His Highness the Aga Khan to Speak at 2012 Europe Annual Conference: bit.ly/uw4LXk—
Urban Land Institute (@UrbanLandInst) January 26, 2012

http://uli-europe.org/paris12

Related: http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/category/awards/j-c-nichols-prize/

In its fifth year, the count was underway with the help of about 180 community volunteers, plus dozens of Santa Monica Police officers and city staffers.

–snip– Shahad Shamji, who grew up in Santa Monica and currently lives just outside the city’s borders south of the municipal airport, returned to the homeless count this year as a team leader. Armed with a clipboard and a yellow flashlight, he led three other volunteers through the residential neighborhood between Pearl Street and Ocean Park Boulevard and between 28th Street and South Centinela Avenue.

via In Midnight Hour, 2012 Homeless Count Afoot – Santa Monica, CA Patch.
Related: http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/homeless-count-relies-heavily-on-volunteers/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/2012-homeless-count-with-ismaili-community-engaged-in-responsible-volunteering-i-cerv/

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150532939968159.388000.562863158&type=1&l=b34eaa6abc

Related:
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/homeless-count-relies-heavily-on-volunteers/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/ismaili-community-engaged-in-responsible-volunteering-i-cerv-in-midnight-hour-2012-homeless-count-afoot/

Mayor Richard Bloom opened City Hall’s annual Homeless Count, apologizing for the lateness of the hour and thanking the volunteers for attending.

“You are the ones really playing an important role here tonight,” he said.

–snip– Santa Monica resident Shahad Shamji was one of many members of Ismaili Community Engaged in Responsible Volunteering (i-CERV), an Islamic community organization, who volunteered for the count.

This was not the first time that members of i-CERV had been present, and it probably won’t be the last, Shamji said. Shamji attended the 2011 Homeless Count, he added, but this was the first time he had led a team.

“It added to the responsibility,” he said.

via Homeless Count relies heavily on volunteers.
Related: http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/2012-homeless-count-with-ismaili-community-engaged-in-responsible-volunteering-i-cerv/
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/ismaili-community-engaged-in-responsible-volunteering-i-cerv-in-midnight-hour-2012-homeless-count-afoot/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/the-dangers-of-decentralization/article2316389/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/

The Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, generally known as the Ismailis, belong to the Shia branch of Islam. The Shia form one of the two major branches of Islam, the Sunni being the other. The Ismailis live in over 25 different countries, mainly in Central and South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, as well as in Europe, North America and Australia.

The Ismaili Community Ensemble, based here in London, takes diversity to heart — both in the origins of its musicians and the music that they compose. The Ensemble is well known for its collaborative performances with groups from different countries, faiths and musical traditions. Difference is regarded as both a natural and positive concept. Through this lens of diversity, ICE draws from a range of cultures, merging East with West and the traditional with the contemporary.

via Ismaili Community Ensemble: Celebrating Diversity – World Music Network – Live Events.
Earlier related: Ismaili Community Ensemble to perform at Cadogan Hall, January 28, 2012

The photographer, Mirza Ali, is a professional mountaineer and promoter of outdoor education and adventure sports from Hunza/Shimshal in the Karakorum frontier valley of Pakistan, in Gilgit-Baltistan near the Chinese border. From his birth in 1983 among the mountains and glaciers of Shimshal, an area inaccessible by road until 2003, and his first 6000+m climb at a record young age in Pakistan, Mirza has lived out his love for the outdoors in multiple climbing expeditions. Together with his sister, Samina, the only rising young female mountaineer in Pakistan, Mirza founded an NGO, Pakistan Youth Outreach, to promote outdoor education, mountaineering, and adventure sports among youth and women in Pakistan. The photographs in this exhibit, which are for sale, were taken in the past year for a book project tentatively titled Colours of Karakorum.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150517272863621.383180.160073033620&type=1
Photographs at the source are copyright to Mirza Ali.

For February 2, 2012, “Motherland Afghanistan” will be featured at Calgary’s Plaza Theatre at 6:30 p.m. with host researcher Shairose Premji, PhD, introducing the movie and subsequently delivering a short talk on new areas of research related to the science highlighted in the movie. There will also be time for audience questions and discussion.

Shairose Premji, PhD, Associate Professor in the UCalgary Faculty of Nursing as well as Member of the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, is a Nurse Scientist with a particular interest in child and maternal health. Formerly Chair of the Aga Khan Health Board for the Prairies region, she also has an affiliation with the Aga Khan University MSc (Nursing) program.

The Aga Khan University is at the forefront of child and maternal health research, education and care delivery within the jurisdictions wherein it is engaged, including Afghanistan.

Related resources:
Aga Khan Foundation Afghanistan 2010 annual report
http://www.akdn.org/publications/2010_akf_afghanistan_annual_report.pdf

Information about Science in the Cinema and the free February 2nd event
http://www.aihealthsolutions.ca/sitc/

Motherland Afghanistan
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/motherlandafghanistan/%20

The birth of a new slam series is a special moment. The room buzzes with intensity as showtime approaches. The new host is jittery, unsure of what the night will bring but thrilled about the experience that is about to unfold. Audience members, the majority of whom have never witnessed a slam event before, sit and chat with their neighbours. The music dims, the emcee steps to the mic, and the show begins.

Such was the scene this evening at Jake’s on Main in Unionville, where the first-ever YorkSlam took place. Before a packed house, Cytopoetics put on a terrific show. The three open mic poets were from the Writers’ Community of York Region who came to show support, and shared words that whetted the audience’s appetite for more.

via Recap: First-Ever YorkSlam featuring Ritallin « Events by Cytopoetics.

By clicking on the Home page you will have access to the afore-mentioned as well as recent posts on Honorary Degrees Conferred on His Highness the Aga Khan, A 75th birthday tribute to His Highness and the London Didar in Olympia in 1979.

Aga Khan awarded honorary doctorate in Ottawa

Aga Khan, forty-ninth hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, was last week awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa for his service to humanity.

Aga Khan awarded doctorate – Asian Pacific Post

His Highness The Aga Khan was awarded an honourary doctorate by the University of Ottawa. This recent accomplishment adds to his honorary Companion of the Order of Canada and granted honorary Canadian citizenship – just the fifth person, and first Muslim with such an

Aga Khan awarded honorary doctorate in Ottawa – South Asian Focus

His Highness the Aga Khan was last week awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Ottawa for his service to humanity. The degree was conferred at a special convocation presided over by Chancellor Huguette Labelle and University President Allan Rock.

via General News: Children’s Books Focusing on Pluralism and Tolerance to Reach All Schools in Kyrgyz Republic.
Earlier related: Schools of Kyrgyzstan to get books promoting tolerance

http://www.ina.fr/media/entretiens/video/CPF04006882/le-prince-des-neiges.fr.html

Rayani, a well-known pharmacist, has led the organization of the annual World Partnership Walk for many years. As a devout Ismaili Muslim, he has worked hard to bring together people of all faiths with frequent tours to Burnaby’s Ismaili Jamatkhana and Centre.

Rayani is once again involved in the community after recovering from a period of ill health in 2010, during which he had a stroke and underwent open-heart surgery. He was hospitalized for a number of months.

Rayani will receive his award Feb. 21 during a ceremony at the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Twentynine people are nominated in six categories for the eighth annual Leadership Victoria event.

via Pharmacist wins leadership award.
Earlier related: Naz Rayani to receive 2012 Leadership Victoria Lifetime Achievement Award

“I grow cauliflowers, cabbages, spinaches and cucumbers in my greenhouse and I receive good incomes by selling them,” said Saberah from center of Bamyan city, adding that she is engaged in her greenhouse for four years.

She said that the vegetables grown in the province is fresher, cheaper and better than the imported products. Another farmer, Mohammad Ali said those families who cannot afford to buy vegetables in the winter, have vegetables for consumption as well as for selling. The greenhouses are made by Aga Khan Foundation.

via http://www.wakht.af/
http://crs-blog.org/afghanistan-visit-building-the-food-pyramid/

PAS Kabul is currently funding a grant to enable school-aged Afghan children to visit the Kabul cultural site, Babur Gardens. This grant is operated by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

Babur Gardens was originally laid out in the early 16th century by the founder of the Moghul Empire. To date, almost 11,000 children, aged 7 to 14 have taken part in the school visits. By Year’s end, 17,000 children will have the opportunity to reconnect with this important piece of Afghan cultural heritage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIxxGT8kHxI&feature=youtube_gdata

Nazir Sabir while speaking on the occasion said that the north of Pakistan is a paradise for the mountaineers of the world and needs special global attention to facilitate the climbers around the world to benefit from this opportunity. The neglect of such facilities he said would give room to anti-social elements to exploit the poor and vulnerable population of the region. Secondly, this neglect amounts to denying the climbers and lovers of this sport the opportunity to attempt the most challenging mountainous region on earth, he added. There is need he emphasised to develop and improve the infrastructure around this region to attract and facilitate the climbers.

In his enthralling hour-long presentation embellished with stunning imagery Nazir Sabir explained the unique details of the 1977 expedition to K-2 covering its geology, sociology and history. He also briefed the audience of his success to reach the highest mountain of the world Mount Everest in 2001.

More The High Commission for Pakistan in United Kingdom.
All related Nazir Sabir

Excerpts:

My decision to pursue this study was framed by my own experience as an immigrant woman who came to Canada over 35 years ago. Although I have been here for over three decades, I feel that I am treated as an ‘outsider.’… The second reason that I wanted to pursue this study was my involvement with this population. I was appointed as a chairperson for the settlement of the newly arriving Afghan Ismaili families in the early 1990s. In my work with these families, and especially with the women, I noticed the significant strength and courage of these women who had come into a completely new environment and had suffered so many traumas. They were eager to learn, trying to cope with the multiple challenges of looking after their families, working to support their families, and trying to learn the English language in a different culture and environment. After seeing their courage and fortitude, I was motivated to travel to Afghanistan to work for an international nongovernmental organization (NGO). For almost 10 years I worked with various women’s groups, and their inner strength and resiliency amazed me. Although Afghans have a complex culture and diversity of experiences, they are very warm and hospitable and show enormous endurance beyond the imagination of many of us in the industrialised world.

http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/