Guess Who’s Coming to our Foundation Evening!

 

Rotarian, Humanitarian and CNN Top Ten Hero, 2012 Razia Jan will be keynote speaker at our Foundation Celebration on November 14!

 

“I have only one school and I hope and pray that it lasts forever”. Razia Jan, March3, 2015

Razia Jan is a member and past president of the Rotary Club of Duxbury, MA, District 7950 and founder of the Zabuli Education Center, a private K-12 girls’ school in rural, conservative Afghanistan. The school provides free education as well as meals, shoes, uniforms and coats to more than 430 girls in an area where 90% of the population is illiterate.

 

A native of Afghanistan, Razia came to the United States in 1970 and settled in the town of Duxbury where she opened a tailor shop. In 1990, she became an American citizen. Since that time, she has been building bonds between Afghans and Americans. After 9/11, Razia led her club and community to send 400 handmade blankets to rescue workers at Ground Zero and assemble 200 care packages to US troops in Afghanistan. When she heard that American soldiers were collecting shoes to give to Afghan children, Razia and her volunteers shipped more than 30,000 pairs of shoes.

On a visit to Afghanistan in 2002, Razia determined to help Afghan women and girls to overcome the oppression and brutality of their lives after years of Taliban control. In fact, more than 1.5 million Afghan girls are not enrolled in school. Back in Massachusetts, she founded the Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation to raise funds to establish a school where girls are now learning math, science, religion, English, Farsi and Pashto.

For her humanitarian work, she received the CNN Top Ten Heroes, 2012 Award which recognizes, “individuals who are making extraordinary contributions to improve the lives of others”.

Come and meet Razia on November 14!

If you have any questions, please contact me, Liz Cullen, Zone Institute Chair. lizgcullen@yahoo.com or (H) 978-948-7345 or (C) 978-618-2357