Our rings of faith

group of volunteers pull back their shoulders and begin the immense task of creating a township where only sand or soil exists. Brick by brick, they raise home after home. An infrastructure is created that includes the supply of clean water, power and food. Access to education, medical facilities and transport to the town are

I remember the idea being scoffed at when we first began. It was said, “Spoon feeding will lead to a generation of idle and irresponsible citizens” and that “it would be a financial failure”. How

Today, athletes come from the five inhabited continents and their participation is aptly symbolised by the five rings on the flag.

BY RANI JHALA

Centuries ago, a group of athletes came together to meet and engage in competitions in friendly rivalry. All discord was put aside for the duration, as Olympia saw the first of what came to be known as the Olympic Games. Time saw an expansion in the number of athletes and nationalities. Today, athletes come from the five inhabited continents. Their participation is aptly symbolised by the five rings on the flag - intertwined rings of different colours that symbolise the five continents unifying in friendship and equality! The aim is to promote sportsmanship and goodwill.

We too have our ‘challenge’ coming up. Men and women coming together from those same continents, for the same duration, but unlike the athletes that will fight for their place in history, we are collecting to create ours.

There is Peter, the architect from Australia who, a decade ago, lost his family to the floods. A single moment was all it took to collapse around him. When the water receded, he got his home back but not his precious belongings, nor his even more precious family. He told me once that he had faced two choices: drown in despair or swim above it. He chose the latter. When he met our organiser, he knew what destiny had planned for him and became our Asia-Pacific coordinator.

Ram, an ophthalmologist became our Asian Subcontinent co-ordinator. Rising from humble beginnings, he had won a scholarship that saw him rise to the status of a world-class eye surgeon and head of a renowned eye hospital in Mumbai. Never forgetting the past, now retired, he wants to give back to society in the best way he knows.

Abraham retired from his prominent position in the United Nations, and became the president of our organisation. He brought with him the social network that saw our dream escalate from vision to reality. His vast circle of associations includes many gentle and gracious souls who are more than happy to assist with aid and guidance.

Pierre is the renowned chef who retired to open his own catering company that supplies wholesome dishes packed with enough food to feed every man, woman and child on this planet if it is not wasted or caught up in bureaucracy and red tape. His motto is, ‘Respect food today and it will nourish you tomorrow’.

Robert, a US citizen, is a landscaping artist famous for his popular television series where he travelled the globe, designing playgrounds for the underprivileged. An orphan himself, he began his career at the age of two, when he shovelled dirt with his shoe and planted rocks in anticipation of seeing beautiful plants.

Abdul is the co-ordinator of our African region. Once the president of his tiny nation, he has seen his country destroyed by war and famine. Undefeated, he got together a small band of volunteers to rebuild his country, village by village, town by town. It took him fifteen long years, but he proved to the world that unity and faith are strong building blocks. It was he, who came up with the idea of our ‘villages’.

And so, every four years, the committee gets together to choose locations on each of the continents and negotiates the procurement of land. Then they band together their army of volunteers.

The next four years sees this

This is our fourth ‘challenge’ and in the twelve years, we have seen fifteen villages set up, three children earn scholarships to high schools and two villages become totally self-sufficient. In both places, a cottage industry was set up that gave employment to the men and the women.

Governments have now become involved, large companies have come forward with donations and raw materials, and political parties have offered their support.

Abdul had a dream one day, to raise his nation from the ashes. We have extended that dream. We want to create a world where every child can call a building ‘home’, where every man has a source of income and where every woman can seek education and equality.

The road ahead is difficult. Wars make it hazardous, but just as athletes do not give up at the first hurdle nor sit back on past accolades, so too will we venture forward. All we ask is for you to wish us well as we create a mini utopia for people who have never had a place to call their own.

We name our ‘villages’ after the top five medal winners in the Olympics that year. Like us, these athletes have spent four long years preparing to make a dream come true.

What keeps us going? Our rings of faith!

Wars make it hazardous, but just as athletes do not give up at the first hurdle nor sit back on past accolades, so too will we venture forward