Humans are social creatures. We can have all the money and
finest things in the world but, but if we have no loved ones to share, we will
likely feel empty and alone. It is especially true for the non-residents
Assamese living in distant corner of the globe and it is our connection to our
motherland that keeps us alive and invigorated.
In this confounding world of fast changing moral values,
there are occasional sparks which revive our lost faith in humanity. We are
assured that positives developments are here to stay and that we still can come
together to lift each other up. As another new year rolls in, let’s highlight
the good that happens around the world and by the Assamese – the stories of
triumph and courage, community and giving back.
In United States, volunteering for community service
projects large and small, is an integral part of life. Philanthropy and volunteering
allows young boys and girls to connect to the community and volunteers are
often the glue that holds a community together. Smita Das of Tallahassee,
Florida dedicated many years as a volunteer both in India and America. She
recounts her formative years, “Though in
general, some Americans may not be as close their families as Indians, many
will go out of their way to give: cleaning up trash made by others, helping a
stranger in need, volunteering, donating, mowing the lawn of the elderly,
opening arms to other cultures, fighting for human rights, withholding
judgment, giving the benefit of the doubt, all of this, without being asked or
honored. In short, Americans exemplify civic responsibility”. A graduate of Rice University with a double
major in Mathematic Economic Analysis and Policy Studies, Smita, in the year
2007, conducted a study on Domestic workers of Guwahati City. She spent several
months, to know the domestic workers situation, traveling villages, slums and
worked with women, rag pickers and footpath dwellers. She later collaborated
with a local NGO to organize capacity building trainings for these workers – it
was a great opportunity for Smita to spend time at her ancestral land, increase
her interest and commitment towards the development of Assam.
We are always attracted to people who have solved problems
their own unique ways. Those are individuals who walk the walk, who make sure
that their actions reflect their beliefs. Satyajit Nath is such an individual
who inspired many of us to lift volunteering to a higher level. As a president
of Assam Foundation of North America (AFNA), a lesson that Mr. Nath often
relayed to us is - it is easy to donate money and forget about where the money is
going; It is not easy to look a child in the eye who may not have ever known
his father. When you kneel down and ask that child his favorite television
character or tell him a story , the joy you see in his eye will reflect , you
will realize how valuable you are to him. Satyajit Nath shared many such
stories when he visited and had on-going interactions with some of the schools for
the underprivileged.
Satyajit Nath was also looking for and thought out a unique
way to raise money for these schools and in the year 2012 he came out with an
idea of creating and marketing a fundraising calendar. Calendars can be a
profitable item to sell to raise money as well as a way to increase awareness
for the organization. It is also a creative process and the volunteers of AFNA
worked diligently to reflect the landscape of Assam as best as possible in the
calendar. The AFNA Calendar is a fascinating story of Philanthropy and
creativity. The themes for the pictures were seasonal like gorgeous view of
Brahmaputra or gathering of children at Bahag Bihu and AFNA volunteers sought
support from all amateur and professional photographers of our community. To
raise more money, sponsors are given a chance to advertise their trade.
AFNA has been
publishing the calendar annually since then with the later campaign led by Mr.
Niren Choudhury and by a large number of Assamese from the city of Detroit, Los
Angeles and San Francisco and others. The proceeds of the campaign is going
directly to multiple programs geared towards schools for underprivileged children,
providing scholarship to meritorious college going engineering and medical
students from economically poor background, disabled adults and women support
groups. Late Kaushik Das, the founder of Atma Nirbhar ek Challenge acknowledged
this effort - “Thank you for taking-up the calendar
fundraising program - we benefited immensely from this program”. AFNA is again
gearing up for this year calendar , “While
celebrating and ushering in the New Year of 2018, AFNA calendar will certainly
help in making a difference with a strong message of community involvement,
global cooperation and collaboration” – conveys Pallav Saikia , current
president of AFNA
The measure of one’s life will be the measure of his or her
courage. Courage animates us, brings us to life and makes everything else
possible. The AFNA calendar doesn’t merely represent a catalog of pictures.
Instead, those photographs and those words remind us of our power to live the
life of our dreams. A small group of Assamese took a leap of faith and with
just a little effort pulled off an astonishing product. In doing so, they also
set up a benchmark for rest of us, the finest standard of what we are meant to
become. When ordinary human beings perform extraordinary acts of generosity,
endurance or compassion, we are all made richer by their example. Like the
river Brahmaputra that flow out of Himalaya, the inspiration they generate
washes over on the rest of us.
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