CHASHMAYE NUR FOUNDATION
"There are those who give little of the much which they have - and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome. And there are those who have little and give it all. These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty. There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward. And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism. And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space. Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth."
-Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese Poet
"Such a soul provideth, at the bidding of the Ideal King and Divine Educator, the pure leaven that leaveneth the world of being, and furnisheth the power through which the arts and wonders of the world are made manifest….Those souls that are the symbols of detachment are the leaven of the world."
-Baha’u’llah, Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i Faith
The Chashmaye Nur Foundation, Inc. is a grantmaking organization that provides small awards and scholarships to promising individuals. Chashmaye Nur was founded in 2006, as a means of rewarding those who serve others, without expectation of reward. ‘Chashmaye Nur’ means Eyes of Light, or Wellsprings of Light in the Dari language. Chashmaye Nur reaches out to individuals and groups who make an impact on those around them. The foundation seeks out those who have no knowledge or connections with the grantmaking industry-- individuals and groups who, in living their lives, give to those around them, be it to family, community, faith or all those who cross their path. These individuals may come from all walks of life, all levels of education and may live in any number of countries.
Chashmaye Nur awards are given with no strings attached. Since the recipients have proven that they give of themselves without expectation of reward, recipients are free to use the award however they see fit. Some have used it for further education, to start a small enterprise, to support basic living expenses or to sponsor another Chashmaye Nur Award recipient. Chashmaye Nur is based in the United States but works internationally.
The 2006 Chashmaye Nur Award Recipients are:
¨ Nezar Mohammed Walizada, age 25, Driver, Kabul Afghanistan
¨ Sara Tasleem, age 32, Master Trainer, Kabul, Afghanistan
¨ Waheeda Shahab, age 35, Master Trainer, Kabul, Afghanistan
¨ Abdul Shaqer, Cleaner, age 23, Cleaner, Kabul Afghanistan
¨ Zelalem and Gail Amare, age 34 and 38, Founders of One Planet International School, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
¨ Brukty and Shane Etzenhauser, ages 24 and 39 , Founders of Whiz Kids Workshop, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
¨ Sarojini Ray, age 102, Community Pillar, Chennai, India
Their Stories...
Below follow a few of the stories of the 2006 Chashmaye Nur Award Recipients.
Nezar Mohammed Walizada, age 25, Driver, Kabul Afghanistan
Nezar is a driver who drives for literacy projects in Afghanistan. Nazar has seen 23 years of war in his 25 years. He was forced to start working by the age of 7, and he gave up his opportunity to be literate to work and earn to send his youngest brother to school. He was separated from his family for 13 years in Pakistan, and then returned to make a meager living in Kabul.
One day, Nezar said. “Today I was washing the car. And I thought about Allison who runs the House of Flowers orphanage in Kabul. I thought of her 27 orphans and her noble behavior and how one day when it was raining, she and her husband got out of the car and walked themselves through the mud, so that my car would not get stuck there in the mud. And I thought, when she dies, God will not stop to ask her any questions. She will go straight to heaven, “no questions asked”
Several months later, Nezar said, “You know, these landmines are bad. One day, there was a girl who was in our neighborhood. And she climbed the stairs, and on the third stair there was a mine. It blew off her leg from the thigh down.
I found her. I tied it up. I took her on my back and started walking toward the city. But in those Taliban days, a man should not even see a woman. Let alone carry her on his back. Between here and the hospital, there were 100 police check posts. They each asked me. ‘Who is this girl? What are you doing with her?’ I told them, ‘She a stranger to me. I am just taking her to the hospital’. Each one wanted money. To get through these 100 check posts, I only had a little bit of money in my pocket. It was wartime and this was the last money I had. So I used this money to take a taxi. I took her all the way to town, to the hospital. Then I walked back to the village to tell her family what happened. After I told them, I walked back to the city. But by the time I reached the hospital, - - she had died.’
Later the comment was made, ‘Nezar, if you had done nothing else in your life, for helping this stranger, maybe you will go straight to heaven, “no questions asked”.’
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Sara Tasleem, age 32, Master Trainer, Kabul, Afghanistan
Sara Tasleem is a tiny brave woman, with a rippling infectious laughter and a spunky zest for life. Though she is only 32, she is a widow, has raised two children, the oldest, a boy of 15.
Sara’s bravery was astounding. She recounted, ‘During war years, when the fighting was really bad, believe me that in 7 minutes, 360 rockets hit. After 10- 15 days, they would give a break in the fighting so that both sides could collect their dead. When it was so heavy like that, the whole family had to go into a hold in the ground. We all stayed there and there was no food. For 4 days no food. Even though I was a woman, I was the bravest one among the family. There was an apple tree in the yard. I would run out and shake the apple tree so all the apples would fall. Then I would run back to the hole. After a half hour when things had quieted down, I scurried out and collect the apples. That way we had some food after that. But we ate only apples for the rest of the time.’
Sara worked as a Master Trainer for the Learning for Life literacy project. Sara recounted, ‘In Kabul province when we were mobilizing communities to hold literacy classes for women. One man said to me, ‘If you come to this village again, I will destroy you with this rocket.’ I said, ‘Fine’, and I went and mobilized classes in nearby villages. After they saw the results and the impact on the village up the road, they came back us to wanted to approach us to start a literacy class in their village. I went to that man and told him “We will start this class for you. If anything we do is against your religion or unacceptable to you, then you can kill me with this rocket.” They agreed. But after seeing the result of the classes, this village became the strongest supporters of the class. So much so that when the project car came into the village, the villagers would surround it and bring gifts and food to the driver.’
Sara completed her tasks with a special sense of zest and love. Wheerever she would go to train village literacy facilitators, the women would surround her and she would shower love on them. Woman who had not studied in 30 years and had no hope that they could teach the other women in their village, were inspired by her to blossom and become competent, capable teachers. In a culture which often restricted women, Sara’s spunkiness challenged the norm, and brought out the best and the integrity of Afghan women. In one training, she sat eating lunch, among 30 women closely packed on the floor with food and legs and children all over the vinyl red mat. There was a village facilitator, nursing one child at her breast, while her 1 year old child would drag around a plastic water pitcher from the bathroom every where he went. He kept trying to drink from it. Then he sat down with the mother and nursing infant and put his hand on the mother’s other breast.
Sara said, “He is thirsty. This is cruelty!” The facilitators looked up at her. With a grin and wink, Sara exclaimed, “If the infant is on one breast and the 1 year old on the other, where is your husband going to put his hand?!” All the village facilitators burst out laughing, --and this was the most effective and frank lesson in birth spacing witnessed in many years in Afghan villages.
Not only was Sara brave, she was also dedicated to the end. Another time, she had smoke inhalation and found herself alone in an outlying provincial hospital with tubes coming out of her arms, and crowds huddling around looking at this strangely dressed Kabul woman. But she would not leave her post until she completed her training. At the end of the literacy project, most staff were laid off, and only core staff remained to close down the project office. However, Sara said, ‘I will continue working until all the work is done, without salary.’ And she did. She came to the office every day and continued to work, for the sake of completing what needed to be done to help Afghan women become literate.
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Waheeda Shahab, age 35, Master Trainer, Kabul, Afghanistan
Soft-spoken and gently lavender-like, Waheeda Shahab was a Master Trainer for the Learning for Life literacy project in Afghanistan. She was top notch among the trainers-- The others called her “daaktar-moaleminin’, ‘the doctor of the teachers’. In a country where a grown woman needs a male escort, even if he were only her 5 year old son, Waheeda, single and never married, would travel to every side of the country to train women to be literacy teachers. She would never hesitate to travel to the high mountains Badakhshan where it was extremely cold and there were no facilities, over a 12 hour ride on a road so full of holes that her teeth would be jittery for days after. She would then come back to Kabul, put down her travel bag and pick it up the next day to travel to the next province, be it Ghazni, Paktia or Jowzjan.
One day when Waheeda returned from Badakhshan, her eyes were overflowing tears and stories of newly literate learners. In one class, a newly literate woman came to her and poured out her life’s story. 10 years ago, this woman’s brother had been called to fight. When he was called to the army, he left a note with his sister, in case any thing happened to him. He was killed shortly thereafter and his sister could never read the note. During the years of war, transition and being a refugee, she had kept her brother’s note in the bottom of a plastic bag that she had managed to keep with her. Now after 10 years, she finally could read! She took his note out of a special bag where she kept it and finally was able to read her brother’s last words. It brought Waheeda and the whole class to tears.
Waheeda gave selflessly gave her life to help make women literate. She never thought of her own needs, never took even one day off during the entire life of the project, and never spoke an ill word of anyone. Though gentle, demure, and lilac-like, her power and influence was profound, inspiring and impacting hundreds of women all across Afghanistan.
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Abdul Shaqer, Cleaner, age 23, Cleaner, Kabul Afghanistan
Abdul Shaqer is a cleaner for a women’s literacy project. Shaqer is from Hazara background, an ethnic minority, and lives in one room with 12 other people. All of the people in the office where Shaqer works have received multiple trainings and are sent to different sides of the country to train and manage projects. Shaqer goes nowhere, but he faithfully performed his duties, jumping up to serve his colleagues, doing much more than just cleaning, going out on the street to purchase whatever is needed, bringing flowers to the offices, bringing tea, never asking what was needed, but bringing them before they were needed. Shaqer’s one wish was to marry a girl he loved, but with his $150 per month salary, he did not have the economic means to do so.
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Zelalem Amare, age 34 and 38, Founder of One Planet International School, Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Zelalem Amare emigrated to America at the age of 24 . He married Gail Amare, an American, and gradually became educated, got a good job in information technology, bought a car, then a house, then another house. But after 10 years, he returned to Ethiopia to serve his country, and used his personal income to start the One Planet International School. He supervised every detail of the school, from the painting of the walls, to the selection of an academic curriculum. Now he spends his days working for young children’s education.
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Brukty and Shane Etzenhauser, ages 24 and 34, Founders of Whiz Kids Workshop, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Brukty and Shane live in Ethiopia. They left their well paying jobs in software development and teaching to start the Whiz Kids Workshop. They put their own energy and time in preparing multimedia dramas, which teach children moral values, academic messages, hygiene, environmental messages and savings. The skits are made in a culturally sensitive way with all Amharic and Oromo speaking characters, to reach Ethiopia children in a way that is catered just to them. Shane and Brukty put their whole effort into Whiz Kids Workshop for many years, spending days and nights developing the dramas, and foregoing personal salary, so that the organization could prosper.
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Sarojini Rao, age 102, Community Pillar, Chennai, India
Sarojini Ray is tower of joy, who has been animating the city of Chennai for years. Sarojini was pillar of the Baha’i community of Chennai and was one of the first believers there to establish a Baha’i center in the city. She also served as an Air Raid Warden and Recruitment Office in the India Indepencement Movement. She met Maria Montessori and started a Montessori school of which she was the headmaster. She was also a contemporary of Rabindranath Tagore and the Gandhi family
However, by the age of 102, her son had absconded with her savings and abandoned her in an urban rented room. Though she had broken her hips and could not walk, her personal attendant was too old and weak to be able to lift Sarojini herself to clean her. Sarojini lived in a tiny dark room in absolute squalor, cockroaches running across her pillow and her sheets reeking of urine.
Despite that state, she had no consciousness of her conditions. When visitors came, she greeted them with bright shiny smile and would point out the beauty in each of them. She would say ‘Sing me a song’. If the visitor did not have a song for her, she would sing her own song for them. When one girl told Sarojini about her research on HIV/AIDS in Chennai, she replied ‘Tell me the objective of your project and how I can help you.’ A woman of 70 came to visit her and after the woman left, she commented, “I must take care of her; she is old you know.”
Sarojini’s one wish was to have a hearing aid so she could hear and communicate with the visitors who came to see her. Yet this was above her economic means. She was granted a Chashmaye Nur award for the purchase of a hearing aid.
For further information, contact:
The Chashmaye Nur Foundation
chashmayenur@yahoo.com
