[US] Local steps against global poverty

from The Houston Chonicle

National walk helps foundation fund projects in Africa and Asia

By ALEXIS GRANT

For many of the 8,000 people who participated in the Partnership Walk to end global poverty at the University of Houston on Sunday, the developing world once was home.

The crowd, along with others in Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles, walked to raise awareness and money for the Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A., a nonprofit group that aims to alleviate poverty in Africa and Asia.

"The whole cause is close to me," said Feisal Kanja, a native of Kenya who traveled from San Antonio with his 5-year-old daughter, Imaan. "(We're) helping the really marginalized — they tend to get forgotten."

The foundation helps needy communities become self-sufficient by promoting education, improving health care and providing tools for economic empowerment. It has raised nearly $23 million for such projects during the past decade.

"We don't give money because giving money does not bring dignity to a person," said Mahmoud Eboo, a member of the group's committee. "You give them the means by which they can sustain themselves."

The strength of that approach was echoed by those who attended the event.

"They (Aga Khan Foundation) don't want to hand out. They want to be helping hands," explained one Pakistani couple from Beaumont who asked not to be named. Like many other participants, they attend the event every year to show support.

Before and after the walk, people of all ages and nationalities enjoyed live music, dancing and free food at the festival. Children chased each other around in the grass with paint on their faces.

Various state and local lawmakers attended, including U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, who praised the foundation for delivering sewing machines to families in Pakistan displaced by a devastating earthquake last year.

Some of the group's other recent projects include rebuilding destroyed schools and training teachers in Afghanistan, teaching communities in India how to harvest rain water, and giving milk to students who show up for school in Tajikistan.

"People are looking for a way to give back to their communities," said Martha Sipple, a spokeswoman for the foundation. "This is another way of connecting."