Cupertino, March 23, 2007: The Silicon Valley Pakistani-American community organized a stupendous event commemorating Pakistan's republic day. It was on this day 57 years ago that the All India Muslim league met in Lahore to draft the Lahore resolution, which later came be known as the Pakistan Resolution. This document stipulates the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the the Indian Sub-Continent, for a historical prospective see my March 20th post.
The event was well attended by individuals from all walks of the SiliconWadi life. You had people from the SiliconWadi legal fraternity, to the typical Techie Pakistani, to representatives from Congressman Mike Honda's office., to members of the RagingGranies group. The sponsors of the event were Izaan Corporation, Mirchi Cafe, The Citizen's Foundation and several other individuals and Pakistani well wishers from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Net proceeds from the ticket sales were donated to The Citizen's Foundation. The event agenda consisted of community based entertainment, talks and presentations by the The Citizen's Foundation CEO General (rtd) S.P. Shahid, not to mention the final entertainers were like visits from the past. One such visit was by Nahid Naizi, this is someone who was well known and loved back in the 1960's in Pakistan - well before my times. The other was Alamgir, whose fame reached its pinnacle around the mid to early 1980's.
Listening to Alamgir sing sent me on a nostalgic journey down memory lane, where I was transported back to my school days, particularly when he sang "Mehney tumharee gaagar sey kabhi pani piya tha...." Oh gee-wizz 'tis was a trip down nostalgia lane. A mere school boy I was then, performing in the annual C.A.S. School play with this particular song as the background music!
However, we mustn't loose sight of the actual purpose of the event, which was centered around the The Citizen's Foundation (TCF).
TCF is a not for profit charity organization, founded in August of 1995 in my hometown Karachi, Pakistan with the explicit purpose to promote education and make a difference for the vast majority of Pakistan's children living under extreme dire circumstances.
TCF since its inception has grown into a multi million dollar charity, benefiting countless children across the length and breadth of Pakistan. They have amassed a following both within and without the country with chapter groups being established all across the world. Here in the U.S. we have TCF-USA which was the sponsoring chapter for this event in the Silicon Valley.
Upon speaking with the TCF USA leadership team, Mr Amjad Noorani and Daniel Noorani, and the CEO General S.P. Shahid I found myself converted from being a skeptic to a follower. Indeed this is an organization that has and is doing a great deal of good work in Pakistan.
TCF USA has also been active in forming alliances with Corporate groups, such as the Microsoft Pakistani Employees and Cisco Pakistani employees who have managed to get TCF USA on to the list of approved charities for Cisco dollar-for-dollar matching program.
Following is a film that was directed and produced by some friends from Newsline Video in Karachi.
Against The Tide - The TCF Story Part I
Against The Tide - The TCF Story Part II
Following is an introduction to TCF, this Video was also presented by General (rtd) S.P. Shahid at the Pakistan Day event in the Silicon Valley
Click to make a donation to TCF
TCFUSA is a non-profit organization registered under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code
Corporate employees please check with your respective Human Resource departments if TCF USA is a charity approved for matching funds before making any donation.
The event was well attended by individuals from all walks of the SiliconWadi life. You had people from the SiliconWadi legal fraternity, to the typical Techie Pakistani, to representatives from Congressman Mike Honda's office., to members of the RagingGranies group. The sponsors of the event were Izaan Corporation, Mirchi Cafe, The Citizen's Foundation and several other individuals and Pakistani well wishers from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Net proceeds from the ticket sales were donated to The Citizen's Foundation. The event agenda consisted of community based entertainment, talks and presentations by the The Citizen's Foundation CEO General (rtd) S.P. Shahid, not to mention the final entertainers were like visits from the past. One such visit was by Nahid Naizi, this is someone who was well known and loved back in the 1960's in Pakistan - well before my times. The other was Alamgir, whose fame reached its pinnacle around the mid to early 1980's.
Listening to Alamgir sing sent me on a nostalgic journey down memory lane, where I was transported back to my school days, particularly when he sang "Mehney tumharee gaagar sey kabhi pani piya tha...." Oh gee-wizz 'tis was a trip down nostalgia lane. A mere school boy I was then, performing in the annual C.A.S. School play with this particular song as the background music!
However, we mustn't loose sight of the actual purpose of the event, which was centered around the The Citizen's Foundation (TCF).
TCF is a not for profit charity organization, founded in August of 1995 in my hometown Karachi, Pakistan with the explicit purpose to promote education and make a difference for the vast majority of Pakistan's children living under extreme dire circumstances.
TCF since its inception has grown into a multi million dollar charity, benefiting countless children across the length and breadth of Pakistan. They have amassed a following both within and without the country with chapter groups being established all across the world. Here in the U.S. we have TCF-USA which was the sponsoring chapter for this event in the Silicon Valley.
Upon speaking with the TCF USA leadership team, Mr Amjad Noorani and Daniel Noorani, and the CEO General S.P. Shahid I found myself converted from being a skeptic to a follower. Indeed this is an organization that has and is doing a great deal of good work in Pakistan.
TCF USA has also been active in forming alliances with Corporate groups, such as the Microsoft Pakistani Employees and Cisco Pakistani employees who have managed to get TCF USA on to the list of approved charities for Cisco dollar-for-dollar matching program.
Following is a film that was directed and produced by some friends from Newsline Video in Karachi.
Against The Tide - The TCF Story Part I
Against The Tide - The TCF Story Part II
Following is an introduction to TCF, this Video was also presented by General (rtd) S.P. Shahid at the Pakistan Day event in the Silicon Valley
Click to make a donation to TCF
TCFUSA is a non-profit organization registered under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code
Corporate employees please check with your respective Human Resource departments if TCF USA is a charity approved for matching funds before making any donation.
Copyright C. 2007 Abdulrahman Rafiq (ARR)
