Ismailis in the News: Naseem Vellani – from Catholic Register

BY Gillian Girodat

The Catholic Register

TORONTO

It’s an unassuming house just off Broadview Avenue in East York, not much different from the neighbours.  A skinny driveway beside the brick house allows room for two cars to be parked lengthwise and pruned shrubbery lines the walk.

But open the garage door and the difference between this house and the next becomes apparent. The concrete floor is piled high with boxes and plastic bags, each one overflowing with not only clothes but generosity.

This is the home of Nazeem Vellani and her husband Firoz.  A very proud Ismailee Muslim and follower of Aga Khan, Vellani is also an adamant supporter of Canadian Food for Children, the Catholic aid organization founded by Dr. Andrew Simone and dedicated to feeding children in developing countries.

My religion teaches generosity, love, warmth, kindness, pluralism, Vellani said.  You have to reach out and make the difference in people’s lives.  That’s why for nearly 15 years Vellani has been collecting clothes, first from her colleagues at Bell Canada and, now, from the mosque she attends in Toronto. Each week she opens her garage doors to volunteers from Canadian Food for Children who come with two or three vans to pick up the clothing and take it to the warehouse on Lakeshore Road in Mississauga.  People know I’m the bag lady, Vellani laughs, referring to her friends at Toronto’s Aga Khan Mosque who greet her every week with bags of clothes.  Vellani was first introduced to Canadian Food for Children through a television show featuring the work of Simone and the charity.

This, coupled with a trip to India where she saw firsthand poverty and unhappiness, inspired her efforts in collecting the clothes to be sent to children in need. There is so much I can do. If I can make a difference in this wretched life, then my life is not in vain,² she said.

Elaine Loxton is a volunteer with Canadian Food for Children. She met Vellani four years ago when she made a pickup from Vellani’s garage. Now she is there almost every week to collect the bags and boxes and is buoyed by Vellani¹s efforts to help children in need.

She doesn’t care what religion they are, they are children of God, Loxton said. That’s her belief.

Vellani’s work for the Christian organization is, she says, part of what she has been taught by her spiritual leader, his Highness, the Aga Khan.  In addition to supporting the Aga Khan Foundation in its many social development projects in Third World countries, Vellani puts work into Canadian Food for Children because she recognizes that all hildren are being helped, regardless of race, creed or culture, which is essential to her philosophy.

In fact, her spiritual influences span race, creed and culture as well.  Vellani has met both Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama and was inspired by the difference one life can make in the world. She hopes her work will shed light on aspects of her religion that she feels are largely ignored. When Muslims are labelled terrorists and monsters, it makes me
sad, Vellani said, adding that her religion is an expression of generosity. This is what my religion preaches: make a difference in someone¹s life without drawing lines. You help humanity at large.

The Catholic Register