Sir Ben Kingsley at
Palo Alto Fundraiser for Earthquake Victims
By Ras H. Siddiqui
Left
to right: Sir Ben Kingsley, Dr Farshad Rastegar, Amra
Tareen and Dr Hernando Garzon |
Just when some had thought
that last October’s earthquake in northern Pakistan
and Kashmir had been forgotten and now resided in our disaster
archives, Relief International (RI) proved us wrong and
held two fundraisers for its victims in California during
the first week of June. This reporter had the opportunity
to attend the $250 per plate affair at the Four Season’s
Hotel in Palo Alto, California, where the “Who’s
Who” of the local community included representatives
from local Afghani, Indian, Iranian and Pakistani-Americans,
who once again gathered to show their support to a cause
that RI has already helped a great deal with. And with the
added help of and appearance by actor Sir Ben Kingsley (Gandhi
movie fame) one could be assured that the event would generate
notice.
Pictures
above: Guests at the fundraiser |
That this fundraiser
was held at the close of the same day as the highest profile
annual gathering of Pakistanis in this part of the United
States, namely OPEN Forum, some confusion was generated
as to who was in charge. The Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs
of North America (OPEN) was certainly a strong sponsor here,
but this was an RI affair, which OPEN’s Charter Member
Amra Tareen opened to the delight of all. Amra is no stranger
to our community and has taken a very active post-earthquake
role along with a few other ladies from within our community
(Paru Yusuf also comes to mind here).
Amra explained how she was at times hesitant, and her American
husband concerned, when she proceeded to Pakistan after
10 years to participate in earthquake relief. She also shared
with us her thoughts after seeing the magnitude of the destruction.
“These people did not have much to begin with. What
they had, they lost to this earthquake,” she said.
She informed that by March, most of the people were moving
back where they came from. Her focus shifted to micro-credit,
it also brought on the topic of buffalos. The very idea
of Amra and buffaloes sounded amusing (she works at a major
Venture Capitalist firm), but she was very serious about
her new found knowledge about the Punjab water buffalo.
RI is currently trying to raise funds to help rebuild the
lives of at least one thousand families in the earthquake
ravaged area, and the replacement of lost livestock including
buffaloes for women head of households is a major part of
this effort.
Relief International’s CEO Dr. Farshad Rastegar echoed
Amra’s thoughts earlier about the importance of the
buffalo to the dairy economy in northern Pakistan. He spoke
of the earthquake area there, the widespread misery, and
how RI was targeting women for its help since women are
the best agents to prevent poverty. “I was stunned
by the magnitude of this one,” said Dr. Rastegar on
visiting the earthquake area. Stressing RI’s micro-credit
effort the good doctor did not overlook his sense of humor.
He said that some women there may want to exchange their
husbands for a good milk buffalo.
Awards were presented at the gathering by Bruce Tennenbaum
and Nazanin Tabrizi to individuals who have made a positive
difference in the lives of many others. Recipients Will
Semmes, Director, Chris Skopec, Supervisor, Kaiser Permanente
and Dr. Sharon Levine Associate CEO certainly deserved the
recognition. This reporter would like to add that Kaiser
Permanente went the distance (literally) to help out earthquake
victims in northern Pakistan, and our Pakistani-American
community appreciates their efforts. Dr. Hernando Garzon,
an Emergency Medical Physician at Kaiser in Sacramento,
presented ‘reflections of a volunteer’ at this
gathering and has shared his thoughts at other events also.
We certainly thank him for volunteering to visit Pakistan
and helping out when the need was great.
And a special word of thanks to Chip Duncan (Producer, Duncan
Entertainment) here for his video documentary of this enormous
tragedy.
Short speeches are made at such events to move people, and
one such speech was certainly presented here and that was
just Kamran Elahian’s introduction. But kidding aside,
when you have Sir Ben Kingsley deliver an appeal for a cause
like this, people listen. And its style and delivery is
talked about for weeks. Sir Ben did not mince words about
how the assistance that is needed and provided will prevent
extremism in that area. But in his case this was not a “talk
down” from a celebrity. Sir Ben’s words were
chosen and delivered with great care and spun like fine
silk. People remember well his role playing Gandhi. But
for many his superb role of Behrani in “The House
of Sand and Fog” just had to be remembered here. As
in his role in that movie, Sir Ben became a part of the
story. He has chosen to become a part of this earthquake
tragedy and as two people in the audience later wrote to
this writer, they were almost held captive by his delivery.
He said that we must not allow hatred to take root. People
are more susceptible to violence when they feel ignored
and forgotten. He also said that as an actor he feels his
role is to act as a bridge between different communities/faiths,
etc. He took this to the next level by encouraging all of
us to act as humanitarians - to bridge the gap between the
"haves and haves-not".
Sir Ben Kingsley has won an Academy Award and has continued
to be nominated on a number of occasions since then. But
at this Relief International event he was not acting. He
was helping out people who have suffered a great tragedy.
And for this, Sir Ben along with Amra Tareen, Dr. Rastegar
and the many others at Relief International deserve our
collective thanks.
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