Song “Oh Allah” – Album “From One Soul” by Fez Meghani & Aftab Ali November 14, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Art and Culture, Ismaili Muslim Artists.Tags: Fez Meghani
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IIS Scholar Presents Paper at British Association for the Study of Religions Conference November 14, 2009
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Stephen Burge, an Institute of Ismaili Studies Research Associate, presented a paper at the Annual Conference of the British Association for the Study of Religions (BASR) titled “Religion, Landscapes and other Uncertain Boundaries”, which took place from 7th to 9th September 2009. The attendees heard presentations on subjects ranging from Judaism to New Religious Movements, as well as a number of papers on themes in Islamic Studies.
Burge’s paper, entitled ‘Angels and Sacred Space in Islam’, looked at ways in which angels are used to create, denote and give authority to sacred spaces, as described in the hadith of Prophet Muhammad.
The paper’s main theme is that angels are used in Islamic tradition to blur the boundaries between heaven and earth, drawing the divine world into a more intimate relationship with the earthly.
More at The Institute of Ismaili Studies.
Siena Anstis – Communications Officer with Aga Khan Foundation November 14, 2009
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Currently based in Nairobi, Kenya as a communications officer with the Aga Khan Foundation and a freelance journalist under the CIDA Journalism and Development Initiative Scholarship. Anstis filled in the Journal via email.
What’s the overall goal of your work?
Read at http://cjournal.concordia.ca/.
Lisbon Forum 2009 at the Ismaili Centre November 13, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Aga Khan Development Network, Europe, Jamat Khana, Portugal.2 comments
North-South Centre of the Council of Europe: the 2009 Lisbon Forum – “Creating a culture of human rights through education”
Date: 13-14 November 2009
Location: Aga Khan Development Network – Ismaili Centre, Lisbon, Portugal
Organised by the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe in partnership with the Alliance of Civilizations and the Aga Khan Development Network, with the financial support of the European Commission and the Principality of Liechtenstein.
Description: The Lisbon Forum is a platform for dialogue and for sharing experiences, expertise and good practices between Europe and the other continents, especially the Middle East, Africa and the countries on the south side of the Mediterranean. The Forum has been held by the North-South Centre since 1994. It focuses on issues at the heart of the mandate and actions of the Council of Europe: human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Intercultural dialogue plays a key role in this respect, both within European countries and in relation between Europe and the rest of the world.
Meet the new CEO of Aga Khan Foundation USA November 13, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Aga Khan Foundation, North America, United States.1 comment so far
This month, we welcome our new Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Mirza Jahani, who brings with him fresh ideas and energy to strengthen the growing U.S. branch led by Iqbal Noor Ali for the past 25 years.
Mirza has a rich and extensive history in the development field with experience working in government and in nonprofit management. As a former AKF CEO in Kenya, London and Tajikistan, he is well-versed in the values motivating the work of the Aga Khan Development Network and the complexity of issues surrounding the work we do.
More http://www.partnershipsinaction.org/empowered/nov2009.html
‘Vocational education gets better job than mere degrees’ – Chairman, Aga Khan Foundation India November 13, 2009
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LUCKNOW: Does a degree guarantee a job? It doesn’t, unless the subject is one of the preferred ones or it has been obtained from a reputed premier college. So, a society poised to have a substantially large young population by 2020 just might end up with a “demographic disaster”.
“The serious deficiency in vocational training and deficiency in the level of education, especially in the tertiary education, as compared to the other emerging BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries is well known,” said Prof Abad Ahmad, chairman, Aga Khan Foundation India. He was speaking at the convention `Leveraging demographic dividend through quality education — The way forward’, organised by LMA on Friday.
Q&A with Karen Armstrong November 13, 2009
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With the launch of the Charter for Compassion, TED Blog unveiled Karen Armstrong’s responses to the top 10 questions asked and voted on by the TED and Reddit community. She covers the nature of compassion, the history of the conflict in the Middle East, and tough questions such as these:
- Religion seems to cause racism, extremism — why not get rid of it?
- What’s the point of a God that doesn’t intervene?
- Why not discard religion and just teach the Golden Rule?
Read at the source: http://blog.ted.com/2009/11/ted_and_reddit_3.php
Charter for Compassion launched – Resources November 13, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Ismaili Muslims in the News.Tags: Ali Asani, Karen Armstrong
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Aga Khan Health Service Hold Training Course In Mombasa November 13, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Africa, Education Services, Health, Kenya.add a comment
Mr. Ramadhan Bungale, Acting Regional Coordinator of Constituent Development Funds for Coast province distributed the certificates at the closing of 2-week short training course held in Mombasa offered by the Community Health Department (CHD) of Aga Khan Health Service, Kenya.
The objectives of this 100 hour course spread over 12 days was to let the participants understand the management and organization knowledge and skills required to manage a health facility at first contact level.
More …
Search wizards Iqbal and Zubair Talib of Intelligenx November 13, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Ismaili Muslims in the News, North America, United States.1 comment so far
About seven years ago, a fellow from MIT told me about a lightning-fast search and content processing system.
-snip-
My host, an engineer responsible for system implementation, introduced me to a father and son team, Iqbal and Zubair Talib. Today, the company has expanded into larger offices in the heart of the Ashburn, Virginia technology corridor. The firm’s customer base has expanded across multiple continents and includes the largest directory publisher in South America, Dun & Bradstreet, and dozens of companies who have abandoned the fiendishly-complex and technically-needy systems from much larger, much higher profile vendors. Word of mouth works.
http://www.arnoldit.com/search-wizards-speak/intelligenx.html
Career Profile: Zubair Talib – http://www.siliconindia.com/magazine
Aliya Ebrahim and team help sell Pashmina Shawls for ‘Grannies support Stephen Lewis Foundation’ November 13, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Canada, Ismaili Muslims in the News, North America.1 comment so far
Click image for details.
Ageing gracefully: Caring for elders with dignity November 12, 2009
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Roshan Budhwani never wanted to leave her surroundings, let alone her country. After all, she had worked hard to make her home what it was — a safe haven in her old age. But in their 70s, she and her husband, Tajuddin, made the gut-wrenching decision to leave their Karachi home, and move in with their only daughter, Nilusha Patel, in California.
“The choice was tough for them but a necessary one to make,” says Nilusha. “I knew I would be the eventual caregiver, and wanted my parents to be close to me before old age completely took over.”
It was a well thought out plan. As aches and illnesses took over their lives and their health slowly deteriorated, the elderly couple started relying more and more on their daughter and her family for their loving care. In September 2008, Roshan’s husband passed away and a few months later she suffered a fall — an incident that further weakened her.
An Afghan Development Model – Small Is Better – NYTimes.com November 12, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Afghanistan, Aga Khan Development Network, Asia.add a comment
Extensive New York Times article discussing the merits of small grants and projects having bigger impact versus the billions spent through governments. Mentions the work of Aga Khan Development Network. With Multimedia Slide show.
Five years ago, The Aga Khan Development Network spent more than a year trying to persuade a mullah to allow a girls' school. Today, the village of Fargamanch has a girls' high school.
–excerpt– Jurm presented many obstacles, and it took a development group with determined local employees to jump-start the work here.
One basic problem was literacy, said Ghulam Dekan, a local worker with the Aga Khan Development Network, the nonprofit group that supports the councils here.
Unlike the situation in Iraq, which has a literacy rate of more than 70 percent, fewer than a third of Afghans can read, making the work of the councils painfully slow. Villagers were suspicious of projects, believing that the people in the groups that introduced them were Christian missionaries.
“They didn’t understand the importance of a road,” Mr. Dekan said.
Most projects, no matter how simple, took five years. Years of war had smashed Afghan society into rancorous bits, making it difficult to resist efforts by warlords to muscle in on projects.
“They said, ‘For God’s sake, we can’t do this, we don’t have the capability,’ ” Mr. Dekan said. “We taught them to have confidence.”
via An Afghan Development Model – Small Is Better – NYTimes.com.
Link to Multimedia slideshow
Ismaili Float Picture in Government of Canada’s new citizenship guidebook November 12, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Calgary Stampede, Canada, Community Activities, Ismaili Muslims in the News, North America.1 comment so far
Government of Canada has issued a new citizenship guidebook today. The book is read by several hundred thousand new citizens and potential newcomers to Canada each year. See picture and caption on page 12 within the ‘who we are’ section:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/pub/discover.pdf
The link to the image in the on-line version is here:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/discover/section-05.asp
Ismaili float is part of Calgary Stampede tradition. We have all recorded posts here.
AL-MASHAL Regional Youth Convention November 12, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Asia, Community Activities, Council sponsored, Ismaili Muslims in the News, Pakistan.add a comment
An event organized by Ismaili Council, Hyderabad Sindh, to engage youth and bring awareness.
The Aga Khan and Africa – His Leadership and Inspiration November 12, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Aga Khan III.Tags: Simerg
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Photograph illustrating the floral decorations and seating design, reception given to Aga Khan III and the Begum by the Ismailia Provincial Council, Pretoria, Thursday August 9th 1945
The reading and images adapted from “The Aga Khan and Africa – His Leadership and Inspiration”, a commemorative Souvenir published to celebrate His Highness the Aga Khan III’s Diamond Jubilee as well as his visits to Lourenco Marques [present day Maputo Mozambique] and South Africa. It was compiled by Habib V. Keshavjee.
PAKISTAN: Military Vs Militancy Does Not Equal Peace – IPS ipsnews.net November 12, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Aga Khan University, Asia, Health, Pakistan.add a comment
–excerpt–
All this unrest and fear, said Dr Moosa Murad Khan, head of the psychiatry department at Karachi’s Aga Khan Hospital, is bound to affect the people’s psyche “very negatively”.
“People will remain under constant threat and that will instill a sense of insecurity in them. This can affect every aspect of their living—work, sleep, relationship, performance,” warned Khan. Even in ordinary circumstances, people in Pakistan “live on the edge” and have a very “fragile existence,” he added.
“But when a threat like this happens, it tips many people over the edge, and we see more and more people seeking help and the consumption of tranquillizers goes up,” said Khan.
via PAKISTAN: Military Vs Militancy Does Not Equal Peace – IPS ipsnews.net.
A Call for Nominations for the Top 25 Canadian Immigrants of 2010 November 12, 2009
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TORONTO, November 5, 2009 – Canadian Immigrant magazine and RBC announced today they are now accepting nominations for the “Top 25 Canadian Immigrants of 2010.” The second annual awards program, also supported by Rogers Wireless, seeks to celebrate the stories and achievements of outstanding Canadian immigrants from coast to coast to coast.
“With 20 percent of the Canadian population foreign-born, it’s important that we acknowledge the achievements of such a large group of people that make up our country — many of whom have made great contributions to Canada and their communities,” said Nick Noorani, founder and publisher of Canadian Immigrant. “Immigrants need positive role models who motivate them to succeed in a new country as they journey through their new lives in Canada.”
This national people’s choice award is unique in that it allows Canadians to vote directly for individuals from all walks of life who have made a difference since their arrival in Canada. More than 10,000 votes from across Canada were cast in the inaugural awards program in 2009.
Nominations can be made at canadianimmigrant.ca/top25 until Jan. 29, 2010
Microsoft initiative helps people seek info under RTI Act | Ahmedabad Mirror November 12, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Aga Khan Foundation, Asia, India.Tags: Microsoft
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Software giant Microsoft has joined hands with three Gujarat-based welfare organisations to give IT training to people who don’t have access to technology, mainly computers.
The American company, through its division Microsoft Community Affairs, has tied up with Aga Khan Foundation, Mahila Sewa Trust and Saath Charitable Trust. One of the key objectives of the initiative, called ‘Project Jyoti’, is to teach people how to obtain information under the RTI Act.
“We have set up Community Technology Learning Centres (CTLCs) across the state to provide technological support to people living in rural areas,” Vikas Goswami, who leads Microsoft’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes, said.
via Ahmedabad Mirror.
Breast cancer screening projection surpassed | Daily News November 12, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Africa, Aga Khan University, Health, Tanzania.1 comment so far
FAUSTINE KAPAMA, 9th November 2009
THE National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and the Aga Khan Hospital have surpassed their free breast cancer and awareness campaign to women projection in Dar es Salaam City by 100 per cent.
via Daily News | Breast cancer screening projection surpassed.
Earlier related
Outlook Aga Khan Foundation – Channel 39 Video – Houston Partnership Walk November 12, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Aga Khan Foundation, Ismaili Muslims in the News, North America, Partnerships in Action, United States, Video.add a comment
Process of implementation of AKDN projects in Tajik capital discussed yesterday | ASIA-Plus November 11, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Aga Khan Development Network, Asia, Fund for Economic Development, Tajikistan.add a comment
DUSHANBE, November 11, 2009, Asia-Plus — On Tuesday November 10, Dushanbe Mayor Mahmadsaid Ubaidulloyev received Mr. Munir Merali, Resident Representative, the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) Tajikistan.
According to press service of the Dushanbe mayor’s office, the sides discussed the process of implementation of the AKDN projects in the Tajik capital.
Dushanbe mayor proposed to complete construction of the world-class Dushanbe Serena Hotel until the 2010 Navrouz holiday (Navrouz holiday is marked on March 21) and construct the Aga Khan residence in Dushanbe until the 20th anniversary of Tajikistan’s Independence, which will be marked on September 9, 2011.
Salman Hemani at XCEEi. McMaster University November 11, 2009
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Salman Hemani graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Computer Science, specializing in Software Engineering with a minor in Economics for Management Studies. He has worked in the software industry for over 6 years at companies such as Sun Microsystems and currently works at Christie Digital Systems. Along with his many interests his focus is on digital media specifically in the education sector.
Media managers to discuss Africa’s negative image | Business Daily November 11, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Africa, Aga Khan IV.add a comment
The Pan Africa media conference, which will be held on March 18-19 next year, will bring together prominent personalities in media, business, governments, civil society, and academia across the world.
Some of the 40 eminent guests lined up to grace the event include the Aga Khan, Nobel laureate Prof Wangari Maathai, former South Africa’s president Thabo Mbeki, telecom investor Mo Ibrahim, and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
Among the items on the panellists’ agenda include the image of Africa before the local and foreign media, governance standards and revamping journalism for the next decade.
via Business Daily.
Provincial Minister for Population Welfare announced for Mega Projects | GroundReport November 11, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Asia, Pakistan.Tags: Chitral
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Chitral is shortest gate way to Central Asian Republics. Tajikistan road will bring great revolution in economy of Chitral said Saleem Khan Provincial Minister for Population Welfare.
CHITRAL: Provincial Minister for Population welfare Saleem Khan said that the federal government has principally approved construction of road to Tajikistan via Chitral that is the shortest gateway to Central Asian Republics. He was addressing to a public gathering at Garamchishma some 45 KM from here. He said that these republics have no ocean (sea) and now they would be linked with sea for their trade via Pakistan.
via GroundReport.
Sada Cumber writes on Fort Hood tragedy November 11, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Article, Ismaili Muslims in the News, North America, United States.comments closed
Like all Americans, I was profoundly saddened by Thursday’s shooting at Fort Hood. My heart goes out to the families of those killed and wounded in the attack.
The men and women of our armed forces are the shield of freedom and sword of democracy. We expect them to live by even higher standards than the general public. So it is especially painful when such an outrage is committed by a soldier.
For me, there is an added element of horror. The suspect in the shooting is Maj. or Niadal Hasan, an American-born Muslim. As a fellow Muslim, I expect my co-religionists to live by a strict moral code.
And in today’s climate, I worry any crime perpetrated by a Muslim may create a backlash against the millions of patriotic and law-abiding Muslim -Americans.
When I was appointed U.S. special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference by President George W. Bush, it was with a mandate to promote understanding and trust between the Muslim world and the United States. However, the aftermath of the Fort Hood shootings shows how much ignorance and mistrust continue to exist.
Read at mysanantonio.com.
Simerg.com’s series on Aga Khan III – Contributors share their memories … November 10, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Aga Khan III.Tags: Simerg
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With historical photographs and narrative at the source …
Noor Muhammad of Pamirtimes selected for Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Fellowship November 10, 2009
Posted by ismailimail in Asia, Ismaili Muslims in the News, Pakistan.1 comment so far
2009-11-10; Tuesday. Hong Kong. 10 young entrepreneurs from Pakistan have been selected out of 560 nomination from the region to join the annual Paragon fellowship (previously Asia Pacific Future 100) 2009.
