Impressive Shahid Afridi Foundation Event in Sacramento
By Ras H. Siddiqui
The Shahid Afridi Foundation (SAF) is an organization established in the year 2014 to assist in helping the struggling segments of society in Pakistan. Its American wing had arranged for a fundraising tour of California on the weekend of November 8th through 10th starting in Sacramento, followed by the San Francisco Bay area and ending in Los Angeles.
This writer was lucky to catch the Friday night program held at the Hilton Arden-West on its first leg and was pleasantly greeted by a full hall of cricket enthusiasts and generous donors from both the Pakistani and Indian community of the area. The attraction for many here being (as the name SAF relays) the presence of Cricket Great Shahid Khan Afridi the founding Chairman of the organization and Actor Adnan Siddiqui. The evening proceedings were also assisted by Najam Usmani.
The organizational slogan of SAF is “Hope Not Out” and although there may be many dissenting opinions of cricket connoisseurs, it may not be far off the mark to mention that Shahid Afridi also known as “Boom Boom Afridi” was one of the most exciting individuals to have donned the uniform of any national cricket team in the world. Let us just say that Lala (his other nickname) played the sometimes slow and boring game like a fearless Afridi. For those readers who may not be able to relate, the Afridis are a major tribe of the Pakhtuns or Pashtuns (from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border mountain area) whom we flatlanders from the rest of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan call Pathans.
And why has Shahid Afridi remained an attraction? That could become a very long and dreary write-up on the history of the Pakistan Cricket Team of the past 23 years or so during which Lala played for the national team (1996 onwards). Afridi, a cricket all-rounder (batsman & bowler) had held one of the longest records in the game for the fastest century (100 runs) scored off just 37 balls which included eleven towering sixes (also a record in a one-day match). That record was finally broken by Corey Anderson of New Zealand in 2014 and later again by South African AB de Villiers. Needless to say, Afridi became associated with bringing a new level of excitement to the field whenever and wherever he played. He could be out for a duck (zero) or score big while tens of thousands at stadiums and millions watched on their television screens and held their breath. His critical batting role in sailing Pakistan to victory in their one and only T20 World Cup victory in 2009 (against Sri Lanka) is also etched in many memories. We never gave up hope until Afridi left the field. Hence “Hope Not Out” was, and is, a valid slogan.
At this event Shahid Afridi first thanked Adnan Siddiqui for taking the time to help and then everyone else for attending here, and for supporting and tolerating him over the years both on and off the field. He spoke in Urdu so an exact or literal translation may not be completely accurate here. He said that life after cricket for him would be like Adnan’s life after acting. He added that his daughter said to him,‘Papa before you were busy playing cricket and now you are busy with the foundation, what do you want to do? How can one answer? You have all seen the video and I showed that video to my kids on how other poor and struggling children are living. We are trying to help them. So my kids say alright go out to help them but do return home as quickly as possible!’
Shahid Afridi said that helping yourself and living a life of ease and luxury is much easier, but helping others is a bigger effort and a more noble cause. There is no religion bigger than humanity. He spoke of the genesis of the SAF effort and the services that it has successfully rendered, especially the hospital that has been built and is functioning in three years’ time. He added that in most cases people travel from villages to bigger cities for medical treatment but in this case people from cities travel to a village for quality treatment.
Afridi spoke of the Thar area in Pakistan and the extreme difficulty faced by kids, women, and whole families there in fetching water over long distances. We don’t appreciate how easy we have it, he said. He added that seeing people willing to help really motivates me further to help others who are struggling. He said that Pakistan does not belong to any one political party or group. It belongs to all of us. He also said that Adnan and he have travelled all over the world but there is no country as beautiful as our homeland. It just needs people to make an effort to give back. He added that the problems there are many but pointing fingers at the government is not enough. The issue of educating the children of Pakistan is in itself a challenge. He asked everyone to “own” the Shahid Afridi Foundation and consider it theirs in the process of helping others. Please support it, said Afridi. Our readers are encouraged to visit the SAF website at https://safoundation.us/ to find more information on the work being done by this organization.
It was good to witness the fundraiser that followed Shahid Afridi’s speech. Adnan Siddiqui was wonderful (he is not a relative) and not because he is another Siddiqui either! But when Pathans and Urdu speakers get on the same platform and are supported by the Punjabi majority of our community positive things happen. It was also heartening to see some participation from Sacramento’s Indian community here too. The game of cricket can and still does bring us together.
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