Eyes have it for Lalani

By Grant Granger
NewsLeader

Jun 08 2007

Sehar Lalani saw it all growing up in Kenya. Eventually, she wants to help Kenyans see.

Since moving to Burnaby just 18 months ago, Lalani has made an impact. She’s made those at Moscrop secondary take notice. And what’s she done at Moscrop made the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation take notice. It’s named her a recipient of a provincial level award meaning Lalani will get a $4,000 scholarship renewable up to a maximum of $16,000.

“If there is one thing in my life that’s really made a difference to me it’s being a fortunate person that lived in Kenya, living a comfortable life. But at the same time living in a place where every single possible and imaginable dire situation is right in front of me – poverty, AIDS, crime, disease, sickness,” said Lalani.

“I feel like I’ve seen almost every reality that I could possibly see and that’s driven me to do a lot of the things that I do.”

At Moscrop, she formed a club devoted to raising awareness of organ donations. The Fight for Sight Club got hooked up with the B.C. Eye Bank to raise funds for an eye bank that would store corneas. Lalani said the bank has asked her to help find a city or village in Kenya that can benefit on the rare occasion when they have a cornea surplus.

“There’s blindness there that people don’t even know could be cured just by having a cornea transplant,” she said.

Lalani was born in Pakistan but her family moved when she was very young to Mombassa. Her father was a doctor but was an Ismaili missionary and educator in Kenya. She said Kenya is as multicultural as any place. “Really it’s not all about mud huts and having elephants in my back yard. There’s a lot more to it.”

When she was 11, after a brief eight months testing the North American waters in Dallas with family living there, they went to Nairobi.

Lalani went to a British-run private school before her parents decided the post-secondary educational opportunities would be much better here. They had visited family on the Lower Mainland before and loved it. Her father became a realtor while her mother works at an East Indian radio station.

Lalani was “apprehensive” about leaving Kenya behind. She shouldn’t have been. Her English is better than most Canadian-born teenagers and with her vivacious, energetic and charismatic personality she fit right in.

Right from the start, Lalani wanted to give back. She felt passionate about organ donation, a cause championed by Ismaili leader Aga Khan. So she decided to set up a club to raise awareness and funds. First she had to jump through some hoops and alleviate fears from the school’s administration and parents council first.

“A lot of them felt it was way too sensitive an issue to tackle at the high school level just because of the aspect of death that comes with it,” Lalani said. “It’s kind of morbid. But it’s required because there is a shortage today of organs and tissues.

“It’s one of those issues that’s not tackled as much as it should be, especially when it comes to donating tissue. So I focused my attention on cornea donation just because it’s a more simplistic procedure. It’s faster, it’s more cost efficient and it doesn’t disfigure the body in any way and I thought it might be something people could come to terms with.”

She was surprised to find out how many students were actually organ donors. The club has a large awareness campaign planned for next year. Although she won’t be at Moscrop, she plans to start a similar campaign at the University of B.C. where Lalani, who was also accepted to McGill and the University of Toronto, intends to study psychology and psychiatry.

ggranger@burnabynewsleader.com

daniela cuiffa/newsleader

Source

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Author: ismailimail

Independent, civil society media featuring Ismaili Muslim community, inter and intra faith endeavors, achievements and humanitarian works.

42 thoughts

  2. Sheary,
    This is Sehar’s interview with the Newspaper in Vancouver. She is actively pursuing organ donation with emphasis on Cornea and she has got a scholarship for it!!!
    Hope you enjoy the article
    Amir

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  3. Deraest Darling Sehar
    You have made us all very very proud with your fantastic achievements in such a short time and at such a young age. Keep up the wonderful work and may God always Bless you
    Your loving Grandpa
    Amir

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  4. Dear Sehar,
    Amir told me about this article and the good work you are doing,keep it up, you have made us really proud of hats off to your partents too (Shabana & Rashid).

    Bless you,
    Love,
    Shery Nana & Fatime Nani & Family

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  5. You ROCK Sehar…amazing job…so very proud of you, today and ALWAYS!!!

    Abid Mamu, Breenie Mami, and Tanya…

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  6. Hi Sehar:

    Well what more could we ask for. You are keeping up with the Ismaili tradition and have made us all very very proud.
    Keep up the great work, beta, you are source of inspiration for all of us and especially the our youths. Ramiz was very impressed and could not believe it was you.

    Congratulations to you
    Rafiq and Munira

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  7. Dear saher

    You look so gorgous! We are so proud of you .You are doing a such noble work ,may God bless you always for your good work. Congratulations to you and your parents ( Shabana and Rashid ).

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  11. I’m so proud of. When i read this, it really showed that this meant a lot to you and i’m glad you found something to strive for that meant so much to you. Congradulations Sehar.

    Aabid Fazal

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  12. Best of luck! You’ve made a difference and stepped into a place where a multitude of greater things transpire!

    Like

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  14. Sehar!
    You’re truly an influence on us young youth.
    Hope I can do something like you one day!!
    CONGRATS!! :)

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  22. THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH once again for all your wishes and encouragement…its greatly appreciated!
    Alhamdullilah, Shukranlillah and Inshallah this project will keep going as I have hoped
    thank you all again!

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  26. Thank you all so much for the constant encouragement!
    To ‘friend’, thanks a lot! I will most definitely try and liaise with Unite for Sight.
    And to the above post, that made my day! It touches me to know that my small efforts are being given this much thought to. Do let me know where you are from and what class this was read in if you don’t mind :)

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    1. I’m proud that my message make your day.
      Hi! I saw that my friend wroth you a message ( Almost the same that I wroth you). We come from Fredericton, New-Brunswick,Canada. We are in a french school, École Ste-Anne, and we read your story from a french book called ” Littéraire en action”, in french class.

      Sehar, I just want to know if i can put your story in my web site.
      Because you know that you are a real hero.

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  27. Hello in class we read about your story!
    Im am so proud of you and your worth beeing a hero !
    Keep up the great work!

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  28. Hi Sehar ..
    In class we read a story about you in french class it was realy interseting ! You are a really big hero !!!
    Was it hard to make a club at your school ?

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    1. Hi Francis,

      Thank you for your post! It was hard as the administration had some reservations about starting a club that dealt with issues of death and bodily donations, but I assured them that we would spread the message the best way we could, and they finally allowed for the club to form. If you want any advice about a club you would like to start, please let me know!

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  29. Hi, you probably heard from Anonyme and we are in the same class and we read the story about you. Its a realy good story and that what you did was a realy great idea to save people of Kenya. We are from Fredericton,
    New-Brunswick, Canada and we got to Ecole Sainte-Anne (French School).
    We hope that you reply soon.

    Thanks,

    Sébastien LeBlanc

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    1. Hello Sébastien,

      Thank you so much for your message! You and your classmates are very kind and I loved hearing from all of you!
      I haven’t had the chance to see the book yet, I hope I do soon!

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  30. Hi, I’m Phillipe, i am in the same class of Sebastien Leblanc and anonyme and we go to Ecole Sainte-Anne Fredericton, New-Brunswick and we all read your story and it’s realy cool what you did. Like anonyme said, you are a real hero.

    thanks for reading my letter.

    Phillipe Laforge

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    1. Hi Phillipe,

      Thanks for your kind message :) I’ve been extremely touched with all the messages coming from Ecole Sainte-Anne Fredericton! I hope you and your classmates are all doing well! :)

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  31. In class , we read your story in french class ! WOW,you are such a hero and i am very proud of you! Keep up the great work!

    Leslie :)

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  33. It’s me again. Sehar, I want to know if it’s ok, to put your story on my site, because I want person from my school, my friends and my family to know how patiente and brave you are and that you are there to help de people of Kenya (and that meen that you are a hero, like I told you before.)

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    1. Hi,

      I’m sorry its taken me so long to reply to you! I haven’t checked this article in a while, but I’m so happy to hear from you and thank you for all the kind messages and encouragement! I would be more than happy to have this story on your site – please send me the link when you do!
      All the best with all your efforts!

      Sehar

      Like

      Reply

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