Make a Difference - Get Involved!
We inherited this planet from our parents. They inherited from their parents. And this has been going on from time immemorial. This will continue for as long as we inhabit this planet. As inheritors of this place, we also become its caretaker.
Every generation is called upon to do their share to shape and improve the space that we have inherited. Some are blessed with ideas to improve the lives of many or improve upon an existing lifestyle. While some are blessed with skills to share and teach others who lack them. And a few have the financial means to donate for a bigger and greater cause. We all can make a difference in the space that we inherit.
We, the founders and supporters of ZAF Academy, have inherited a space and time that has for a long time and for many generations been neglected. The potential of this place and its people is tremendous. The talent and achievements of the people are evident from the accomplishments of those who have moved outside of Azamgarh. But all of them had to move out of Azamgarh to achieve them.
For a long time there has been a mass exodus of people out of Azamgarh in order to seek better education, better employment, better medical treatment or start a business. Migration in itself is not bad but a forced migration is. Those who had the means and resources were the first to move out. Many of them are now spread all over the world and are doing fairly well in their chosen professions and their new communities. But what about those who could not move out or for the few who chose not to move? The situation is grim as Azamagarh has only gone from bad to worse.
The situation is not just limited to economic issues but also to social issues. There are no quality education system at any level that prepares the next generation to solve the problems that they will inherit. Whatever education that they get, renders most of them competent enough only to be employed at a minimum wage for most of their lives. That is when another forced migration happens in search of jobs. Gulf countries have absorbed a lot of such people. The jobs that most men get are low paying labour work and does not really free them from the clutches of poverty or low quality of life. The ultimate sad reality of this forced migration is that it takes sons, husbands and fathers away from their aging parents, wives and kids for most of their abled lives. A gap in the social structure that cannot be filled by anyone else but by those who have left for far off places.
It is not uncommon to find a family in Azamgarh where the father figure is missing from the lives of the children. Combine this with lack of education, moral decay in the society, lack of empathy and investment from the government and above all lack of vision and a plan from the leaders of the community has created an explosive situation.
The biggest tragedy of this place is the lack of vision and an action plan from the visionaries and leaders of Azamgarh. To improve this place, we cannot simply jump start by investing in one or two things. It’s a land that’s deprived of almost every basic necessity that we need in order to live there. However, we have chosen not to be overwhelmed by the gravity of the situation and make a start by investing in education. We want to invest in the coming generation with a hope and a plan that they’ll be the agents of change by providing the impetus and demanding a change that this place badly deserves.
We can no longer wait for a messiah to arrive because no one is is going to come. However we can all become an agent of change in our own way and work within the community to bring the change and make Azamgarh a model town, a model city to live in and prosper.
I call upon all people from across the globe to come and experience the result of the experiment that we call ZAF Academy.
I call upon the people of Azamgarh who have moved out or whose family moved out in search of better life to join hands with us and give us the support in any form that they can - the best thing we feel that they can do is teach a semester or a year or join us in our efforts to spread the word. Come forward and be a part of this historic movement to restore the sanctity and prosperity of the place which our forefathers called home.
