Remote regions benefit – Aga Khan Foundation Canada

The gift of giving through the Aga Khan Foundation gave back to a volunteer who travelled to Tajikistan seven years ago.

Tasneem Damji, 33, went to the mountainous region of Khorog to support staff already there by writing reports for donor agencies.

Though communications was Damji’s specialty, the program manager at UBC learned a great deal from people who were living there with very little.

“It’s a constant struggle being in the West when, in the age of technology, how we communicate with people is so different from how we’ve communicated with people in the past,” she said. “I’ve strived to have a balance between some of the great things that I’ve taken from those cultures, like simplicity, that I feel has been lost.”

Because of the international agency’s sterling reputation for humanitarian work in remote areas volunteers are welcomed in places known for being hostile such as Tajikistan after the Soviet withdrawal and today in Afghanistan.

Currently, Damji is fundraising at home for a Tajik local who wants to start a sports program as a way to engage drug addicted young men in his village.

The local walk goes Sunday, May 25, at Lumberman’s Arch in Stanley Park. To learn more visit akfc.ca.

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