BY SULTAN JESSA
KINGSTON – Ontario: Kingston, a tourism hub of eastern Ontario and home to Queen’s University, will become the latest community to play host to the World Partnership Walk.
“We are convinced Kingston will become a vital partner in alleviating global poverty,” explains Zully Hemani, chair of the local walk. “Ending global poverty is possible…it starts with the support from individuals like you.”
The Kingston walk is set for Oct. 1. It will start at 11:30 a.m. from the MacDonald Park.
Local municipal, provincial and federal officials have been invited to participate.
There will be music and cultural entertainment for young and old.
Successful fundraising walks, an initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, are held annually in Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Montreal, London and Regina, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Kitchener-Waterloo.
About $10-million is expected to be raised by World Partnership Walks this year.
“A small bit of money makes a huge impact on the struggling communities in Africa and Asia,” said Hemani.
This popular event began in Vancouver in 1985 when members of the Ismaili Women’s Organization Committee, driven to give back to the African and Asian countries they had grown up in, raised $55,000in an inaugural walk.
The walk has since spread to several Canadian cities, raising more than $70-millionto fight global poverty.
The Aga Khan Foundation Canada works with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and other organizations to ensure that 100 per cent of the funds go directly into initiatives in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Egypt, and many other developing countries in East Africa and the rest of Africa.
Thousands of Canadians from all walks of life pitch in to help vulnerable communities in Africa and Asia climb out of poverty.
The World Partnership Walk, the largest and the longest running event of this kind in aid of global development in the country, helps to alleviate world poverty at a time when severe food crisis is escalating and sometimes erupting into unprecedented riots.
About 50,000 walkers, along with 1,000 corporate sponsors, have already participated in the walk this year.
Such walks help to raise funds and awareness in the fight against global poverty especially in African and Asian countries.
Funds help with education, and improving health care, increase rural homes and build community organizations in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique.
The Aga Khan Foundation is a registered Canadian charity.
It was established by His Highness the Aga Khan, the 49th hereditary imam of an estimated 12 million Ismaili Muslims.
The foundation is non-denominational agency dedicated to the promotion of equitable and sustainable development particularly in Asia, Africa and the Middle East without regard to faith, origin, or gender.
The foundation currently funds more than 40 development initiatives in a dozen developing countries.
All of the funds raised by participants in the walk go directly to international development initiatives like health programs, education and support for community based initiatives.
Not a single cent is spent on administration, which are covered by the foundation.
An official of AKFC said events like the World Partnership Walk bring Canadians together in a common effort to bring hope and renewal to some of the poorest nations in the world and provides a tremendous help in alleviating global poverty.
Funds raised by events like the walk help AKFC to leverage additional support from major donors like CIDA.
The official added one of the most significant global challenges is fighting poverty, whose affects are far reaching.
“The walk’s continuing success is a tangible sign of the commitment of individual Canadians to the cause of global poverty alleviation.”
The foundation and the Canadian government, primarily through CIDA, have enjoyed a close working relationship for more than a quarter of a century. CIDA provides funding for a number of programs that the foundation supports in developing countries. CIDA and AKFC work in close partnership to develop effective solutions to poverty.
And with assistance from CIDA, the impact of funds raised in Canada is multiplied many times.
This effort by Canadians is helping to bring true meaning to the “partnership” between them and
impoverished communities around the globe.
The foundation’s approach is unique.
It makes a long-term commitment to creating opportunities for families and communities living in some of the poorest parts of the world become self reliant.
Ismailimail 