Geek4Eva

Eboo Patel – an Ismaili and IFYC (Interfaith Youth Core) receives Freedom of Worship Medal from Roosevelt Institute.

On January 6, 1941, in one of the most important speeches of the 20th century, President Roosevelt proclaimed four freedoms essential to any flourishing democracy: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

Each year, a single individual is selected for the FDR Four Freedoms Award which honors a lifetime of distinguished service and an unwavering commitment to these freedoms. In addition, each year, a Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Medal representing each of these values is presented to an individual whose life and work embody that ideal.

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Aziz Merchant – An Ismaili in Singapore receives award for both of his Engineering Projects on Environment Sustainability and Breakthrough in Deepwater Development at Bipolis Centre on Mon 31 Aug in Singapore from the Chairman of Singapore Agency of Science Technology & Research (A*STAR) and Mrs Lee Bee Wah, Member of Parliament for the Republic of Singapore.

Aziz will also be receiving the ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Award 2009 on 1 Dec 2009. The award will be presented during CAFEO 27 (Conference of ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organizations), to be held from 30 November to 2 December 2009, in Singapore.

Aziz Merchant is the first Ismaili Muslim in Singapore and ASEAN to receive such honours.

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Shaheen Tejani is one of the very few who got an early opportunity to complete her Time and Knowledge Nazrana* with Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM) and in this post – My year of living livelihoods she reflects on the completion of her TKN project.

In her post she has described the objective of the project, which was “expanding the capacity of its employees to alleviate poverty, the AKAM management team commissioned a concept paper in June 2008“…

…what her responsibilities were: “conducting research to discover how best to inspire, motivate and train AKAM’s employees so that they could work as high performing teams with a common vision and culture of innovation and excellence“…

…and tasks she carried out which allowed her to continue working on Phase II of the project and serve the AKAM for almost a year.

As a result of this proejct:

The AKAM Training Academy is now a formal project of AKAM. In the first six months of 2009 the Academy has delivered the Development Ethics course in Syria, Tajikistan, Egypt, West Africa and Madagascar. The Academy has also started building local capacity with regional trainer workshops resulting in 20 new certified trainers, ready to take this experience to all their employees. By the end of its first year all 13 countries will have delivered this critical learning opportunity to every single employee. TKN is a key factor, translation and course development of the next course, Loan Officer 100, is being done by other TKN volunteers across the world. A full programme leading to a certificate in Microfinance is now being planned along with an online knowledge base for self improvement courses.

*Time and Knowledge Nazrana is a voluntary commitment of ones ‘time and skills‘ to Aga Khan Development Network as a gift to The Aga Khan during the completion of his 50 years of Ismaili Imamat.

Image Source: lumaxart’s photostream

Navi Radjou in his post Why Are Creative Leaders So Rare? has very well encapsulated the speech from Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (former President on India) at Cambridge University.

To thrive in this turbulent world, Dr Kalam argued that corporations as well as nations desperately need what he calls “creative leaders,” a new breed of visionary and empathetic leaders who act less as commanders and more as coaches, less as managers and more as facilitators, and who foster self-respect rather that demanding respect.

Drawing from his experience, Dr Kalam articulated eight key tenets of creative leadership that are critical for driving innovation and growth in the emerging global knowledge economy:

1. The leader must have a vision for the organization

2. The leader must have the passion to transform that vision into action

3. The leader must be able to travel into an unexplored path

4. The leader must know how to manage both success and failure

5. The leader must have the courage to make decisions

6. The leader should have nobility in management

7. Every action of the leader should be transparent

8. The leader must work with integrity and succeed with integrity

I’ve kind of added these to my list of commandments for myself for next few months, and I am surely going to explore them further.

In the end he has also thrown an open question to readers as to whom they consider to be leaders?

Well, fortunately I have been privileged to have worked with some very commendable leaders in past. And one such person whose name I am never hesitant to mention is my Scout Master – Karim Moledina. He was and still is an inspiration for me and an exceptional personality. He has this never ending spark in him to serve the youth of our community and make great leaders of them. Really commendable and still going great.

The other leader whom the the world has accepted as a leader and as per me he is The Real Leader and that is His Highness the Aga Khan. He has been granted with numerous Awards, Titles and Honorary Degrees. To name a few recent ones:

• Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE), United Kingdom (2004)
• Honorary Companion of the Order of Canada (2005)
• Grand Cross of the Military Order of Christ, Portugal (2005)
• Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart, Kenya (2007)
• Grand Cross of the National Order of Mali (2008)
• Honorary Doctorate, University of Sankoré, Mali (2008)
• LL.D. (honoris causa) Harvard University, USA (2008)
• LL.D.(honoris causa), National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland (2008)
• LL.D. (honoris causa), University of Alberta, Canada (2009)
• Die Quadriga Award, Germany (2005)
• Andrew Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy, UK (2005)
• Tolerance Prize of the Evangelical Academy of Tutzing, Germany (2006)
• Key to the City of Austin, USA (2008)
• Honorary Citizenship of Canada (2009)

In last 50 years as the spritual leader of Ismailis I think he has done a tremendous work of setting up such a huge network of agencies under the umbrella of Aga Khan Development Network.

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper made following comments while bestowing Honorary Citizenship upon His Highness the Aga Khan “…This is recognition of the Aga Khan’s leadership as a champion of development, pluralism and tolerance around the world and of his remarkable leadership as Imam of the worldwide Ismaili community…”

Sources:
Why Are Creative Leaders So Rare?

Aga Khan granted Honorary Canadian Citizenship

If a person has type 2 diabetes and still would like to observe fast – like during the Muslim month of Ramadan, here is an excellent article on The Ismaili: Nutrition Centre with some guidelines and checklist to consider.

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A recently study concludes that most people with well-controlled type 2 diabetes can safely observe the fast. The study was published in the July 2008 issue of Clinical and Experimental Hypertension.
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# Do not stop taking your medication, however the dosing and timing of your medication may need to change – this should be discussed with your diabetes healthcare team prior to fasting.
# If you experience symptoms of low blood sugar levels such as sweating, anxiety, shaking, weakness or confusion then you should break your fast with a sugary drink followed by foods rich in carbohydrates.
# Avoid eating lots of unhealthy foods as a reward! Instead, try and maintain a healthy eating pattern after you break the fast.
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More at source: Fasting and Diabetes