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Speech by Council President Mahmoud Eboo Posted: 09 Aug 2008 10:30 AM CDT
Speech by Mahmoud Eboo, President of His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for the United States, Australia and New Zealand, at the Youth Summit and Diversity Dialog held at SMU (Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX) http://www.smu.edu/flashvideo/?id=102          |
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Additional information from Ali to Karim show Posted: 09 Aug 2008 10:12 AM CDT
Blog: Offscript http://www.theismaili.org/cms/498/Offscript
Episode Synopses http://www.theismaili.org/cms/497/Episode-Synopses Cast Biographies http://www.theismaili.org/cms/496/Cast-Biographies Source: http://www.theismaili.org/a2k All related posts at Ismailimail          |
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Al Azhar Garden Ismaili Pipe Band Posted: 08 Aug 2008 11:10 AM CDT |
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Free economic zone creation to be speeded up in Pamir Posted: 08 Aug 2008 09:24 AM CDT Work on creation of the free economic zone in Ishkamin rayon of Gorno Badakhshan in south-east of Tajikistan will be speeded up. Tajik Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Larisa Kislyakova and permanent representative of Aga-Khan Foundation in Tajikistan Munir Mirali visited Ishkamin rayon where FEZ creation is planned, Head of the Association of entrepreneurs and farmers of Badakhshan Boimamad Alibahshov told. |
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Posted: 10 Aug 2008 12:58 PM CDT Proudly supporting the Women’s Health Research Institute at BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre
Sunday 24th August, 11:00 AM - 3:30 PM Luberman’s Arch in Stanley Park |
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Sumbul Ali-Karamali: Of Documentaries and Dehumanization Posted: 10 Aug 2008 08:21 AM CDT
A lazy way to dismiss conflicts as hopeless is to characterize (usually erroneously) the disputing parties as having been “at each other’s throats for centuries.” It happened in Bosnia when the Christian Serbs started expunging Bosnian Muslims from the area; it happened in Rwanda when the fighting between Hutus and Tutsis erupted; and it’s happening now with respect to the Israel-Palestine conflict. It’s also happening in Iraq. It is nearly impossible to listen to news about Iraq without hearing of “sectarian violence” and receiving the impression that the U.S. (the invader, remember?) is simply there as the intermediary between the Sunni and Shi’a, who have – of course – always been at each other’s throats. And now National Geographic has aired a documentary, Inside the Koran,) which features depictions of the Shi’a as “sinners,” and promotes a fractured view of Islam. (It also contains all sorts of other problems, as it confuses culture with Islamic doctrine, doesn’t explain the context of the verses it quotes, characterizes the Qur’an as inconsistent and contradictory – as if the Qur’an is the only religious text that’s ever been interpreted differently by different people – and features no Qur’anic experts discussing the historical, intertextual, and linguistic features of the Qur’an that actually do render it consistent.) And it contains lots and lots of violence, because so many people erroneously think it is impossible to discuss Islam without explaining it in a violent context. I find this constant conditioning, and in this particular case, the constant portrayal of Sunni and Shi’a Islam as adversarial, extremely damaging. It’s self-fulfilling, dehumanizing, and inaccurate. |
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Week-in-Riview — August 10, 2008 Posted: 11 Aug 2008 11:34 PM CDT
The Ismailis: An Illustrated History, co-authored by Dr Farhad Daftary and Professor Zulfikar Hirji, was launched by IIS during the recent visit of His Highness the Aga Khan to the United Kingdom.
At The Ismaili Online Magazine, members of the national cast of ALI TO KARIM, Noren, Areebah, Salman, and Adil, chronicle their theatrical escapades and provide a behind-the-scenes view of the 2008 USA tour. In our Ismailis in the News feature, we bring you a touching video from Fox news featuring a story about Samia Razzak, who is in need of a bone marrow transplant. Samia’s story and a link to her website was published earlier at Ismailimail. In Vancouver, the Ismaili Muslim Adult Choir performed at the Third annual African Peace Festival. Featured in our Ismaili Authors in the News this week is Rafiq Sayani, an aspiring poet who draws inspiration for his poems from his prayers as well as from many moments of contemplation. Dr Nazim Madhavji, a visiting professor in Paderborn, Germany, is an animated scientist who wants to help the world. Ismailimail had previously posted speech by Mahmoud Eboo, President of His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for the United States, Australia and New Zealand, at the Youth Summit and Diversity Dialog held at SMU (Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX). In Canada, join the Ismaili Walk for Women at Luberman’s Arch in Stanley Park, BC on Sunday, August 24, as they proudly support the Women’s Health Research Institute at BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre.
From Central Asia, we have a great picture of the Ahmednagar Jamatkhana in India. Sandra Beyers, a New Brunswick researcher known for shaping the province’s sexual education curriculum is hoping to make a similar impact in India, and is traveling to India to meet with researchers from the Forum for Application of Integrated Total Health and the Ara Khan Health Services of India. Two health centers open in Rushan rayon of Gorno Badakhshan region in Tajikistan under the support of the Aga Khan Health Services. In Pakistan, Zahra Suleman Tejani, Sara Moiz Ali and Arif Payarali of the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School, Karachi, were among 10 students who were recognised for receiving the First Position Special Award by the American Intellectual Property Law Association at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2008. Social Bridges conducted an interview with Mr. Eazaz Aslam Dar, Senior Program Manager of PCP, to know more about PCP. Work on creation of the free economic zone in Ishkamin rayon of Gorno Badakhshan in south-east of Tajikistan will be speeded up. From the Middle East, Syria’s First Microfinance Institution (FMFI), an initiative of the international development agency Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), will begin operating in a few weeks.
From the blogosphere, shrummer16 is now in Tajikistan for an 8-month internship with the Aga Khan Foundation. Visit her blog for photgraps and video. Alim’s collection of photographs from Central Asia contains interesting and informative photographs at the site, including Ismaili Jamatkhana and people. We have a great picture of the Al Azhar Garden Ismaili Pipe Band perform on Jamat Khana Ground on July 11 2006, courtesy of Ranish Ramzan Ali’s flickr collection. At our Spirit and Life Blog, we began the week with a great poem ‘After the Darbar by aspiring poet, Rafiq Sayani. We talked about the Ismaili Imamat’s long tradition of leadership in educational development, the establishment of the Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) and its various programmes, and the ranking of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as #1 amongst the 100 most influential persons in history by Michael H. Hart an American astrophysicist turned author and activist. Next, we learned how Calligraphy developed into an artform and devotional activity in Islam, reflected on some excerpts about Bridge Building from speeches of His Highness the Aga Khan and explored different styles of Islamic art developed during various periods in the long history of Islamic art. Did you know that Imam al-Muizz is credited with having commissioned the invention of the first Fountain Pen in 953? That is all from this week, hope you will be looking forward to more exciting and interesting news and stories next week. Click here for last week’s review. |
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Posted: 11 Aug 2008 02:59 PM CDT From Paul’s Travel blog. The Tajiks were right up there with Syrians and Iranians (the latter, their kin) in terms of friendliness and warmness to foreign visitors, and we will remember the country very fondly. These portraits are in the order of western lowlands to eastern Pamirs, the direction of our travels. http://www.paulstravelblog.com/2008/06/faces-of-tajikistan.html Note: there are few Google Ads at the source. |
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Just another journey To Chapursan and back, twice in twenty years… Posted: 11 Aug 2008 08:22 AM CDT By Salman Rashid
Since I had been in Chapursan back in 1990 (when I had more hair and less fat), I had never returned and there were some people I sorely wanted to see again. One was Sarfraz Khan alias Chairman of the village of Zuda Khun who had a gold tooth and a rifle. All his life he had been a keen hunter and when he agreed to lead me across the 5200 metre-high Chillinji Pass, he brought his trusted old rifle along. With a wide grin he had said he would be coming back with an ibex or two. I asked how he could carry back two dead animals and he said that the pass being glaciated, he could always bury one in the deep freeze and return for it later. –snip– It is only in Gojal and Hunza that one will chance upon a solitary young woman, shovel on her shoulder merrily marching along on her way to water a potato or wheat field. That she can go off into the wilderness unaccompanied has a lot to say of a society that does not threaten its womenfolk, a society at peace with itself. This comes from education and not from sham belief in religion: remote Chapursan has one hundred percent literacy. Little children that we accosted on the way spoke perfect English and Urdu and possessed impeccable manners. Most of the rest of us could take a leaf from this book. And this has all come to be because of the good work of the Aga Khan Foundation. I say, exterminate these politicians and let the Aga Khan be King of Pakistan. He will turn us, including the Mehsuds and sundry other creatures inhabiting that region, human. |
As journeys go, this one was hardly a great one. Kamran Alavi
(with his throat orchestra of which more later) and I reached Gilgit
hoping to go walking up north of Misgar in the Gojal region in the extreme
upper edge of Hunza. That would have been after I had done a short dash to
the end of the Chapursan Valley to check out the tomb of Baba Ghundi.        |
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The Delightful People from Aga Khan - Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Blog Posted: 12 Aug 2008 10:07 PM CDT
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Posted: 12 Aug 2008 01:52 PM CDT Signing ceremony marks new community programs for Africa and Asia. REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 12, 2008 — Today at Microsoft Corp. headquarters, Michael Rawding, vice president of the Unlimited Potential Group at Microsoft, and Iqbal Noor Ali, CEO of the Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A., signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate in the development of innovative technology solutions and human resource capacity through education, health, civil society, financial services, rural livelihoods and economic development programs in Africa, South and Central Asia. The working collaboration between the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Group and the Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. reflects a shared goal to expand the social and economic opportunities of underserved communities, irrespective of race, religion, political persuasion or gender. As an initial area of collaboration, the two organizations will focus on education with the establishment of a global information and communication technology (ICT) strategy for the network of 18 Aga Khan Academies. The first Aga Khan Academy was inaugurated in 2003 in Mombasa, Kenya. Additional primary and secondary schools are in development in 14 countries across Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia over the next 10 to 15 years. Microsoft plans to provide technical assistance and advisory services to the academies and explore new ways that ICT can help enable quality education and teachers’ professional development, which may include Microsoft’s Partners in Learning program and Microsoft’s Digital Literacy Curriculum. Microsoft also will collaborate with the Aga Khan Foundation in Pakistan and East Africa to help enhance the quality and availability of math, science and technology education programs, as well as to expand digital access through Community Technology and Learning Centers (CTLCs). Complete at Microsoft.com |
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18th World Peace Congress in Malaysia - Dr. Noor V. Gillani will be the invited speaker Posted: 12 Aug 2008 12:14 PM CDT
Professors Charles Mercieca and Noor Gillani — will be invited speakers at the 18th World Peace Congress in October in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. The Congress is sponsored by the International Association of Educators for World Peace (IAEWP), a UN-affiliated NGO, and is hosted by the Government of Malaysia. Check out: www.worldpeace.com.my for details and bios of the ten international invited speakers.
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DR. NOOR V. GILLANI - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA        |
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Faculty of Arts and Sciences Master Plan at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan Posted: 12 Aug 2008 11:14 AM CDT
SCUP/AIA-CAE Excellence in Planning for a New Campus, Honor Award Faculty of Arts and Sciences Master Plan at the Aga Khan University in
Karachi, Pakistan Earlier related: Architectural award for Aga Khan University’s new campus in Education City |
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Rwanda: Serena Hotels in $15 Million Expansion Posted: 12 Aug 2008 11:10 AM CDT Serena Group of Hotels is to expand one of its bigger hotels in Rwanda to world class five-star hospitality center with new amenities, senior officials from the parent company said Tuesday. The 104-room five-star Serena hotel based in the heart of the Kigali will be given 50 additional guest bedrooms, a modern health and fitness centre and general upgrade of the hotel facilities, according to Mr. Mahmud Jan Mohamed, the Managing Director for Serena Hotels Africa. At a cost of $15 million (about 8.1 billion Francs), ROKO Construction company will put the Kigali Serena Hotel on the regional map as a top destination for high-end guests, after the two companies signed an agreement at the hotel’s premises. |
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Samiah on Great Day Houston Show Posted: 12 Aug 2008 10:46 AM CDT |
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10 Teams. 1 Goal. End Global Poverty. Posted: 14 Aug 2008 05:13 PM CDT Congratulations to the Wise Guys from Aurora, IL
On a day where the weather was perfect, the mood just right, and with the BBQ going on all cylinders, 10 teams and their families came together to raise well above $12,000 to help combat global poverty. After a long day of four regular season games for each team, the #1 seed Wise Guys came out on top in the semi-finals, in their last at bat, over a formidable Hitmen team that came from behind to take the lead in the top of the 7th inning. Meanwhile, a Cinderella story was taking place on the second field, with the underdog Parrot Media taking a grueling game against the #2 seed Cobra Kai team in their semi-final. In the Championship game, the potent Wise Guys offense proved to be too much for Parrot Media. Both the Wise Guys and Parrot Media (see pictures attached) will be formally recognized on stage at Pritzker Pavillion in Millenium Park on August 24th at the Aga Khan Foundation Partnership Walk. 2nd Place Team (Parrot Media with Green Uniforms) |
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Aga Khan Trust for Culture - Afghanistan Newsletter - May/June 2008 Posted: 14 Aug 2008 10:52 AM CDT
As a preliminary architectural survey takes place of the Bala Hissar, the historic citadel of Kabul, in collaboration with the department of Historic Monuments, an intriguing account has come to light about the turmoil that followed the death in 1556 of the Mughal emperor Humayun. Written by a loyal military officer, Bayazid Bayat, the ‘Memoir of Humayun and Akbar’ (re-printed in Calcutta in 1941) provides an insight into the layout and use of the citadel and adjoining quarters. |
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Posted: 14 Aug 2008 09:30 AM CDT From The Ismaili, by Karim Halani
Terry Fox statue in Ottawa Earlier related post and photographs at Ismailimail: February 15, 2008, Aga Khan Scouts & Guides band leading Terry Fox Run in Dubai - 14th Terry Fox Run Dubai show began fabulously - 2008 Dubai Terry Fox Run - Aga Khan Scouts & Guides band to lead |
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Samiah Needs YOU…to be her SAVIOR - From Houston Blog Posted: 14 Aug 2008 09:29 AM CDT From SABAsearch Blog
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Two cities inextricably linked by a shared heritage and common values Posted: 14 Aug 2008 09:28 AM CDT From The Ismaili, by Sameer Kassam
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ADB loans Roshan USD55 million Posted: 14 Aug 2008 09:28 AM CDT The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced that it will provide a USD55 million loan to Afghani cellco Telecom Development Company Afghanistan (TDCA, but more commonly known by its brandname Roshan) to fund its network expansion plans. The loan will also support the roll out of a mobile banking service that will be designed specifically for those without traditional bank accounts. The total cost of the expansion is expected to top USD175 million, which will include roll out into new districts, the upgrade of existing equipment and the conversion of some base stations to solar power. The balance of the funding will come from the company’s shareholders; Roshan is owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED, 51%), Monaco Telecom International (36.75%) and TeliaSonera (12.25%). Roshan began operations in 2003 and has a network that covers more than half the Afghani population. It claimed two million subscribers at the end of June. http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=24583&email=html |
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Posted: 13 Aug 2008 11:54 AM CDT
PartnershipsInAction is an initiative of Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A. (AKF USA) and its network of volunteers across the U.S. to raise awareness and funds for innovative self-help programs that create hope and opportunity for disadvantaged communities in the developing world. Calendar of Events
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10 Steps, 10 Questions — Embark on the Global Adventure Posted: 13 Aug 2008 11:48 AM CDT
Are you ready to make a difference? Explore the world through the PartnershipsInAction website and learn how the Aga Khan Foundation works to develop innovative and community-led programs in the developing world, providing hope and opportunity to millions of men, women and children. Answer 10 questions correctly and you will be entered in the drawing for a grand prize. |
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Conference Highlights Challenges, Strategies facing Women in Agriculture in Region Posted: 13 Aug 2008 11:40 AM CDT South Asian Women Farmers Reap Few Benefits, Despite their Significant Contributions to Agriculture Conference Highlights Challenges, Strategies facing Women in Agriculture in Region New Delhi—While women comprise nearly 40 percent of South Asia’s agricultural workforce, their low social status limits them from fully reaping the benefits of their efforts. Overcoming this challenge is the focus of the two-day conference, “Women in Agriculture in South Asia,” starting here today. More than 120 development practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and private sector representatives will discuss the constraints facing South Asian women involved in agriculture and identify strategies to enhance their status and benefits. The conference is co-organized by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and supported by the European Commission. |
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UCLA center presents World Festival of Sacred Music – Los Angeles in September Posted: 13 Aug 2008 11:40 AM CDT For 16 days in September, the 2008 World Festival of Sacred Music–Los Angeles will present nearly a thousand artists performing in 41 sacred events of music and movement throughout Los Angeles, crossing neighborhoods and cultural, religious and ideological boundaries in the spirit of peace. The fourth WFSM–LA will fill the city’s historic landmark theaters, churches, temples and outdoor spaces with renowned international and local artists expressing many diverse forms of musical creativity, from grass-roots folk music to jazz and formal European and Asian classical traditions. Tickets for each event are available separately. Festival information is available at www.festivalofsacredmusic.org/calendar.html. –snip– The World Festival of Sacred Music–Los Angeles is a project of the Foundation for World Arts; the UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance and the EarthWays Foundation. It is funded in part by …. His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for the Western United States…. |
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Possibility of Pakistani Chair at University of Texas Posted: 13 Aug 2008 11:39 AM CDT Talking with our special correspondent from his office in Colleyville, Texas, Tom Slone, owner of the Touchtone Communications, informed that $450,000 are required to be raised by October 31, 2008 to have the First Pakistani Chair at the University of Texas. –snip– “With the Aga Khan Foundation’s signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with UT in April 2008, the opportunity to further the idea of Pakistani Chair at UT has become more real”: Added Mr. Slone. |
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Posted: 13 Aug 2008 11:38 AM CDT Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, August 12, 2008 the IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has signed a loan agreement with the Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank to expand its micro, small, and medium enterprise lending operations in less developed areas of the Kyrgyz Republic. IFC’s $5 million loan will also finance projects in agriculture sector. The loan will create financing options for underserved markets in the Kyrgyz economy, especially in remote cities and towns. Increasing access to finance in these areas is crucial for sustainable development of the country’s private sector, as well as for improving economic development and reducing poverty. –snip– IFC is a shareholder in the Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank with an equity stake of 17 percent. Other stakeholders include the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development…. |
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Shanif
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Dahisar Pipe Band performs during Golden Jubilee celebrations in India Posted: 15 Aug 2008 02:12 PM CDT We have previously featured
Dahisar Jamat Pipe Band from India, here they perform during the
celebrations of His Highness the Aga Khan’s Golden Jubilee visit to
India in May 2008
Sidhpur, Gujrat.
Methan Jamat Celebrations |
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Posted: 15 Aug 2008 11:14 AM CDT From Silk Road Drive project of Karl-Wilhelm Steuernagel
Complete at the source: http://ambassadorsilkroaddrive.wordpress.com/2008/08/15/a-diiferent-pakistan/ |
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AN ISLAMIC CONSCIENCE wins 2nd place at Festival Posted: 15 Aug 2008 10:11 AM CDT Bayou City Inspirational Film Festival, BCIFF 2008 Jury Awards Best Investigative/ Political Documentary 1st Place- Drug Wars: Silver or Lead-Rusty Fleming |
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Softball game benefits charity foundation Posted: 15 Aug 2008 09:22 AM CDT 
Ten softball teams went to bat this week to raise approximately $12,000 for the Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A., which aims to fight poverty in Africa and Asia. More than 130 softball players raised approximately $12,000 this week during the inaugural Partner Ships In Action Softball Classic at the Roselle Park District. The charity softball tournament game is an initiative of Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A., which raises funds and awareness to eliminate hunger, disease, illiteracy and poverty in Africa and Asia. Ten teams from all over the Chicagoland area played in a round-robin tournament Sunday, with team Wise Guys from Aurora taking the first-place title. Second place went to team Parrot Media from Schaumburg. Both teams will collect their trophies during the Aga Khan Foundation’s annual Partnership Walk Aug. 24 Millennium Park in Chicago. |
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SEACOM to launch Africa undersea cable June 2009 Posted: 15 Aug 2008 09:22 AM CDT Mauritius-registered private equity venture SEACOM said on Thursday a fibre optic undersea cable linking east Africa to Europe and Asia would be launched in June 2009, in time for the 2010 soccer World Cup. SEACOM said last year investors in the venture included an arm of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, Venfin Ltd. and Herakles Telecom LLC, each with a 25 percent stake, and Convergence Partners with a 12.5 percent shareholding. |
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Posted: 15 Aug 2008 09:20 AM CDT SHANGRI-LA is closer than you might imagine. With clear weather and a measure of luck, the valley that helped inspire the utopian hideaway in James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon can be reached from London in just 12 hours. Once it was a hidden kingdom, visited only by the hardiest travellers. In recent years it has become more accessible and has been discovered by tourists. Many of these foreign visitors lament - without irony - that exposure to the outside world will ruin the Hunza Valley. The inhabitants are less pessimistic and claim that, far from threatening their unique culture, the tourist boom is helping preserve it. Over the past decade they have been involved in a community-based tourism project to restore a 700-year-old fort and the historic village beneath it. Their efforts earned them the top prize in British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2000. |
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Hunza an inspiration worldwide Posted: 15 Aug 2008 09:20 AM CDT Legend suggests that the only religions that flourish in high mountains are Buddhism and Hinduism. Actually, Islam flourishes in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, in the coastal ranges of Yemen and Oman, among the peaks of northern and southern Turkey, in the Pamirs of Afghanistan and Russia and, above all, in the very highest reaches of the world: the western end of the Himalayan massif in northern Pakistan. In that region, the Karakorum Mountains stand like a clan of giants shrouded in a gargantuan cloak of ice and snow; the average Karakorum peak is above 6,100 meters (20,000 feet), double that of the Alps or Rockies, and higher, on the average, than the Nepalese behemoths surrounding Mt. Everest. It’s a forbidding, starkly lunar terrain, and in it, amid glaciers and sub-polar ice fields, lies a lovely valley called Hunza, possibly the highest outpost of Islam in the world. http://www.mygilgit.com/Articles/hunza_inspiration_worldwide.php |
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The Karakoram Highway - Gilgit, Pakistan Travel Blog Posted: 15 Aug 2008 09:19 AM CDT
Walking around the village I met wonderful, friendly people, most speaking a very good english. In the north here, the locals are mostly Wakhi and Ismaeli Muslims, the same people I ‘ve got to meet in Tajik Pamir and the Wakhan corridor a few months before. As I mentioned then the Islamelis are all very progressive Muslims, well-educated, with women fully integrated in the social and economic life. However, even though they are the same people, it is striking to see how more open, curious, reliable and just simply happy people seem to be here in comparison with Tajikistan. And it something I could generalise to the all country, not only with Ismaelis. I have tried to understand why that is and the only conclusion I could come up with was that in Tajikistan (and Central Asia) people have until recently lived under the debilitating forces of communism and dependence from Moscow. They now live under repressive regimes with corruption endemic at all levels of society. In contrast, while the Pakistani regime is maybe not the most transparent in the world, the people of the Northern Areas have been more or less left to their own device so far and proudly built their economy by themselves (and lots of help from the Swiss based Aga Khan Foundation). Personally after just a few hours there I knew I was dealing with a very different kind of environment and people and it was a real relief to feel that I could trust most (if not all) the persons I would deal with. |
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Ishkashim Jamatkhana in Afghanistan Posted: 16 Aug 2008 10:26 AM CDT
First purpose-built Jamatkhana opens in the Ishkashim region of Afghan Badhakhshan |
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Shanif
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Historic Sites and Cities Revitalisation Projects in Syria Posted: 17 Aug 2008 10:24 AM CDT Tom and Kristine’s trip to Syria and their blog made us search more on AKDN’s projects in Syria. Do check their blog for more photographs from Aleppo trip. http://www.akdn.org/aktc_hcp_syria.asp 
The Castle of Salah ad-Din stands high on a mountain ridge. Involvement in Syria commenced in 1999 in response to a request to AKHCP from the Syrian Directorate of Antiquities and Museums to provide technical assistance for the conservation and reuse of a number of historic citadel sites in the country. The Citadels of Aleppo and Masyaf and the Castle of Salah ad-Din were selected. Each site presented a different set of challenges. The Citadel of Aleppo rises majestically above the ancient city of Aleppo and is one of the foremost monuments of the Islamic world. Inside the walls, a long history of bombardments, pillage and earthquakes had taken its toll. Conservation focused on a number of key areas that had a spatial or historic coherence: the Ayyubid Palace complex, the western section of the Citadel crown and the main surrounding walls. |
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Posted: 17 Aug 2008 10:19 AM CDT 15 August 2008 Asia-PLUS Daily Blitz KHOROG, August 15, 2008, Asia-Plus /Shonavruz Afzalshoyev/ — Issues
related to improving cooperation between local authorities, public
associations, private sector and donors were a major topic of a seminar
that was held in Khorog on August 14. The seminar participants included
senior representatives of the regional government, chairmen of Shugnan,
Ishkashim, Rushan, Murgab and Darvoz districts as well as representatives
of a number of jamoats, NGOs and international organizations. Speaking at
the meeting, Mr. Yodgor Fayzov, Executive Director of the Aga Khan
Foundation (AKF) in Tajikistan, noted that since 2004, AKF’s Mountain
Societies Development Support Program (MSDSP) has implemented the project
for improvement of local governance and rise in living standards in
Ishkashim, Rushan, and Shugnan districts under financial support of
Sweden’s Government. |
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Review: The Assassin’s Song by M G Vassanji Posted: 17 Aug 2008 10:19 AM CDT A novel about Indian migration is strengthened by the spiritual questing at its heart, says Sameer Rahim M G Vassanji has spent his career in fiction writing about characters caught between worlds. Born in 1950 in Kenya to Indian parents, he grew up in Tanzania and later moved to Canada, where he worked as a theoretical physicist. His first novel, The Gunny Sack (1989), explored the history of an East African Asian family; his later work follows the lives of similar families who have migrated on to North America. The Assassin’s Song deals with related themes in a different way. It is set mainly in India, from where the narrator, Karsan Dargawalla, moves to North America. |
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Ismaili Mail |
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Mohamedalli Nuraney, celebrated his 100th birthday Posted: 18 Aug 2008 09:47 AM CDT Celebrating 100 years of life Laura Anderson, North Shore News, Published: Sunday, August 17, 2008 In the last one hundred years, our world has changed profoundly but the values that form our characters do not change. Of that, North Vancouver’s most recent centenarian is living proof. Tall and straight backed, his face unlined and eyes clear, his handshake firm, Mohamedalli Nuraney — who turned 100 on July 14 — is a testament to a life well lived. Accompanied by his son, Salim, I visited Nuraney to find out what achieving his century means to him and to his family. At the door of the apartment where he lives resolutely on his own, I am greeted with a smile and the information that he is the proud patriarch of five children, eleven grandchildren, thirteen great grandchildren and one great great grandchild, a resident of Dallas, Texas. Nuraney’s passage to Canada was both lengthy and indirect. He was born in India in the province of Gujarat in 1908. The family emigrated to Uganda where Nuraney married in 1929, and eventually to Mombasa, Kenya, where he established a thriving perfume wholesale business. In his Indian homeland and in the home he made in Africa, his character and the habits of a lifetime were formed. As carefully and thoroughly as he tended his family and his business, Nuraney tended his health. Already proficient in the art of tossing Indian clubs, bodybuilding and swims in the ocean soon became incorporated into his daily routine. As his family and his business grew and thrived, so did Nuraney’s work in the community. In the 1960s, as Chairman of Mombasa’s Aga Khan Hospital, he was instrumental in the establishment of a mobile dispensary that served the coastal Kenyan villages. |
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Interview: Sultan Allana Chairman of Habib Bank Posted: 18 Aug 2008 09:43 AM CDT 
Chairman of Habib Bank Sultan Allana: “The bank acts as a catalyst for development.” Please tell us about the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development’s role as an international development agency promoting private sector entrepreneurship? AKFED is a for-profit international development agency that seeks to create economic capacity and opportunity in specific regions of the developing world. Its financial service institutions, some of which date back nearly 70 years, include commercial banks, microfinance banks, insurance companies and property development and management companies in nine countries, some of which are listed on local stock exchanges. Active also in the fields of industry, tourism development, infrastructure, media and aviation in 17 countries across South and Central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, AKFED operates as a network of affiliates with more than 90 separate project companies with a combined annual revenue from its operating companies in excess of $1.5 billion. Over 35,000 people are employed in AKFED controlled and managed projects around the world. AKFED’s investments in Pakistan include the Habib Bank Ltd (HBL), Serena Hotels, New Jubilee Insurance Company, and New Jubilee Life Insurance Company and The First MicroFinanceBank Ltd. As you said, the Fund seeks profits and economically viable enterprises through equity participation. In this context, what financial role does Habib Bank fulfill for the Aga Khan Development Network? Habib Bank is the largest Pakistani bank in terms of its branch network, both on the domestic and on the international front. Under the restructuring plan, initiated by the government in 1997, business units were rationalized and energized to restore the banks profitability. An ambitious IT program was launched in 2001, which is now well underway. By the end of 2005, a very large part of the bank’s business will be online, which will enable the bank to increase its capability to deliver products effectively and efficiently throughout the more than 1,400 branches in Pakistan. HBL is a universal service bank and as such it will take on the challenge of facilitating the development of the economy by supporting government initiatives and programs in the fields of such as agriculture finance, consumer finance, infrastructure development, small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development etc. However, it may be worth mentioning that the key driving factor will be enhancing shareholder value, which will not only impact AKFED’s investment in the bank but also the government’s, which owns 49% of the bank. We are also looking at ways in which we can cross-sell insurance and related services, which will impact on AKFED’s investment in the country’s premier insurance companies such as NJI and NJI Life as well as benefit the other shareholders of both these publicly quoted companies. |
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Posted: 18 Aug 2008 08:03 AM CDT
Salma likes to challenge herself by doing different media and subjects and does not limit herself to one type of media.
Click here: http://www.salmajadavji.com/index.htm Earlier related: |
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Shanif
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Farrah Musani: Action Diplomacy Posted: 19 Aug 2008 12:32 PM CDT 
Programme Officer, Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team Kandahar, Afghanistan — Kandahar might seem like an unusual place to run into a diplomat. It’s a conflict area, after all, and whether or not you have diplomatic passport, stepping outside prescribed safe areas can land you in a good bit of hot water. But that’s exactly where Farrah Musani, an officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs, has been for the last year. “This is a totally atypical environment for DFAIT to be working. I don’t think there’s anything else like it,” Musani tells me over coffee in the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) cafeteria. “It’s been a pretty intense experience – but a very good one.” Born outside Toronto, Musani moved with her family to Calgary in 1987. She graduated from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government before joining the Foreign Affairs team 2 years ago. After a year with START– the Stabilization and Reconstruction Task Force – in Ottawa, Musani got the call to head south. “I remember I got a phone call in mid-May last year,” she recalls. |
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PBS Series - Profile of Al-Azhar Park Posted: 19 Aug 2008 10:38 AM CDT
e2 design season three, narrated by Brad Pitt Releases September 2, 2008 (online, Sept 1) Episodes explore: a profile of the Aga Khan’s Al-Azhar Park in
Cairo, Some info from ecorazzi.com |
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Sense of Hope and Optimism in Pakistan Posted: 19 Aug 2008 10:38 AM CDT Opinion by Frederik Balfour at Business Week …. If only Musharraf had used some of that $10 billion on improving social services, the country might not be in such a bad way now. Poverty hasn’t improved, illiteracy is shockingly high, especially among young girls, and unless you are an army brat, you can forget about any social safety net. When people have little hope for in this life, it’s a short step to embrace Islamic extremism with its promise of an immediate reward in the next. I base my observations on a visit I made to Hunza, a remote part of the Pakistan near the Chinese border at the time when the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. Life for the people there living at an altitude of 7800 feet is plenty harsh, yet thanks to the Aga Khan Foundation, which has pumped money into education, especially for girls for decades, the people have a sense of empowerment and belief in a better future. It is no coincidence that the predominantly Ismaili Shia communities have virtually no extremist Muslim members. If only the sense of hope and optimism could spread to the rest of the country. |
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DALLAS GOLFERS RAISE $120,000 TO HELP END GLOBAL POVERTY Posted: 19 Aug 2008 10:37 AM CDT DALLAS GOLFERS RAISE $120,000 TO HELP END GLOBAL POVERTY Dallas, Texas, May 12, 2008 – Today at the Tribute
Golf Club 128 golfers took a swing at ending global With over half of the world’s population surviving on less than $2 per
day, golfers participating at this |
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Seeing Things: Zanzibar Stone Town Cultural Center Posted: 19 Aug 2008 10:35 AM CDT
Zanzibar Stone Town Cultural Center which is currently undergoing renovation by the Aga Khan foundation. The building was originally a Dispensary (hospital) commissioned by Sir Tharia Topan, a prominent businessman in 1884 and was completed 10 years later. Eariler related at Ismailimail: Cultural Centre - Zanzibar Stone Town |
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Week-in-Review — August 17, 2008 Posted: 19 Aug 2008 10:02 AM CDT
In our Ismailis in the News series, we have a video clip of Samia Razzak and her mother on the Great Day Houston Show, where they talk about Samiah’s need for a bone marrow transplant. Visit SABAsearch blog to read more about Samiah. Congratulations to Professor Dr Noor V. Gillani, who has been invited to speak at the 18th World Peace Congress in October in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. Sameer Rahim at Telegraph reviews M.G.Vassanji’s novel “The Assassin’s Song”. From India, we bring you excellent videos of Dahisar Jamat Pipe Band from India, as they perform during the celebrations of His Highness the Aga Khan’s Golden Jubilee visit to India in May 2008. In Africa, Serena Group of Hotels is to expand one of its bigger hotels in Rwanda to world class five-star hospitality center. SEACOM will launch a fibre optic undersea cable linking east Africa to Europe and Asia. Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development is one of the investors in the venture.
From Central Asia, we have a picture of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Master Plan at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan which has received the Excellence in Planning for a New Campus, Honor Award. In Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, the IFC, has signed a loan agreement with the Kyrgyz Investment. In New Delhi, a two-day conference, “Women in Agriculture in South Asia,” co-organized by AKF will discuss the constraints facing South Asian women involved in agriculture. In Afghanistan, the Asian Development Bank will provide a USD55 million loan to Roshan, the Afghani Telecom Development Company to fund its network expansion plans. Mr. Yodgor Fayzov, Executive Director of AKF spoke at the seminar in Khorog on issues related to improving cooperation between local authorities, public associations, private sector and donors.
In the USA, Microsift and the Aga Khan Foundation USA partner for Education, Health, Civil Society and Economic Development. The signing of the MOU will mark new community programs for Africa and Asia. James Utzschneider, the GM of Marketing and Communications for the Unlimited Potential group at Microsoft, blogs about how impressed he was with the delightful people from the Aga Khan Foundation. In Texas, Tom Slone, owner of the Touchtone Communications says “With the Aga Khan Foundation’s signing of the MOU with UofT in April 2008, the opportunity to further the idea of Pakistani Chair at University of Texas has become more real”. At the UCLA Center in California, the World Festival of Sacred Music will present nearly a thousand artists performing in 41 sacred events of music and movement. The festival is funded in part by His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for the Western United States.
Are you ready to make a difference? Are you ready to be part of the solution? Then explore the world through the Partnerships In Action website and learn how the Aga Khan Foundation works to develop innovative and community-led programs in the developing world, providing hope and opportunity to millions of men, women and children. Embark on the global challenge and answer 10 questions correctly and you will be entered in the drawing for a grand prize. PartnershipsInAction is an initiative of AKF USA and its network of volunteers across the U.S. to raise awareness and funds for innovative self-help programs that create hope and opportunity for disadvantaged communities in the developing world. Visit the website for the Calendar of Events. 10 teams and their families came together to raise well above $12,000 to help combat global poverty at the 2008 Partnerships in Action Softball Classic in Illinois. From The Ismaili, Sameer Kassam writes about the opportunity he had to volunteer with the Aga Khan Development Network in Syria and Egypt. Karim Halani writes about the participation of the UAE Jamat at the Dubai Terry Fox Run, First purpose-built Jamatkhana opens in the Ishkashim region of Afghan Badhakhshan. Aga Khan Trust for Culture Afghanistan Newsletter talks about Kabul in the 16th century. The Documentary, An Islamic Conscience wins 2nd place at Bayou City Inspirational Film Festival. From the blogosphere, Salman Rashid talks about his journey to Chapursan, Hunza that he made twice in twenty years. He writes about Chapursan’s one hundred percent literacy, where little children he met spoke perfect English and Urdu and possessed impeccable manners, and that this has all come to be because of the good work of the Aga Khan Foundation. Paul talks about the friendliness and warmth of Tajiks towards foreign visitors, at his blog. And JTroussier blogs about the Karakoram Highway in Gilgit, Pakistan. Once a hidden kingdom, visited only by the hardiest travellers, Hunza Valley, in recent years, has become more accessible and has been discovered by tourists. Karl-Wilhelm Steuernagel blogs about his travel through Pakistan from Lahore in Punjab to the Kunjerab-Pass in the north on his way to China. From Syria, Tom and Kristine’s blog took us to AKDN’s projects in Syria. At our Spirit and Life blog, we began with a quote from His Highness the Aga Khan stressing the need for institutions to partner together for positive impact. We learned about the Dar al-Ilm (House of Knowledge) founded by Fatimid Caliph-Imam al-Hakim; community of Nizari Khojas of Bombay India; al-Khawarizmi and the science of Algebra; and we also discovered a complete e-book on Islamic Art and Geometric Design. We also revised our posts from the past on AKDN and Islamic Ethic and Hazar Imam quoting Imam Ali’s famous saying: “No honour is like knowledge…“ |
That is all from this week, hope you will be looking forward to more exciting and interesting news and stories next week. Click here for last week’s review. |
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