From Neighborsgo.com (also support the comments section at the source).
Written By: Samreen Hooda
“Give a man fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
How long does it take to teach someone to fish? Some say, it takes just one day: a day that makes a world of difference.
Last Sunday, October 14th, was one such day: The 7th annual Partnership Walk hosted by the Aga Khan Foundation, or AKF, where over 6,000 people from all over the metroplex turned up to help make that difference.
Every year the walk has a specific theme which is showcased to the community through skits, dances, and interactive activities that are conducted in the Global Village in Action. The village gives a chance for supporters of AKF to see exactly how their donations are helping people in Asia and Africa.
This year’s theme, Innovative Solutions to Create Hope and Opportunity, showed the community how AKF is using inventive ways to tackle development challenges around the world. The village displayed challenges people face in developing countries as well as solutions that the Foundation has implemented.
People began arriving on site as early as 6 a.m. for set up and registration, but, Iram Rahmatullah, a volunteer for the event, said preparations had been ongoing months before.
“The partnership walk is an annual event and each year it boggles my mind to see the countless hours of unconditional, voluntary service that goes in to making it such a huge success. The volunteers give their hearts and souls for this event,” Rahmatullah said, “and I think that is what makes it so special.”
All the volunteers, including lots of student helpers, spent hours upon hours choreographing dances, rehearsing the skits, and creating the proper atmosphere to make the village feel as real as possible.
People could walk through the microfinance maze to understand how the Aga Khan Foundation uses the money raised in the walk to give out loans to small business owners in developing regions. Or they could travel through the countries of Afghanistan, Egypt, East Africa, India or Pakistan to see the lives of people there and how it is impacted by the Foundations’ work. They could even enjoy some cultural dances to understand the importance the Foundation places on maintaining culture and quality of life.
“We decided to do a dance to represent the culture of Punjab which is rooted in Indian tradition. Putting the dance together took us like 4 days of practice and each practice lasted at least 2 hours,” said Sana Charania, an 18-year old student who was one of the dancers in the village. “On the day of the Walk we did the dance on stage multiple times so that everyone could see it and get a better understanding of Indian culture and dress.”
Other students, like Charania, also helped out as actors, dancers, or MC’s in the village, or helped registered walkers, or even as floaters running around to see if other areas needed more help. But, all the hard work paid off and the walk was a success, raising over $370,000.
Even government officials turned up to “walk the walk.”
At the opening ceremony, Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson read a congratulatory message from Governor Rick Perry and Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert noted the enthusiastic participation of the diverse community at the Walk in celebrating the work of the Aga Khan Foundation. Other distinguished guests of the Dallas area as well as long-time supporters of the Walk included U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions, Mayor Pat Evans of Plano, Mayor Becky Miller of Carrollton, and Irving Councilwoman Beth Van Duyne. They lead supporters through downtown before cutting the ribbon outside The Global Village in Action. Serving as masters of ceremonies were Media Personalities Brenda Teele-Jackson, Bob Ray Sanders, and Brad Hawkins.
The amount of man power and voluntary effort that went into this initiative is dizzying; and the number of lifetimes changed by teaching people how to fish, worthy of applause.
Ismailimail 