UCLA students put on their walking shoes Sunday in Santa Monica to support populations in the developing countries of Asia and Africa at the 17th annual Los Angeles Partnership Walk.
The walk is operated by the Aga Khan Foundation, a nonprofit and nondenominational organization founded by the spiritual leader of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. The foundation initiates and supports projects such as the Partnership Walk that target poverty, poor health, illiteracy and hunger in rural areas of the developing world.
Sunday’s walk worked as a fundraiser through exhibits and speeches from community leaders, such as Dr. Franklin Gilliam Jr., dean of UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, and Richard Bloom, mayor of Santa Monica.
In a speech on the Santa Monica Pier, Gilliam likened the mission of the walk to his own personal motto.
“My mission statement is to change the world one act, one project, one thought at a time,” Gilliam told a crowd of people participating in the event.
Partnership Walk Los Angeles raised more than $500,000 last year, according to a statement from the Aga Khan Foundation.
All of the funds raised at the walk and by the foundation transfer entirely and directly to hands-on projects that work toward health and economic development in the resource-poor areas, Gillian said.
Gilliam also emphasized the communal aspect of the event, telling attendees to be more aware of their role as citizens of the world.
“The idea of being a global citizen resonates with that of being a true Bruin ““ we need to invest the knowledge gained in the classroom into more practical avenues by working with and for other communities,” said Nausheen Hoosein, a fourth-year political science student.
Hoosein has been involved with the Partnership Walk for eight years, and has served as a liaison between the Aga Khan Foundation and UCLA student groups such as the Pakistani Students Association and Bruin Belles Service Association.
Volunteers recruited students from UCLA and worked to create a team to increase attendance and student participation at the event, said Khadij Assani, a second-year physiological science student.
Assani has been participating in the walk since she was 3 years old.
“(The walk) has become an essential part of my life,” Assani said. She added that she feels a duty to support people in developing countries.
Over the years, student involvement has had a ripple effect that has helped the event expand and build a sense of community, said Rafiq Ghaswala, spokesman for the Aga Khan Foundation U.S.A.’s volunteer team.
“This walk represents people coming together as family to make a difference,” said Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green and a speaker at the Los Angeles Partnership Walk. “(The walkers) represent citizen entrepreneurs (because) it is in action, in our communities, that we make a difference to address poverty.”
Building resilient communities in other countries was the theme of this year’s walk.
Farhan Mithani, a first-year global studies student and volunteer at the event, helped at the “Village in Action” booths that re-created projects supported by the Aga Khan Foundation.
One project built a rooftop rainwater-filtering system that provides direct access to clean water in poverty-stricken areas of northern Pakistan and India.
Basic aspects of these projects include promoting globalization in ways sustainable for people of developing countries, Mithani said.
With these projects, the Aga Khan Foundation distributes money and teaches people the skills that lead to a better life, Assani said.
“Teaching people how to live (with) limited resources is the best thing we can do for them,” she said.
That “Farhan” guy sounds hawt.
but srsly