Content Tagged with Community and Service
World Blood Donor Day is an occasion dedicated to raising awareness about the critical need for safe blood and blood products. These inspiring tales of service and survival highlight the profound impact that a simple act of donating blood can have on individuals facing life-threatening conditions. From Salim Amlani's journey with thalassemia, where the support of dedicated donors ensured his survival, to Munira Premji's courageous battle against multiple cancers, made possible by timely blood transfusions, and Ronil Shivji's commitment to donating plasma, these stories serve as a testament to the power of compassion and the vital importance of blood donation.
As part of their pledge to be climate champions, the Aga Khan Scouts and Guides in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, planted a micro-forest at Upanga Jamatkhana last month in collaboration with Ismaili CIVIC and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF).
Delegates gathered at the fourth Paris Peace Forum at the Parc de la Villette to debate global challenges and put forward new principles of action for a post-Covid world. This year, young Ismailis had the in-person opportunity to volunteer at the event, and to interact with speakers and representatives of international organisations and NGOs.
Global Ismaili CIVIC Day brought together tens of thousands of volunteers – old and young alike – in collaboration with civil society partners to benefit millions of people around the world. Displaying our ethics in action, the weekend of service marked another chapter in our centuries old tradition of contributing to the societies in which we live.
The 20th century writer William Arthur Ward once wrote that “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” On the occasion of World Teachers’ Day 2021, we celebrate the teachers and educators in our Jamat that continue to inspire us week after week, and thus help to positively shape the future of humanity.
Thousands of members of the Jamat are busy making final preparations ahead of the inaugural Global Ismaili CIVIC Day, to be held this weekend in more than 30 countries around the world.
Over the past year, the challenge of Covid-19 in Texas has been compounded by a winter storm that left millions throughout the state without power and water, and Hurricane Laura, which caused extensive property damage and displaced many. In the face of these challenges, members of the Ismaili community came together to assist those in need, staffing vaccine mega-sites, volunteering to distribute food and water, donating large amounts of PPE to first responders and communities in need, and organizing dozens of drives, including to collect blood, food, and books.
During the course of the pandemic, the Jamat has adapted to an increased use of technology. It is inspiring to see how Ismailis around the world have taken this transition in stride, as can be seen by the founding of The Ismaili TV, the hundreds of virtual events and programmes that have been offered, as well as the individual contributions of time and knowledge the global Jamat has provided.
Azima Dhanjee, a Pakistani entrepreneur, co-founded ConnectHear, a platform that generates sign language interpreters and seeks to increase deaf accessibility and inclusion in Pakistan.
When the United States government released a service that supported users in finding a vaccination site near them, Ontario-native Zain Manji realised there was nothing stopping him from creating a similar tool for Canadians.
Take any highly successful person and chances are that person had a mentor to guide his or her journey, but when Kenyan-born Azan Virji set out to obtain a world-class medical education in the United States, he didn’t know whose path he could follow.
As the global community faced unforeseen challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, schools and universities were required to quickly implement remote learning in order to maintain social distancing and other Covid-19 safety protocols.
Many of us spend our weekends having much needed downtime, catching up with chores or spending time with family. How willing would you be to give that up? Yasmin Heath from Brighton Jamatkhana in the UK did just this when she served on a TKN assignment in Europe. For one weekend every month, for six months, Yasmin travelled to Germany to voluntarily help murids from Afghanistan learn English language skills.
Whether you define it as seva, khidmat, or serviço, the ethic of offering service has been at the foundation of many selfless institutions and individuals around the world. This ethic is seen within our community and beyond, which can help to foster an active and healthy civil society. Youth leaders from around the world have adapted this very mindset: enabling communities through ‘building bridges.’ This phrase of Mawlana Hazar Imam’s is vital to forming a knowledge society, in which best practices — such as the ones used by Shagufta, Aly, and Sara — are shared and implemented worldwide.
Everything is made of something. Materials science is the study of what objects are made of – from metals to ceramics and polymers – and why certain materials function the way they do. It is the science that explains why your phone charger is made of the insulator polycarbonate or why a car contains the fireproof material fiberglass in its bumpers, doors, roof, and wheels. Though materials science and engineering (MSE) is not often studied in schools, it is the foundation of all objects in our world.
A group of Ismaili students from Afghanistan and Tajikistan made the most of a difficult situation when they were unable to return home from the Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad during the Covid-19 pandemic. With the abundance of spare time they were suddenly given, the students planned and implemented an organic farm on the school grounds.
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.
On 30 June 2020, Salma Lakhani, a member of the Jamat in Edmonton, was named as the next Lieutenant Governor of Alberta by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
For Sofia Babool, a 20-year-old sophomore studying neuroscience at the University of Texas at Dallas, conversation in recent weeks has centered around Covid-19. The world seems to be on pause; her school, favorite coffee shop, everything in her life has been turned upside down.
