The Aga Khan builds a better world
Wed, November 19 2008
She is another statistic in the Kenyan medical horror story that estimates up to 50 per cent of the deaths in hospitals are due to misdiagnosis.
In the village of Kiboje, on Unguja Island, Zanzibar, Riziki Emmanuel is a five year old who cannot use her legs. Her impoverished parents have always carried her around because they have been unable to afford the crutches to help Riziki move on her own and go to school.
Like many of the poor in Northern Pakistan, Sifat Gul’s family survived on less than $1 a day. The roof of her home leaked during the rains and her children had no education. Her husband did odd jobs and traditions barred her from working outside the home.
Today, thanks to a humanitarian called the Aga Khan, hope has taken root in the lives of Rose, Riziki and Sifat.
While Rose is getting the medical attention she needs, The Aga Khan University Hospital is developing a system to capture community healthcare data from the grassroots level in Kenya. The plan involves connecting all hospitals in Kenya with the Internet, to help doctors make informed diagnoses before they administer any drugs.
Riziki’s life has changed and today she can count, sing songs, narrate stories, and draw pictures. The Aga Khan Foundation of Canada helped build a preschool in her village and her father brings her to class on his bicycle every day. Riziki is thriving.
As for Sifat Gul, a US$30 loan from The First MicroFinanceBank, a part of the Aga Khan Development Network, got her a sewing machine which she has turned into a thriving business. Today her two daughters and son are studying in a private school while she runs a tailoring program for illiterate girls in the area.
These triumphs over adversity are but a small reflection of how the Aga Khan and his global network of private, non-denominational development agencies are working all over the world to eradicate social problems.
His Highness the Aga Khan may not rule a country, but his nation knows no boundary.
He may not have an army. But his soldiers are everywhere fighting poverty, without regard to faith, origin or gender.
Celebrating his Golden Jubilee as the spiritual leader of millions of Ismaili Muslims, the Aga Khan brings his message of pluralism, peace and prosperity to Canada this week.
It’s a familiar story for us, one we too often take for granted.
Canada, built on a foundation of inclusiveness, shines as a beacon in a world of increasing discord and intolerance, the Aga Khan says.
Pluralism, he says, is a deliberate set of choices that a society must make if it is to avoid costly conflict and harness the power of its diversity in solving human problems.
“Canada has an experience of governance of which much of the world stands in dire need,” he writes in his latest book, Where Hope Takes Root.
The Aga Khan, by his words and actions, challenges us to learn from our past and use our present to make a better tomorrow.
It is a challenge we should all accept.
The Asian Post
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