…even if that is half a world away.
https://the.ismaili/usa/our-community/m ... the-pamirs
Building a sustainable future: Ashak Nathwani’s story
In June 2017, when the Queen’s Birthday Honours’ List was announced, Ashak Nathwani received the highest public recognition when he was awarded Member of Order of Australia (AM) for his service to “the Ismaili community in Australia, sustainable design at tertiary level, and engineering.” For Ashak, an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Sydney, it has been a long journey. In the early 1970s, during the Ugandan crisis, Ashak found himself “stateless”. He arrived in Australia as a refugee with only 20 cents in his pocket. The rest, as they say, is history.
Over the course of several years, Ashak’s exemplary TKN service has focused on improving indoor air quality and thermal comfort in many jamatkhanas, particularly in the prayer halls. Through the placement of sophisticated sensors, Ashak has advised many facility managers on how they can improve indoor comfort in their jamatkhanas. In addition, he has been involved in the evaluations of several jamatkhanas globally, which include the Ismaili Centres, and also the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat building in Ottawa.
Ashak’s 39 years of experience in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry is also being utilized on international projects where major HVAC equipment is being upgraded. This currently includes the Ismaili Centres in London, Lisbon and Vancouver. Over the past many years, he has assisted in the design of jamatkhanas (conversions from warehouses) in several cities across Australia, and most recently with New Zealand’s Auckland jamatkhana.
Other key evaluation components in Ashak’s TKN volunteer work include Energy and Water consumption and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. He has developed a unique STAR rating system, whereby energy, water, indoor air quality and waste management performance of Jamatkhanas can be compared. He contributed significantly to implementation of HVAC strategies for Jamatkhanas (prior to reopening) to address the air borne component of COVID 19. He is also currently volunteering with Aga Khan Agency for Habitat and the Global Centre for Pluralism to streamline GHG data collection and implement strategies to minimize GHG, and develop online training modules for Energy Management.
“Ashak has been instrumental in problem solving and re-imaging major HVAC retrofit projects, which require sensitive modifications to buildings while respecting their original architecture”, said Nazir Mulji, Coordinator, Ismaili Centres.
Despite these competing TKN commitments, Ashak finds the time to help build for the future: by investing in mentorship for the next generation. In February 2019, Ashak took on a TKN assignment to serve as a Mentor for the Reach for the Stars Mentorship Programme (RFS), an initiative of the Aga Khan Education Board for India (AKEB,I). His mentee, a young architect based in Surat, Gujarat, is a sustainability enthusiast and was in need of career direction and guidance.
“I don’t think we could have found someone who was more of a perfect fit than Ashak”, says Zaitoon Khan, a member of the RFS team, who connected Ashak and his mentee, Jiyan Pattharwalla. “Jiyan came into the programme looking for a mentor who had expertise in an extremely niche field called High Performance Building. We were so fortunate to have found Ashak, who is a globally recognized expert in the field”, she says.
Over the course of a year, Ashak worked closely with Jiyan, offering periodic guidance and direction through structured calls every fortnight. Each call had a defined agenda, interspersed with pre-readings and occasional “homework”, to keep Jiyan on track. At the end of the yearlong mentoring track, by March 2020, Jiyan had landed a place at the University of British Columbia to pursue a Masters of Engineering Leadership in High Performance Building. In July this year, Jiyan became one of three recipients from India of the prestigious Aga Khan International Scholarship Programme (AKISP), to fund his Masters at UBC.
Jiyan credits many of these milestones to Ashak’s patient guidance and mentorship. “Learning from Ashak’s rich experience in the field of sustainability and environmental design, was an exceptional experience”, says Jiyan. “Ashak Sir was always there to provide clarity and direction but, more importantly, he helped me diversify my skill set as an architect who now also understands engineering and facility management, for example,” he says. “I really do feel that I have him as a mentor for life”.
The breadth and depth of Ashak’s volunteer service (including several TKN assignments) is outstanding. When asked what has been the inspiration and driving force behind his many contributions, Ashak unhesitatingly says, “My wife Samim. She was an incredible person who supported me all the way, together with her own “seva”, says Ashak. “She led by example, a quiet achiever. Sadly, last November she passed away after a valiant battle with Motor Neuron Disease (MND) also known as ALS”.
Both Samim and Ashak were instrumental in the early settlement of the Ismaili community in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Samim, with a Masters in Early Childhood Education, set up the Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Religious Education (RE) facilities in Jamatkhanas in the ANZ region. On successfully completing the IIS’s Professional Teacher Education Program (PTEP), Samim initiated and organized an internationally researched program for the training of new and incumbent teachers in ANZ. The program provided a stable foundation for future ECD and RE centres. In addition to her work with young children, Samim also established the inaugural migration assistance program, which provided support and financial assistance to new immigrants before and after their arrival in Australia or New Zealand.
The ethic of selfless and exemplary volunteer service that has characterized Samim’s and Ashak’s lives is truly inspiring, and his dedicated TKN work with our institutions continues. Even as he pursues his Ph.D., Ashak is shouldering many other assignments, including reviewing the mechanical services design for the upcoming Ismaili Centre in Houston. Both literally and metaphorically, and through projects across the world, Ashak’s work is helping to build a sustainable future.
https://the.ismaili/tkn/building-sustai ... anis-story
Helping the Jamat and New Immigrants
Ajrudin Nabizada, volunteer from San Diego.
A San Diego volunteer helps newly arrived immigrants from Afghanistan
Ajrudin Nabizada, originally from Afghanistan, moved to San Diego in 2014. He volunteers his time in Jamatkhana and outside, working to help arriving Afghan Ismaili families settle into their new lives as part of the San Diego Jamat.
Ajrudin describes his experience as a Jamati volunteer and what keeps him inspired to continue his service.
What led you to become a Jamati volunteer?
When I lived in Peshawar, Pakistan, after leaving Afghanistan to escape the civil war, I saw how supportive and loving the volunteers were at welcoming the Afghan Ismailis there. I thought that I should also take part and do what I can to be a part of the Jamat as well. I was also inspired by Hazar Imam’s blessings to the volunteers, and I became a volunteer in Pakistan in 1999. I became a volunteer in San Diego in 2015.
Tell us more about your experience being a volunteer in San Diego
When I moved here, I found that my Ismaili brothers from other parts of the world, like India and East Africa, really helped me feel a part of the community and helped me settle here. Their support inspired me to volunteer as well, and work with other Afghan families to help them integrate. I take them to the Department of Motor Vehicles to help them get driving licenses, with various paperwork, and also bring them to Jamatkhana.
Have you been a volunteer during one of Hazar Imam’s visits?
Yes, I was a volunteer in 2000 in Pakistan, and was a uniformed volunteer in 2018 in Atlanta, when Hazar Imam visited the USA.
Can you describe an experience that keeps you motivated to keep volunteering?
In 2000, during the Deedar in Pakistan, my first one, I was assigned near the stage where the Imam would be sitting. But I was later reassigned to another area, where I would not have a view of the Imam, and I was sad in my heart to miss this opportunity. An hour into my duty, another volunteer came and asked me to sit right in front of the stage, across from Hazar Imam’s chair, to keep children from climbing on it. I was so surprised to find myself there, and so lucky to have the chance to be in that spot. That experience showed me that when you perform service with passion, love, and heart, you will receive rewards. I went back to Afghanistan from 2004-2008 and volunteered there in my Jamat, and I know I will keep volunteering until I die.
https://the.ismaili/usa/helping-the-jam ... immigrants
Ajrudin Nabizada, volunteer from San Diego.
A San Diego volunteer helps newly arrived immigrants from Afghanistan
Ajrudin Nabizada, originally from Afghanistan, moved to San Diego in 2014. He volunteers his time in Jamatkhana and outside, working to help arriving Afghan Ismaili families settle into their new lives as part of the San Diego Jamat.
Ajrudin describes his experience as a Jamati volunteer and what keeps him inspired to continue his service.
What led you to become a Jamati volunteer?
When I lived in Peshawar, Pakistan, after leaving Afghanistan to escape the civil war, I saw how supportive and loving the volunteers were at welcoming the Afghan Ismailis there. I thought that I should also take part and do what I can to be a part of the Jamat as well. I was also inspired by Hazar Imam’s blessings to the volunteers, and I became a volunteer in Pakistan in 1999. I became a volunteer in San Diego in 2015.
Tell us more about your experience being a volunteer in San Diego
When I moved here, I found that my Ismaili brothers from other parts of the world, like India and East Africa, really helped me feel a part of the community and helped me settle here. Their support inspired me to volunteer as well, and work with other Afghan families to help them integrate. I take them to the Department of Motor Vehicles to help them get driving licenses, with various paperwork, and also bring them to Jamatkhana.
Have you been a volunteer during one of Hazar Imam’s visits?
Yes, I was a volunteer in 2000 in Pakistan, and was a uniformed volunteer in 2018 in Atlanta, when Hazar Imam visited the USA.
Can you describe an experience that keeps you motivated to keep volunteering?
In 2000, during the Deedar in Pakistan, my first one, I was assigned near the stage where the Imam would be sitting. But I was later reassigned to another area, where I would not have a view of the Imam, and I was sad in my heart to miss this opportunity. An hour into my duty, another volunteer came and asked me to sit right in front of the stage, across from Hazar Imam’s chair, to keep children from climbing on it. I was so surprised to find myself there, and so lucky to have the chance to be in that spot. That experience showed me that when you perform service with passion, love, and heart, you will receive rewards. I went back to Afghanistan from 2004-2008 and volunteered there in my Jamat, and I know I will keep volunteering until I die.
https://the.ismaili/usa/helping-the-jam ... immigrants
Pope Francis: A Crisis Reveals What Is in Our Hearts
To come out of this pandemic better than we went in, we must let ourselves be touched by others’ pain.
In this past year of change, my mind and heart have overflowed with people. People I think of and pray for, and sometimes cry with, people with names and faces, people who died without saying goodbye to those they loved, families in difficulty, even going hungry, because there’s no work.
Sometimes, when you think globally, you can be paralyzed: There are so many places of apparently ceaseless conflict; there’s so much suffering and need. I find it helps to focus on concrete situations: You see faces looking for life and love in the reality of each person, of each people. You see hope written in the story of every nation, glorious because it’s a story of daily struggle, of lives broken in self-sacrifice. So rather than overwhelm you, it invites you to ponder and to respond with hope.
These are moments in life that can be ripe for change and conversion. Each of us has had our own “stoppage,” or if we haven’t yet, we will someday: illness, the failure of a marriage or a business, some great disappointment or betrayal. As in the Covid-19 lockdown, those moments generate a tension, a crisis that reveals what is in our hearts.
In every personal “Covid,” so to speak, in every “stoppage,” what is revealed is what needs to change: our lack of internal freedom, the idols we have been serving, the ideologies we have tried to live by, the relationships we have neglected.
When I got really sick at the age of 21, I had my first experience of limit, of pain and loneliness. It changed the way I saw life. For months, I didn’t know who I was or whether I would live or die. The doctors had no idea whether I’d make it either. I remember hugging my mother and saying, “Just tell me if I’m going to die.” I was in the second year of training for the priesthood in the diocesan seminary of Buenos Aires.
I remember the date: Aug. 13, 1957. I got taken to a hospital by a prefect who realized mine was not the kind of flu you treat with aspirin. Straightaway they took a liter and a half of water out of my lungs, and I remained there fighting for my life. The following November they operated to take out the upper right lobe of one of the lungs. I have some sense of how people with Covid-19 feel as they struggle to breathe on a ventilator.
I remember especially two nurses from this time. One was the senior ward matron, a Dominican sister who had been a teacher in Athens before being sent to Buenos Aires. I learned later that following the first examination by the doctor, after he left she told the nurses to double the dose of medication he had prescribed — basically penicillin and streptomycin — because she knew from experience I was dying. Sister Cornelia Caraglio saved my life. Because of her regular contact with sick people, she understood better than the doctor what they needed, and she had the courage to act on her knowledge.
Another nurse, Micaela, did the same when I was in intense pain, secretly prescribing me extra doses of painkillers outside my due times. Cornelia and Micaela are in heaven now, but I’ll always owe them so much. They fought for me to the end, until my eventual recovery. They taught me what it is to use science but also to know when to go beyond it to meet particular needs. And the serious illness I lived through taught me to depend on the goodness and wisdom of others.
This theme of helping others has stayed with me these past months. In lockdown I’ve often gone in prayer to those who sought all means to save the lives of others. So many of the nurses, doctors and caregivers paid that price of love, together with priests, and religious and ordinary people whose vocations were service. We return their love by grieving for them and honoring them.
Whether or not they were conscious of it, their choice testified to a belief: that it is better to live a shorter life serving others than a longer one resisting that call. That’s why, in many countries, people stood at their windows or on their doorsteps to applaud them in gratitude and awe. They are the saints next door, who have awakened something important in our hearts, making credible once more what we desire to instill by our preaching.
They are the antibodies to the virus of indifference. They remind us that our lives are a gift and we grow by giving of ourselves, not preserving ourselves but losing ourselves in service.
With some exceptions, governments have made great efforts to put the well-being of their people first, acting decisively to protect health and to save lives. The exceptions have been some governments that shrugged off the painful evidence of mounting deaths, with inevitable, grievous consequences. But most governments acted responsibly, imposing strict measures to contain the outbreak.
Yet some groups protested, refusing to keep their distance, marching against travel restrictions — as if measures that governments must impose for the good of their people constitute some kind of political assault on autonomy or personal freedom! Looking to the common good is much more than the sum of what is good for individuals. It means having a regard for all citizens and seeking to respond effectively to the needs of the least fortunate.
It is all too easy for some to take an idea — in this case, for example, personal freedom — and turn it into an ideology, creating a prism through which they judge everything.
The coronavirus crisis may seem special because it affects most of humankind. But it is special only in how visible it is. There are a thousand other crises that are just as dire, but are just far enough from some of us that we can act as if they don’t exist. Think, for example, of the wars scattered across different parts of the world; of the production and trade in weapons; of the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing poverty, hunger and lack of opportunity; of climate change. These tragedies may seem distant from us, as part of the daily news that, sadly, fails to move us to change our agendas and priorities. But like the Covid-19 crisis, they affect the whole of humanity.
Look at us now: We put on face masks to protect ourselves and others from a virus we can’t see. But what about all those other unseen viruses we need to protect ourselves from? How will we deal with the hidden pandemics of this world, the pandemics of hunger and violence and climate change?
If we are to come out of this crisis less selfish than when we went in, we have to let ourselves be touched by others’ pain. There’s a line in Friedrich Hölderlin’s “Hyperion” that speaks to me, about how the danger that threatens in a crisis is never total; there’s always a way out: “Where the danger is, also grows the saving power.” That’s the genius in the human story: There’s always a way to escape destruction. Where humankind has to act is precisely there, in the threat itself; that’s where the door opens.
This is a moment to dream big, to rethink our priorities — what we value, what we want, what we seek — and to commit to act in our daily life on what we have dreamed of.
God asks us to dare to create something new. We cannot return to the false securities of the political and economic systems we had before the crisis. We need economies that give to all access to the fruits of creation, to the basic needs of life: to land, lodging and labor. We need a politics that can integrate and dialogue with the poor, the excluded and the vulnerable, that gives people a say in the decisions that affect their lives. We need to slow down, take stock and design better ways of living together on this earth.
The pandemic has exposed the paradox that while we are more connected, we are also more divided. Feverish consumerism breaks the bonds of belonging. It causes us to focus on our self-preservation and makes us anxious. Our fears are exacerbated and exploited by a certain kind of populist politics that seeks power over society. It is hard to build a culture of encounter, in which we meet as people with a shared dignity, within a throwaway culture that regards the well-being of the elderly, the unemployed, the disabled and the unborn as peripheral to our own well-being.
To come out of this crisis better, we have to recover the knowledge that as a people we have a shared destination. The pandemic has reminded us that no one is saved alone. What ties us to one another is what we commonly call solidarity. Solidarity is more than acts of generosity, important as they are; it is the call to embrace the reality that we are bound by bonds of reciprocity. On this solid foundation we can build a better, different, human future.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/opin ... 778d3e6de3
To come out of this pandemic better than we went in, we must let ourselves be touched by others’ pain.
In this past year of change, my mind and heart have overflowed with people. People I think of and pray for, and sometimes cry with, people with names and faces, people who died without saying goodbye to those they loved, families in difficulty, even going hungry, because there’s no work.
Sometimes, when you think globally, you can be paralyzed: There are so many places of apparently ceaseless conflict; there’s so much suffering and need. I find it helps to focus on concrete situations: You see faces looking for life and love in the reality of each person, of each people. You see hope written in the story of every nation, glorious because it’s a story of daily struggle, of lives broken in self-sacrifice. So rather than overwhelm you, it invites you to ponder and to respond with hope.
These are moments in life that can be ripe for change and conversion. Each of us has had our own “stoppage,” or if we haven’t yet, we will someday: illness, the failure of a marriage or a business, some great disappointment or betrayal. As in the Covid-19 lockdown, those moments generate a tension, a crisis that reveals what is in our hearts.
In every personal “Covid,” so to speak, in every “stoppage,” what is revealed is what needs to change: our lack of internal freedom, the idols we have been serving, the ideologies we have tried to live by, the relationships we have neglected.
When I got really sick at the age of 21, I had my first experience of limit, of pain and loneliness. It changed the way I saw life. For months, I didn’t know who I was or whether I would live or die. The doctors had no idea whether I’d make it either. I remember hugging my mother and saying, “Just tell me if I’m going to die.” I was in the second year of training for the priesthood in the diocesan seminary of Buenos Aires.
I remember the date: Aug. 13, 1957. I got taken to a hospital by a prefect who realized mine was not the kind of flu you treat with aspirin. Straightaway they took a liter and a half of water out of my lungs, and I remained there fighting for my life. The following November they operated to take out the upper right lobe of one of the lungs. I have some sense of how people with Covid-19 feel as they struggle to breathe on a ventilator.
I remember especially two nurses from this time. One was the senior ward matron, a Dominican sister who had been a teacher in Athens before being sent to Buenos Aires. I learned later that following the first examination by the doctor, after he left she told the nurses to double the dose of medication he had prescribed — basically penicillin and streptomycin — because she knew from experience I was dying. Sister Cornelia Caraglio saved my life. Because of her regular contact with sick people, she understood better than the doctor what they needed, and she had the courage to act on her knowledge.
Another nurse, Micaela, did the same when I was in intense pain, secretly prescribing me extra doses of painkillers outside my due times. Cornelia and Micaela are in heaven now, but I’ll always owe them so much. They fought for me to the end, until my eventual recovery. They taught me what it is to use science but also to know when to go beyond it to meet particular needs. And the serious illness I lived through taught me to depend on the goodness and wisdom of others.
This theme of helping others has stayed with me these past months. In lockdown I’ve often gone in prayer to those who sought all means to save the lives of others. So many of the nurses, doctors and caregivers paid that price of love, together with priests, and religious and ordinary people whose vocations were service. We return their love by grieving for them and honoring them.
Whether or not they were conscious of it, their choice testified to a belief: that it is better to live a shorter life serving others than a longer one resisting that call. That’s why, in many countries, people stood at their windows or on their doorsteps to applaud them in gratitude and awe. They are the saints next door, who have awakened something important in our hearts, making credible once more what we desire to instill by our preaching.
They are the antibodies to the virus of indifference. They remind us that our lives are a gift and we grow by giving of ourselves, not preserving ourselves but losing ourselves in service.
With some exceptions, governments have made great efforts to put the well-being of their people first, acting decisively to protect health and to save lives. The exceptions have been some governments that shrugged off the painful evidence of mounting deaths, with inevitable, grievous consequences. But most governments acted responsibly, imposing strict measures to contain the outbreak.
Yet some groups protested, refusing to keep their distance, marching against travel restrictions — as if measures that governments must impose for the good of their people constitute some kind of political assault on autonomy or personal freedom! Looking to the common good is much more than the sum of what is good for individuals. It means having a regard for all citizens and seeking to respond effectively to the needs of the least fortunate.
It is all too easy for some to take an idea — in this case, for example, personal freedom — and turn it into an ideology, creating a prism through which they judge everything.
The coronavirus crisis may seem special because it affects most of humankind. But it is special only in how visible it is. There are a thousand other crises that are just as dire, but are just far enough from some of us that we can act as if they don’t exist. Think, for example, of the wars scattered across different parts of the world; of the production and trade in weapons; of the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing poverty, hunger and lack of opportunity; of climate change. These tragedies may seem distant from us, as part of the daily news that, sadly, fails to move us to change our agendas and priorities. But like the Covid-19 crisis, they affect the whole of humanity.
Look at us now: We put on face masks to protect ourselves and others from a virus we can’t see. But what about all those other unseen viruses we need to protect ourselves from? How will we deal with the hidden pandemics of this world, the pandemics of hunger and violence and climate change?
If we are to come out of this crisis less selfish than when we went in, we have to let ourselves be touched by others’ pain. There’s a line in Friedrich Hölderlin’s “Hyperion” that speaks to me, about how the danger that threatens in a crisis is never total; there’s always a way out: “Where the danger is, also grows the saving power.” That’s the genius in the human story: There’s always a way to escape destruction. Where humankind has to act is precisely there, in the threat itself; that’s where the door opens.
This is a moment to dream big, to rethink our priorities — what we value, what we want, what we seek — and to commit to act in our daily life on what we have dreamed of.
God asks us to dare to create something new. We cannot return to the false securities of the political and economic systems we had before the crisis. We need economies that give to all access to the fruits of creation, to the basic needs of life: to land, lodging and labor. We need a politics that can integrate and dialogue with the poor, the excluded and the vulnerable, that gives people a say in the decisions that affect their lives. We need to slow down, take stock and design better ways of living together on this earth.
The pandemic has exposed the paradox that while we are more connected, we are also more divided. Feverish consumerism breaks the bonds of belonging. It causes us to focus on our self-preservation and makes us anxious. Our fears are exacerbated and exploited by a certain kind of populist politics that seeks power over society. It is hard to build a culture of encounter, in which we meet as people with a shared dignity, within a throwaway culture that regards the well-being of the elderly, the unemployed, the disabled and the unborn as peripheral to our own well-being.
To come out of this crisis better, we have to recover the knowledge that as a people we have a shared destination. The pandemic has reminded us that no one is saved alone. What ties us to one another is what we commonly call solidarity. Solidarity is more than acts of generosity, important as they are; it is the call to embrace the reality that we are bound by bonds of reciprocity. On this solid foundation we can build a better, different, human future.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/opin ... 778d3e6de3
TKN Volunteers in Pakistan - A Catalyst for Economic Upliftment
The path towards initiating and sustaining your own business can be a daunting mountain to climb and often many individuals, even if they possess good business ideas, refrain from treading this path. To support the spirit of new entrepreneurs and promote business ownership within the Ismaili Jamat in Pakistan, one initiative that has become prominent is the ‘Business Opportunity Programme’ (BOP) launched by the Aga Khan Economic Planning Board for Pakistan (AKEPB, P).
The BOP was conceived a little over three years ago by Dr. Jamaluddin Husain, a distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship at Purdue University, Indiana, USA. His strong desire to share his vast experience and knowledge with the Jamat led to the formation of a structured mentorship programme with AKEPB that offers an 18-month engagement to the selected participants. Through this programme, Jamati members are provided with a platform to develop their ideas for businesses and to learn from other experienced Jamati business owners. These owners act as mentors and take participants through the steps towards business establishment. At the heart of this programme is the commitment and dedication of the BOP mentors, many of whom are serving as TKN volunteers.
Professor Jamaluddin Husain explains, “The Business Opportunity Programme was established to create new businesses and it depends mostly on advice from existing business owners to emerging new business owners. The fact that such a large number of new businesses have quickly been created is testimony to the motivation and dedication of Pakistan’s TKN volunteers. Two most impressive attributes of Pakistan’s TKN volunteers are: (1) almost everyone who was invited to assist agreed to help, without pre-conditions; and (2) these volunteers continue to go out of their way to help others without seeking recognition. The level of success in recruiting volunteers has been outstanding in Pakistan. Their spirit of volunteerism and their Islamic ethic of helping others is marvellous!”
Participants undergo a rigorous selection process involving interviews to form cohorts of around 20-25 participants. While the programme entails intensive training sessions, participants frequently contact the BOP mentors throughout the year for business advisory sessions where development strategies, financial planning, taxation laws and agile management are analysed.
“The Ismaili community has always been business-oriented; the work of our forebears became seminal to the development of syndicates. However, the culture we see today is diametrically opposite. Businesses are seen as relatively obscure and sceptical occupations, which is why we needed this programme,” stated Irfan Madhani, a TKN mentor associated with BOP. Speaking about the participants, he adds, “We expect them to have a dash of entrepreneurial will and an understanding of the nexus of social, political and economic factors that often decide the fate of businesses. We do not set up a business for them; we simply hold their hands until their corporate model has solidified.”
Jalaluddin Morani, also a TKN volunteer who mentors BOP participants explains, “We often tell our participants that there needs to be an equilibrium between sustainability and profit. We often hear ideas that may sound lucrative but lack sustenance, and vice versa. As mentors, we help them reach that equilibrium.” He further states, “Out of the three cohorts we have facilitated, we have seen a multitude of businesses emerge - from selling of baby products to electrical shops, from taxation consultancies to dairy farms, from home-based food deliveries to tech companies, and from sales of produce from the Northern Areas of Pakistan in retail to agricultural products being sold online. We have even witnessed an industrial engineer switch paths and set up a nursing business. The diversity within our cohort is reflective of the diverse nature of the enterprise they have established.”
Although the pandemic has put the economy into a tailspin, both Irfan and Jalaluddin agreed that in the post-COVID economy, smaller businesses will thrive. Accordingly, businesses with an online presence will not buckle under the pressure of this pandemic. “While capitalised conglomerates may seem to benefit right now, it is the small businesses that will eventually flourish. COVID-19 will force an evolution of many industries as we sit at home in lockdown, reassessing and reconstructing modes of consumption, supply and communication. We already see a paradigm shift; a vendor in a local neighbourhood will now accept online orders and deliver goods,” Jalaluddin stated.
Asad Lakhani, Chairman AKEPB Pakistan states, “BOP has been very successful thus far in its mission and it is a programme that we are proud of. The creation of businesses is not only a means for economic upliftment for the individual, but its economic impact can be much larger as it creates employment for others. Similar programmes such as BOP that have been established around the world entail high costs to sustain. We are grateful to volunteers such as Dr. Jamaluddin Husain and our team of mentors who have helped us in building a successful programme with minimal costs. We are hopeful that we will be able to expand this programme further in the years to come.”
This exceptional commitment of TKN volunteers continues to produce positive results through the Business Opportunity Programme. It has resulted in the creation of 64 new businesses that have added to the earning capacities of numerous Jamati households in Pakistan.
https://the.ismaili/tkn/tkn-volunteers- ... upliftment
The path towards initiating and sustaining your own business can be a daunting mountain to climb and often many individuals, even if they possess good business ideas, refrain from treading this path. To support the spirit of new entrepreneurs and promote business ownership within the Ismaili Jamat in Pakistan, one initiative that has become prominent is the ‘Business Opportunity Programme’ (BOP) launched by the Aga Khan Economic Planning Board for Pakistan (AKEPB, P).
The BOP was conceived a little over three years ago by Dr. Jamaluddin Husain, a distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship at Purdue University, Indiana, USA. His strong desire to share his vast experience and knowledge with the Jamat led to the formation of a structured mentorship programme with AKEPB that offers an 18-month engagement to the selected participants. Through this programme, Jamati members are provided with a platform to develop their ideas for businesses and to learn from other experienced Jamati business owners. These owners act as mentors and take participants through the steps towards business establishment. At the heart of this programme is the commitment and dedication of the BOP mentors, many of whom are serving as TKN volunteers.
Professor Jamaluddin Husain explains, “The Business Opportunity Programme was established to create new businesses and it depends mostly on advice from existing business owners to emerging new business owners. The fact that such a large number of new businesses have quickly been created is testimony to the motivation and dedication of Pakistan’s TKN volunteers. Two most impressive attributes of Pakistan’s TKN volunteers are: (1) almost everyone who was invited to assist agreed to help, without pre-conditions; and (2) these volunteers continue to go out of their way to help others without seeking recognition. The level of success in recruiting volunteers has been outstanding in Pakistan. Their spirit of volunteerism and their Islamic ethic of helping others is marvellous!”
Participants undergo a rigorous selection process involving interviews to form cohorts of around 20-25 participants. While the programme entails intensive training sessions, participants frequently contact the BOP mentors throughout the year for business advisory sessions where development strategies, financial planning, taxation laws and agile management are analysed.
“The Ismaili community has always been business-oriented; the work of our forebears became seminal to the development of syndicates. However, the culture we see today is diametrically opposite. Businesses are seen as relatively obscure and sceptical occupations, which is why we needed this programme,” stated Irfan Madhani, a TKN mentor associated with BOP. Speaking about the participants, he adds, “We expect them to have a dash of entrepreneurial will and an understanding of the nexus of social, political and economic factors that often decide the fate of businesses. We do not set up a business for them; we simply hold their hands until their corporate model has solidified.”
Jalaluddin Morani, also a TKN volunteer who mentors BOP participants explains, “We often tell our participants that there needs to be an equilibrium between sustainability and profit. We often hear ideas that may sound lucrative but lack sustenance, and vice versa. As mentors, we help them reach that equilibrium.” He further states, “Out of the three cohorts we have facilitated, we have seen a multitude of businesses emerge - from selling of baby products to electrical shops, from taxation consultancies to dairy farms, from home-based food deliveries to tech companies, and from sales of produce from the Northern Areas of Pakistan in retail to agricultural products being sold online. We have even witnessed an industrial engineer switch paths and set up a nursing business. The diversity within our cohort is reflective of the diverse nature of the enterprise they have established.”
Although the pandemic has put the economy into a tailspin, both Irfan and Jalaluddin agreed that in the post-COVID economy, smaller businesses will thrive. Accordingly, businesses with an online presence will not buckle under the pressure of this pandemic. “While capitalised conglomerates may seem to benefit right now, it is the small businesses that will eventually flourish. COVID-19 will force an evolution of many industries as we sit at home in lockdown, reassessing and reconstructing modes of consumption, supply and communication. We already see a paradigm shift; a vendor in a local neighbourhood will now accept online orders and deliver goods,” Jalaluddin stated.
Asad Lakhani, Chairman AKEPB Pakistan states, “BOP has been very successful thus far in its mission and it is a programme that we are proud of. The creation of businesses is not only a means for economic upliftment for the individual, but its economic impact can be much larger as it creates employment for others. Similar programmes such as BOP that have been established around the world entail high costs to sustain. We are grateful to volunteers such as Dr. Jamaluddin Husain and our team of mentors who have helped us in building a successful programme with minimal costs. We are hopeful that we will be able to expand this programme further in the years to come.”
This exceptional commitment of TKN volunteers continues to produce positive results through the Business Opportunity Programme. It has resulted in the creation of 64 new businesses that have added to the earning capacities of numerous Jamati households in Pakistan.
https://the.ismaili/tkn/tkn-volunteers- ... upliftment
Young Ismailis volunteer at the Paris Peace Forum
The third edition of the Paris Peace Forum was held from 11 to 13 November 2020. Stakeholders from different backgrounds were brought together to discuss global challenges and promote constructive solutions. This year, young Ismaili professionals from the France jurisdiction also participated as volunteers.
To minimise the risk posed by the pandemic, this year’s Paris Peace Forum was held in a digital format and attended virtually by over 12,000 participants from across the world. The major focus this year was the response to the Covid-19 pandemic and working towards a more secure future in its aftermath. Topics under discussion included financing for relief and development initiatives, ensuring widespread access to a Covid-19 vaccine, increasing access to medical tools, the impact of the pandemic on refugees, and reforms to improve public health, the environment, and social cohesion in the post-pandemic world.
Envisioned by French President Emmanuel Macron, this forum was launched to promote multilateralism and drive progress on issues that concern the world at large, such as peace, climate change, cyber insecurity, and growing inequality. A major partner since the first forum, AKDN is now one of the founding members of the Forum.
In a statement on this year’s Paris Peace Forum, Mawlana Hazar Imam said: “The unprecedented global pandemic has presented major public health challenges. We require continued collaborative energy from governments, civil society institutions, and the private sector to overcome this crisis, protect life, and build for the future from a position of strength and wisdom. I am pleased that the Aga Khan Development Network and the Paris Peace Forum are working closely towards these goals.”
Some members of the Jamat volunteered as digital chat moderators at this year’s forum, representing the only group to be accepted as volunteer contributors.
Shala Nourmamode, a 26-year-old who works in early childhood development at a humanitarian organisation and is based in Brussels, volunteered as a digital chat moderator. Her responsibilities included maintaining an interactive flow on the live chat, and selecting questions to be sent to the discussion moderator.
Shala praised the forum’s focus on a wide range of issues.
“It was a great opportunity to attend a high-level forum and listen to discussions led by prominent experts and speakers. The content was diverse and interesting, with a high focus on Covid-19 and also including environmental preservation, climate change, gender equality, financing of humanitarian efforts, and pluralism.”
Laïqa Karim Jouma, a 25-year-old event manager from Paris, also volunteered as a chat moderator during the Forum.
She called volunteering for the Paris Peace Forum “an enriching and challenging experience.”
As a chat moderator, Laïqa had the opportunity to attend and moderate a session called “From statistics to solutions: where do we go from here?” which included Dr Zeenat Sulaiman from the Aga Khan Health Service, Tanzania as one of the speakers.
“I was really lucky and proud to moderate the session. It was great to hear Dr Sulaiman speak about AKDN’s work coping with the Covid-19 crisis,” she said.
As an event manager, Laïqa said she hopes to one day work on the organisation of an event such as the Paris Peace Forum, and that this experience will help her achieve this goal.
Anah Jaffer, a 25-year-old marketing project manager from Paris, volunteered as a digital greeter and live chat moderator. She described it as managing the “digital backstage.”
Anah said she enjoyed the opportunity to interact with individuals from different parts of the world who are working to bring positive change.
“I truly think it was a wonderful overall experience and a tremendous opportunity… I had the good fortune to meet very committed people from around the world (Kenya, Brazil, Senegal, etc.) who work for NGOs or associations that execute meaningful projects,” she commented.
An aspect that Anah found interesting was occasionally finding herself reassuring speakers before they went live.
“It is funny when you know that person works for a big NGO, but at that moment there was no gap between us. That is what connected me to them as human beings,” she said.
The third edition of the Paris Peace Forum featured numerous prominent panelists and speakers including Melinda Gates (from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Tedros Ghebreyesus (Director-General of the World Health Organisation), Anne Hidalgo (Mayor of Paris), Michael R. Bloomberg (from Bloomberg LP & Bloomberg Philanthropies), Nadia Murad (Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of Nadia’s Initiative), Mohammed Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of Grameen Bank), Brad Smith (President of Microsoft) and Emmanuel Macron (President of France).
https://the.ismaili/global/news/communi ... eace-forum
The third edition of the Paris Peace Forum was held from 11 to 13 November 2020. Stakeholders from different backgrounds were brought together to discuss global challenges and promote constructive solutions. This year, young Ismaili professionals from the France jurisdiction also participated as volunteers.
To minimise the risk posed by the pandemic, this year’s Paris Peace Forum was held in a digital format and attended virtually by over 12,000 participants from across the world. The major focus this year was the response to the Covid-19 pandemic and working towards a more secure future in its aftermath. Topics under discussion included financing for relief and development initiatives, ensuring widespread access to a Covid-19 vaccine, increasing access to medical tools, the impact of the pandemic on refugees, and reforms to improve public health, the environment, and social cohesion in the post-pandemic world.
Envisioned by French President Emmanuel Macron, this forum was launched to promote multilateralism and drive progress on issues that concern the world at large, such as peace, climate change, cyber insecurity, and growing inequality. A major partner since the first forum, AKDN is now one of the founding members of the Forum.
In a statement on this year’s Paris Peace Forum, Mawlana Hazar Imam said: “The unprecedented global pandemic has presented major public health challenges. We require continued collaborative energy from governments, civil society institutions, and the private sector to overcome this crisis, protect life, and build for the future from a position of strength and wisdom. I am pleased that the Aga Khan Development Network and the Paris Peace Forum are working closely towards these goals.”
Some members of the Jamat volunteered as digital chat moderators at this year’s forum, representing the only group to be accepted as volunteer contributors.
Shala Nourmamode, a 26-year-old who works in early childhood development at a humanitarian organisation and is based in Brussels, volunteered as a digital chat moderator. Her responsibilities included maintaining an interactive flow on the live chat, and selecting questions to be sent to the discussion moderator.
Shala praised the forum’s focus on a wide range of issues.
“It was a great opportunity to attend a high-level forum and listen to discussions led by prominent experts and speakers. The content was diverse and interesting, with a high focus on Covid-19 and also including environmental preservation, climate change, gender equality, financing of humanitarian efforts, and pluralism.”
Laïqa Karim Jouma, a 25-year-old event manager from Paris, also volunteered as a chat moderator during the Forum.
She called volunteering for the Paris Peace Forum “an enriching and challenging experience.”
As a chat moderator, Laïqa had the opportunity to attend and moderate a session called “From statistics to solutions: where do we go from here?” which included Dr Zeenat Sulaiman from the Aga Khan Health Service, Tanzania as one of the speakers.
“I was really lucky and proud to moderate the session. It was great to hear Dr Sulaiman speak about AKDN’s work coping with the Covid-19 crisis,” she said.
As an event manager, Laïqa said she hopes to one day work on the organisation of an event such as the Paris Peace Forum, and that this experience will help her achieve this goal.
Anah Jaffer, a 25-year-old marketing project manager from Paris, volunteered as a digital greeter and live chat moderator. She described it as managing the “digital backstage.”
Anah said she enjoyed the opportunity to interact with individuals from different parts of the world who are working to bring positive change.
“I truly think it was a wonderful overall experience and a tremendous opportunity… I had the good fortune to meet very committed people from around the world (Kenya, Brazil, Senegal, etc.) who work for NGOs or associations that execute meaningful projects,” she commented.
An aspect that Anah found interesting was occasionally finding herself reassuring speakers before they went live.
“It is funny when you know that person works for a big NGO, but at that moment there was no gap between us. That is what connected me to them as human beings,” she said.
The third edition of the Paris Peace Forum featured numerous prominent panelists and speakers including Melinda Gates (from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Tedros Ghebreyesus (Director-General of the World Health Organisation), Anne Hidalgo (Mayor of Paris), Michael R. Bloomberg (from Bloomberg LP & Bloomberg Philanthropies), Nadia Murad (Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of Nadia’s Initiative), Mohammed Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of Grameen Bank), Brad Smith (President of Microsoft) and Emmanuel Macron (President of France).
https://the.ismaili/global/news/communi ... eace-forum
The Spirit of Voluntary Service - Episode 1
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTUGrEAhOV0
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Volunteering: A cherished tradition of service
The long-standing tradition of giving of one’s time and resources has been a significant aspect of the worldwide Jamat. On the occasion of International Volunteer Day, we explore the notion of voluntary service and the impact it has had in community building and enhancing quality of life.
In his literary masterpiece The Prophet, the renowned author and poet Kahlil Gibran wrote, “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give… It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding; And to the open handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.”
The practice of volunteering is deeply rooted in the values of generosity, caring, and humility. It invokes one’s sentiments of empathy, compassion, selflessness and benevolence. Voluntary service can promote a sense of identity and belonging amongst community members through uniting and mobilising efforts toward a shared goal.
Volunteering has been a prominent feature and a key ethical value to enhance the welfare of the Ismaili community, and societies at large in which we live. The history of the global Jamat is rich with inspiring stories of individuals who served in numerous capacities, sometimes enduring considerable risk.
At times of peace, conflict, natural disaster, and in remote areas, Ismaili volunteers have stood up and rendered their services tirelessly in service of others.
This year has provided a prominent example, as thousands of members of the Jamat have mobilised to serve one another, within the community and beyond, in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Volunteers have given their time and talents towards organising digital programming, offering health, education, and economic advice, caring for patients, serving mental health needs, and supporting seniors and other vulnerable individuals.
Upon receiving the Die Quadriga Prize in 2005 in recognition of AKDN’s work, Mawlana Hazar Imam said, “I am fortunate to lead an international community with a strong social conscience. Bridging North and South, East and West, the Ismailis have a long tradition of philanthropy, self-reliance and voluntary service. Wherever they live, they faithfully abide by the Quranic ethic of a common humanity and the dignity of man.”
This long tradition began centuries ago. Over time, the forms of volunteering in the Jamat have evolved in response to the context and priorities of the community. In the Middle East, Persia, and South Asia, loyal followers would accompany the Imam-of-the-Time on his travels, protect him from harm, and carry messages to distant and remote Jamats.
One hundred years ago, the Ismaili Volunteer Corps (IVC) was established. From its roots in Bombay and Karachi, the custom of uniformed volunteering spread to other Jamats around the world, and now exists in every country where the Jamat is established. The role of the IVC has continued to expand and has now become an even more integral part of the community’s life.
More recently, we have witnessed the formation of Ismaili CIVIC, an exemplary global initiative addressing the challenges and opportunities of the modern era, committed to active citizenship and civic engagement. CIVIC volunteers unite around a common mission to serve humanity and improve quality of life through the values of service, compassion, and care for those in need.
Inclusion in voluntary service goes far beyond age and socio-economic status, engaging all to serve irrespective of their backgrounds. Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, are all inspired and driven by a single mandate which is to serve, for the betterment of the community and the societies in which we live.
In 1998, Princess Zahra delivered the keynote address at the Volunteerism in the New Millennium meeting, and spoke about the notion of volunteerism in the Ismaili tradition.
“Service is a means for each individual to actualise Islam’s ethics of inclusiveness, of compassion, of sharing, of the respect for life, and of personal responsibility for sustaining a healthy physical, social, and cultural environment,” she said. “Generosity is fundamental to this concept of volunteerism: generosity of material resources, of time, of thought and of knowledge.”
The unconditional act of giving is a fulfilling and meaningful force that lifts us away from our comfort zones and sometimes self-centred natures. Volunteerism fosters a culture of both individual and collective purpose, whilst inculcating feelings of attainment, pride, joy, self-esteem, and realising one’s potential.
It is rooted in the understanding that all people share a common humanity, with an obligation to work together to improve the quality of life and fulfil our responsibility as God’s trustees on Earth. Volunteering, in whatever capacity or form, provides an opportunity to render an individual, communal, and societal contribution for the greater good of humanity.
Photos at:
https://the.ismaili/global/news/feature ... on-service
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTUGrEAhOV0
******
Volunteering: A cherished tradition of service
The long-standing tradition of giving of one’s time and resources has been a significant aspect of the worldwide Jamat. On the occasion of International Volunteer Day, we explore the notion of voluntary service and the impact it has had in community building and enhancing quality of life.
In his literary masterpiece The Prophet, the renowned author and poet Kahlil Gibran wrote, “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give… It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding; And to the open handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.”
The practice of volunteering is deeply rooted in the values of generosity, caring, and humility. It invokes one’s sentiments of empathy, compassion, selflessness and benevolence. Voluntary service can promote a sense of identity and belonging amongst community members through uniting and mobilising efforts toward a shared goal.
Volunteering has been a prominent feature and a key ethical value to enhance the welfare of the Ismaili community, and societies at large in which we live. The history of the global Jamat is rich with inspiring stories of individuals who served in numerous capacities, sometimes enduring considerable risk.
At times of peace, conflict, natural disaster, and in remote areas, Ismaili volunteers have stood up and rendered their services tirelessly in service of others.
This year has provided a prominent example, as thousands of members of the Jamat have mobilised to serve one another, within the community and beyond, in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Volunteers have given their time and talents towards organising digital programming, offering health, education, and economic advice, caring for patients, serving mental health needs, and supporting seniors and other vulnerable individuals.
Upon receiving the Die Quadriga Prize in 2005 in recognition of AKDN’s work, Mawlana Hazar Imam said, “I am fortunate to lead an international community with a strong social conscience. Bridging North and South, East and West, the Ismailis have a long tradition of philanthropy, self-reliance and voluntary service. Wherever they live, they faithfully abide by the Quranic ethic of a common humanity and the dignity of man.”
This long tradition began centuries ago. Over time, the forms of volunteering in the Jamat have evolved in response to the context and priorities of the community. In the Middle East, Persia, and South Asia, loyal followers would accompany the Imam-of-the-Time on his travels, protect him from harm, and carry messages to distant and remote Jamats.
One hundred years ago, the Ismaili Volunteer Corps (IVC) was established. From its roots in Bombay and Karachi, the custom of uniformed volunteering spread to other Jamats around the world, and now exists in every country where the Jamat is established. The role of the IVC has continued to expand and has now become an even more integral part of the community’s life.
More recently, we have witnessed the formation of Ismaili CIVIC, an exemplary global initiative addressing the challenges and opportunities of the modern era, committed to active citizenship and civic engagement. CIVIC volunteers unite around a common mission to serve humanity and improve quality of life through the values of service, compassion, and care for those in need.
Inclusion in voluntary service goes far beyond age and socio-economic status, engaging all to serve irrespective of their backgrounds. Men and women, young and old, rich and poor, are all inspired and driven by a single mandate which is to serve, for the betterment of the community and the societies in which we live.
In 1998, Princess Zahra delivered the keynote address at the Volunteerism in the New Millennium meeting, and spoke about the notion of volunteerism in the Ismaili tradition.
“Service is a means for each individual to actualise Islam’s ethics of inclusiveness, of compassion, of sharing, of the respect for life, and of personal responsibility for sustaining a healthy physical, social, and cultural environment,” she said. “Generosity is fundamental to this concept of volunteerism: generosity of material resources, of time, of thought and of knowledge.”
The unconditional act of giving is a fulfilling and meaningful force that lifts us away from our comfort zones and sometimes self-centred natures. Volunteerism fosters a culture of both individual and collective purpose, whilst inculcating feelings of attainment, pride, joy, self-esteem, and realising one’s potential.
It is rooted in the understanding that all people share a common humanity, with an obligation to work together to improve the quality of life and fulfil our responsibility as God’s trustees on Earth. Volunteering, in whatever capacity or form, provides an opportunity to render an individual, communal, and societal contribution for the greater good of humanity.
Photos at:
https://the.ismaili/global/news/feature ... on-service
We serve the Jamat
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3KokXOO5SM
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We are IVC
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Ji6sulOAo
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3KokXOO5SM
*****
We are IVC
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Ji6sulOAo