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"You may not think you can reach it, climb anyway. You may not think you'll be heard, speak anyway. You may not think you'll change anything, try anyway. ..together we can make a difference"
These were the closing words of a speech given by 8 year old Canadian, Bilall Rajan. He was addressing young students affected by the Tsunami at Ban Kalim School just north of Patong beach on Phuket's western coast facing the mighty Andaman. Along with his mother, Shamin, and father Aman, he flew from his home in Toronto to visit the areas affected by last December's killer tidal wave. Sponsored by UNICEF, this three week trip back in March started in Thailand and took them to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India, and wrapped up in Acech.
It gave Bilaal a chance to see first hand the devastation and was another opportunity for Bilaal to reach out directly to the victims. "I wanted the kids to know that there are kids across the globe that care." Bilaal and his parents brought with them letters from young Canadian students, as well as games, books, pencils, and other gifts for children that they purchased with their own money.
There's no question about it, at eight years old, Bilaal has got a head start in merit and virtue. In his short lifetime, Bilaal has raised millions of dollars for many causes all over the world.
Bilaal started his charitable work January, 2001 after he learned about the earthquake that shook the western Indian state of Gujarat. Along with the support of his parents, he raised $300 Canadian dollars selling Clementines. He was only four years old at the time but old enough to understand and care. Aside from just wanting to help, also motivating for Bilaal was the fact that his ancestors were from that region of India.
Every year since then, he has participated in the World Partnership walk of the Aga Khan foundation (against poverty), raising $1000 dollars each year. One highlight for him was doing the walk at 7 years old with his healthy 70 year old grandfather.
The next major event was the Haiti hurricane relief in September 2004. He raised 6500 dollars by selling cookies donated by his father's company. He started off selling door to door and at school, even forming fundraising sells teams among his class mates/ friends. If this weren't enough, he contacted major companies initiating their assistance. From his efforts, APOTEX, a pharmaceutical company donated 342,700 dollars worth of prescription medicine while Heinz donated over 2000 cases of baby food.
Haiti exposed Bilaal to even bigger issues such as poverty and HIV. This was his next project. From a Science experiment dealing with plastic properties, he learned to melt beads into plates. This gave him the idea to make and sell plates for the HIV cause. He started off by selling to his teacher then turned to the Toronto community. At first, it was a difficult task selling outside in the freezing temperature but soon it would all be worth it. Within three days, he had raised 1200 dollars which he gave to UNICEF for its work helping children infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
Right after finishing all that hard work, it was time for a break to enjoy the holiday season. His family took a short car trip southbound. Just when they were heading back from Niagara falls hoping to go skiing, news of the South Asian Tsunami reached their car radio. Bilaal told his exhausted parents "We have got to help!" And so the relaxing holiday was cut short.
Not only did he contribute himself, but he urged all Canadian children to participate with the Canada Kids challenge. The original target was for each kid to raise atleast 100 dollars or one million dollars total with Bilaal's personal goal at 10,000 dollars. Not only was the target met, but more than doubled raising 2.5 million. Bilaal himself raised 50,000 dollars! On top of this, the Canadian government matched each dollar bringing the final amount to 5 million dollars. This earned him national recognition, getting the chance to meet the Canadian prime minister.
Quite impressive for such a young boy. Most adults can't claim to have made such contributions. Aside from his charitable work, Bilaal has many hobbies and passions in art, science, and sport including skiing, robotics, puzzles, astronomy, and many more. You might wonder how he can have time for all this on top of his charity work and school. One reason is he doesn't watch any television. Instead he reads quite a lot. He started to read and write when he was three. While some kids stay up late to watch tv or play games, Bilaal sometimes sneaks out of bed to read. His goal in life is to be the first human to visit Mars.
If you would like to learn more about young Bilaal or contributing to worldly causes, visit handsforhelp.org
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Contact Jao Moragoat
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