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 Short Biography of Mr. Ashid Kumar Bahl
Born in East Africa - Kenya,
came to Canada on 25* December, 1974-
Address:11 Canova Road S.W. Calgary Alberta,
T2W-2K5. Phone:403-281-6974.
The process of giving started for Mr. Bahl in junior high(11years old) when he gave his toys and his lunch to poor children while growing up in Africa, and continued giving to the less fortunate and sick children in the thirty five years since he migrated to Canada. Mr. Bahl's story is really a miracle, his nature and his tireless efforts are reminiscent of people like Mahatma Gandhi. He said, “A little African boy in my school in Kenya with a worn-out uniform looked at the toy I was playing with, the look in his eyes, wishing he could play with it. I reached out my hand & gave it to him to keep, feeling really good about the mixed reaction of disbelief and happiness on his face I learnt the true significance of giving”.
In the words of Ashid Bahl- "In a world that has everything, enough food, medicine and technology to cater for the needs of everyone, it is sad to see children still living in poverty, abuse and neglect". It is for this reason, he started this Society, to show people that even one person can make a difference and all it takes is to care and do for others who are less fortunate. He believes that here lies the true purpose as to why we are here. “There is no dream, no passion or goal to be reached that is richer than being of service to others in their hour of need.”
LOCAL-
For the past 30 years as the founder and president of For the Love of Children Society, he has been helping children who live in poverty, abuse, neglect and those who are homeless, which has resulted in over a hundred thousand children being helped. He has helped children who are suffering from high risk, life threatening illnesses by providing them with a wide variety of services, including specialized treatments, medicine and equipment not found in Canada or not accessible due to financial constraints & not covered by our health system.
Each year in Canada he helped children like Joel and Aron with Cerebral Palsy who can walk for the first time with the help of a specialized walker – Kelly & Rohit with Cerebral palsy gain access to a van with lift -Kyle a thirteen year old was non -verbal is able to talk after receiving a Dynavox communication device - Adel a three month old baby received a special formula for her congenital heart defect - Angel a baby received progestimil formula that was life saving to her - Natalie Smith received hyperbaric oxygen therapy and thus is able to walk talk and even ride a tricycle which she was not able to do before - Katie a four year old with severe brain damage and multiple handicaps including Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy received a oxygen monitor and an in house lift to help her in bathroom and exercise situations - Logan a Two and a half year old boy got a tongue reduction surgery at a B.C Hospital, Kyla a six year old girl with Spastic quadeplegia got a Rifton Walker, Patricia Wheatley, a mother of 11 disabled children got a complete makeover of her home to better meet the various needs of the children - The list goes on and on - This improved the quality of life for many children and in many eases saved their lives.
He set up different recreational programs to improve their quality of life by having events like Santa's Express & the annual picnic for sick children from the Alberta children’s hospital to building playgrounds for communities & schools. He started the For the Love of Children Society Aerospace School- Calgary so that children from a wide verity of schools across the province can gain access to the programs offered at the Aerospace Museum. There are 5 outreach programs in the city like this one that are recognized by the Calgary board of Education. Many children can now learn the history of space travel and aviation firsthand at the Museum. Every year this program also enables one child to go to Huston, Texas (NASA) for the summer Space program.
OVERSEAS- Thirty years back he started programs to build & provide schools & orphanages, medical aid, educational supplies, water wells, electricity, toys & other necessities for poor children round the world. He took the initiative to try to abolish child labor & fight against the spread of Aid’s in countries that are known to have this problem. His overseas projects, which have taken the society to countries like Africa, Honduras, Mexico, India, Tibet, Philippines, Nepal, Egypt, Peru, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Cambodia, Sudan & Sri Lanka have proven to be very successful. He made a special commitment to help countries hit with natural disasters and those that were war torn. He was the first Canadian to help the victims of Tsunami in Sri Lanka & the victims of the earthquake ravaged Kashmir. First one to cross into south Lebanon to deliver medicine for children after the conflict with Israel & Hazballah. First Canadian to help the victims of hurricane Mitch in Chiapas, apart from helping the victims of earthquake in Peru.
You will be pleased to learn that presently he has helped over a hundred thousand special needs children and their families and given aid in excess of 15million. In addition to this in 1980 he helped settle approximately 19,000 refugees and new Immigrants coming from Vietnam, Russia, Poland, Cambodia, Africa, etc. He volunteered countless hours to help these refugees by getting them housing, jobs, food, clothing and medical help.
He led his organization to help the Peoples of the First Nation by reaching out to poor children that belonged to different bands, like the Tsuu T’ina, Peigan and the Blood Reserve. He organized a pilgrimage run for the youth to bring awareness against crime and drug abuse on the Piikani, Peigan & Blood reserves. Helped Tsuu Tina Nation children who were evacuees from their homes due to the outspread of asbestos.
He became a goodwill ambassador from Canada and traveled to many countries to help thousands of poor children by providing them with schools, orphanages, educational supplies, food, clothing, toys, working tools, technical aid, water wells, electricity etc., a lot of the aid given to these countries received world wide media coverage. He has 74 schools & orphanages round the world that he has to look after which cater for about 10,550 children, one can say he has adopted these children. Some of these schools are also named after him as he is an inspiration to these children.
He never competed with other charities and helped organizations like Arusha Cross Culture, Calgary Immigrant Aid Society get on their feet and expand in their program delivery. He started projects like building one of the biggest playground that was accessible to disabled children in an area of low cost housing that didn't have any facility and which could be utilized for over 700 children. He continues to build them for schools in poor locations (like Banting & Best school-Saint Anthony’s School-Calgary)
A Hope Program was set up recently to give sick children across Canada access to free food supplements and vitamins that helped considerably to improve their quality of life while they were recovering from surgery or fighting an ailment.
Mr. Bahl has helped numerous families with children who had learning disabilities - to help pay for their school fees in Canada and overseas. Mr. Bahl built a center in Nepal & India to help not only the local homeless children but which is also open to children who escape from Tibet due of fear of persecution from the Chinese. He has single handedly build orphanages and schools in different countries. The projects for the Tibetan children in India have the blessing of the Dalai Lama. He's also helping the Dalai Lama's children in Dharamsala and Orissa, where he is helping build water projects, providing school fees for poor children, a school bus, telephone facilities, educational supplies, computers, planting apple trees and road improvements. He is currently building a temple/school in Orissa. His Holiness the Dalai Lama met Mr. Bahl and was very grateful that he came from all the way from Canada to show compassion to his people. He is also helping to build water wells in Sudan near Darfur. A school in Cambodia has also been completed that is named after him.
“I have seen that it is becoming harder for us to assist war torn countries like Sudan, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan due to chaos, military presence and political unrest which makes it harder to get the aid directly to the children. This year we still managed to build a school destroyed by the tsunami in Sri Lanka and delivered medicine to South Lebanon, crossing Hazballah controlled area with one million land mines to add to our problems. Most of the people we met were happy to see that NGOs like ours are helping children and encourage other NGOs to follow suit. We have seen that no one agency can boast that they can adequately help children in those countries but will take a collective effort by the various bigger and smaller NGOs around the world.”-Ashid
Over the 30 years, the lives of many children were saved and quality of life improved due to the hard work of Mr. Bahl, One could go on to state many other accomplishments to help children in need and still would not do justice to the dedication shown by Mr. Bahl. Please see the enclosed information on some past aid given to special needs children. He single handedly accomplished many projects that helped thousands of children in Canada and other parts of the world. He still puts aside time to teach art to special needs children at a Calgary school.
Mr. Bahl had to face many obstacles when he started the For the Love of Children Society' from nothing to being recognized internationally. He was the first Asian to start a children’s Society from scratch in North America. He wanted to show his sincerity by using his own funds to help the poor for the first two years and encouraged others to follow his example. He has been fighting for the rights of immigrants to providing a wide variety of service to needy children. All of this was done while he worked for a living (Canada Boarder Services) and having to look after his own two children. He wanted to show to others that even one person can make a difference in this world. Mr. Bahl has volunteered countless hours without payment and gone out of his way to help others in their hour of need.
Although he has never asked for any recognition, Mr. Bahl has received recognition from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 11’s Golden Jubilee Medal to being inducted in the volunteer wall of fame by the Wild Rose Foundation (Alberta community development) for being an outstanding volunteer ~ Dec 5th 2003 -Immigrant of distinction award 2004, 2005 The Alberta Centennial Medal from the Province of Alberta and is an accomplished artist and author of a poetry book (The Eyes of a Thousand Burning Candles- Carlton Press, New York). –The Readers Digest award-Canadian Hero of 2007-CEUDA Merit Award etc-The Peace Officer Exemplary Service Medal-Governor General of Canada etc….
Mr. Bahl has encouraged many individuals and the corporate sector to contribute to the various projects in the past and present by sharing his accomplishments and efforts to help the less fortunate. Many a time he has said, “Life is not about us, it is about making life happen for someone else out there, in that lies the true significance of living”. Mr. Bahl wants Canada to head the way in providing aid around the world to the less fortunate and be known as the Compassionate Nation. He believes & says, “If there is to be any peace or stability to be reached in this world, countries have to reach out to other countries and help the less fortunate.”
Submitted by: Neta Sharma
Telephone: 403-232-6010
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