May 24, 2007 04:30 AM
The Star
http://www.thestar.com/article/216858
Prithi Yelaja
Staff Reporter
The Aga Khan World Partnership Walk takes place Sunday in nine cities across Canada. In Toronto, about 7,000 walkers are expected to make the 5-kilometre trek from Metro Hall to City Hall and back. For more information, go to worldpartnershipwalk.com.'Making Education Count' is theme of 2007 Aga Khan World Partnership hike
Every spring for 20 years, Aleem Visram has laced up his sneakers to take part in the annual Aga Khan World Partnership Walk. But only after spending a year working in Afghanistan did he truly understand its impact on the globe's poor.
"When you grow up in Canada, a materialistic society, you're spoiled," said Visram, 28, a marketing manager with Kraft in Toronto.
"Now my perspective on life is completely different. When you see those people and how little they have, yet how willing they are to share, you're humbled," said Visram.
"The family I lived with in Afghanistan, $10 was their wage for the month. I came back here and ordered pizza and the bill was $20."
In 2004, Visram helped to set up English language programs in remote northern regions of Afghanistan where there are no schools as part of the Aga Khan Development Network, which the walk helps to fund.
Indeed, "Making education count" is the theme of this year's walk.
The goal is to raise $5.2 million nationally, including $1.6 million in Toronto.
The money will be used to alleviate poverty in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and south and central Asia, through projects that provide long-term sustainable solutions to gaps in health care, education and rural development.
The event is an initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, a charity that benefits everyone, regardless of faith, politics or gender, according to volunteer walk convenor Roshy Esmail.
Like Visram, Esmail is part of Toronto's tight-knit community of Ismaili Muslims, a Shiite sect that claims about 75,000 followers in Canada, primarily divided between Vancouver and Toronto.
The foundation is named for Prince Karim Aga Khan, whom Ismailis regard as their spiritual leader, a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad – and the inspiration for the community's emphasis on high achievement and charitable work.
Because the Aga Khan personally bears the foundation's administrative costs, 100 per cent of donations go directly to programs.
The foundation often works in partnership with agencies such as the Canadian International Development Agency, World Health Organization and World Bank.
While signing up Toronto's major banks and law firms to sponsor the walk, Esmail says she has noticed a shift to a more international view in terms of corporate social responsibility.
"For the first time, there is more of an open-mindedness to give to developing countries. In the past there was a resistance. Corporations tended to give locally only. But with the growing focus on international trade and the global economy, there is more of a willingness to give."
That global perspective translates to small but important local changes.
In Afghanistan, Visram's team had a formidable task. Under the Taliban, schools were destroyed and education was denied to most, particularly girls.
His team conducted intensive workshops to train a core group of 20 teachers in learning methods that encourage participation by students rather than traditional rote memorization. Using the Ontario curriculum as a model, they helped build lesson plans for primary students.
They set up two schools in Kabul and two more in Badakhshan region, the centre of the opium trade.
They got community leaders onside, to allow girls to attend school and women to teach.
"A lot of children never had access to education, so when we started up the first school, it was really something to see," said Visram.
"It was the first time many of them had books. They would hold them like they were precious gems and make fabric covers to protect them." To encourage farmers to plant vegetables rather than opium, the Aga Khan Foundation provides them with microcredit financing.
In Baghlan province, the foundation helped locals build a bridge across a fast-flowing river to ease their isolation.
Visram spent a month living with a family in Ishkashim, a village of 150 with no running water, electricity or heat. He picked up some Dari, the local language, to communicate.
"I've seen first-hand that giving money to the walk is worthwhile," he says. "It does have a lasting impact."