Invitation to Remember

“I can’t draw,” my grandmother in law insisted in Gujarati. She stared at the notebook page, and hesitated before taking the pink highlighter from my open palm. Married in her early teens, Nani never attended school and had not learned English in the 15 years she had lived in America. Instead of language, I communicated with smiles, photos, and occasional translations from my mother-in-law. As I nodded towards my pink highlighter, Nani shook her head. I smiled in encouragement. We stared at each other until she finally took the pen. She drew the perfectly symmetrical petals of a flower. “Nam,” I said, suggesting she sign her work. Instead, she wrote my name in Gujarati above the flower. I beamed.

Because I wanted to share the beauty I experienced in my Nani’s company with other women, I applied for a grant to fund my own community arts program. I designed and executed Remembering Forward, an arts program for an intergenerational group of women between the ages of 14 and 95. The program aimed to facilitate dialogue across generations and across cultures. The weeks of relationship building between student-senior pairs resulted in a community art show, which featured a 9-foot timeline that mapped the major personal and historical turning points in the lives of the participants.

In the process of teaching a group of women who were more than four times my age, as well as young girls born a decade after me, I applied my experiences as an urban educator. Indeed I have served as an educator and an activist since I was 16 years old. I worked in urban educational programs like Sadie Nash Leadership Project (SNLP) and South Asian Youth Action (SAYA!), nonprofit organizations that empower young people to reach their fullest potential. I continued my activism at NYU, where I chaired an educational series around innovation and entrepreneurship specifically within the Muslim American community. I also established the “Empowering Women of Faith” series, in which Muslim women speak about how faith informs their private and public sector careers. Ultimately, my work as an educator has meant facilitating the empowerment of disadvantaged populations, from immigrant youth to minority women to the isolated elderly.

Because of my experiences with my late grandmother, I took my youth development experience and applied it to a different population: the elderly in the suburbs. This blog follows my journey as I try to establish this program in my new hometown, Piscataway New Jersey. I invite you to take this journey with me, as I continue to find funding, generate community interest, and run this program as a service to not only my grandmother, but your grandmothers. I truly feel blessed to be in the company of the elderly, especially the women in my life.

I do this work independently. I am 24 years old. I work in the family business, but will be attending graduate school in nonprofit leadership in the Fall 2010. Remembering Forward is a spiritually sustaining force in my life. This community work is important because it helps me to connect with people on a deeper level. I believe that young people can change the world, because of their energy, passion, and commitment and they need the tools and encouragement to succeed. I believe the elderly are an incredible source of inspiration and information, but are often isolated from their children or grandchildren. I aspire to bring those generations together.

Thank you for your support!