By:Carrie James
An immigrant, promotes cultural understanding through school committee work
Having faced discrimination early in life, Nasrin Ahmad, 44, of East Meadow has taken many proactive steps to educate her family and community about tolerating and understanding everyone.
"I moved to a country [England] that didn't have any tolerance for non-whites at the time," the Pakistani mother said, referring to her move from East Africa at age 6. "My mother would say, 'People are different. They don't understand. As we keep living here, they will come to realize that we are the same.' As I grew up, I realized it was discrimination. I didn't want my children to grow up like I did."
Not only did her children grow up with far less discrimination, but Ahmad also taught them to treat everyone as their equal, leading her children, especially her youngest son Jaffer, to follow in her humanitarian footsteps.
Ahmad, who helped form the Human Dignity Committee for the district's PTA Council, will soon see her son Jaffer receive a Humanitarian Award based on the principles she has tried to instill in her children and the community.
Ahmad's effort started about eight years ago, when the first of the Ahmad children, Zainab, entered Bowling Green Elementary School. Nasrin Ahmad joined the school Parent Teacher Association. She wanted to be involved in her children's school as well as educate the community about her culture.
Since the PTA at the time didn't address the needs of immigrant families, Ahmad formed her own committee with another parent Najwa Adra in 1993. Called the Cultural Awareness Committee, Adra and Ahmad wanted to bring together the school community's English as a Second Language families, or recent immigrants.
"What we did was get to know other ESL parents, and we met once a month and talked about the concerns they were having," Ahmad said. "When the parent doesn't speak English, then the child can't advance easily. The following year, we found that 14 different languages were spoken by Bowling Green families. We decided to take it to the PTA, but at the time, they brushed us away."
Still, Adra and Ahmad continued in their goal to help these families feel comfortable in their new school. One example of their work, Ahmad said, involved helping a Spanish-speaking mother get a library card and explaining to her how the library system works in America.
Finally, after its second year, the Bowling Green PTA took notice and asked the Cultural Arts Committee to work through the association, Ahmad said.
From there, the committee really took off.
"Our whole thing was to help children. So, we went to the PTA Council, and they were totally blown away," Ahmad said. "From there, they asked me to set up multicultural committees at Clarke Middle School and High School. Finally, the children were constantly learning about diversity."
Ahmad formed committees at each of the district schools, she said, because she wanted to teach everyone in the East Meadow district that diversity is a good thing and parents should teach their children tolerance.
"A town is more beautiful when there is a mixture of all people. It's not as attractive when they are not mixed together," she said. "I firmly believe that prejudice starts with your mother's milk.
"When a family sits down at the dinner table and laughs at black jokes or Polish jokes, we are teaching children arrogance, that they are superior. We are teaching our children discrimination. So, when they grow up and are frustrated, they take it out on those [viewed as] 'lesser' human beings."
Ahmad believed the multicultural committees should also educate teachers about how to approach different cultures.
"Teachers must be aware that there is a child here that doesn't know about American culture, but don't make them forget their own roots," she said. "We have to educate teachers about multiculturalism because America is becoming more like a mixed salad."
Already the school district has taken steps to bring multiculturalism into the schools. Not only did the PTA Council develop a district-wide multicultural committee, now known as the Human Dignity Committee, but East Meadow established a Center for Human Dignity as well.
"The Center for Human Dignity is a district entity devoted to facilitating activities specifically designed to promote the acceptance of diversity, reduce prejudice and eliminate biased incidents," said Carol LaLuna, the center's co-chairperson. "It started out as just a little room of resources, but what happened when we trained 40 teachers by World of Difference, they got so fired up about working this into the district that we decided we needed to change the small resources room into a center that promotes general awareness."
As part of the Center for Human Dignity, each year up to 36 students, four from each school, receive a Humanitarian Award. Something Jaffer Ahmad, a fifth grader at Bowling Green, will receive at 8 p.m., April 26 at the East Meadow School District Board of Education meeting at East Meadow High School. Ahmad is one of 31 students to receive the honor this year.
"Teachers nominate students, people that they feel are good humans, that promote understanding -- people who go above and beyond," LaLuna said. "I just think it's great that students are recognized for being good human beings."
Nasrin Ahmad feels the same way about her son receiving the Humanitarian Award. She taught all her children to respect and understand people regardless of their culture, body shape, or any other characteristic.
Young Ahmad took many of his mother's lessons to heart. He takes time to talk with children who are alone on the playground. He even lent his trombone to a fellow student during the recent Festival of Learning because the student forgot his, Jaffer Ahmad said.
"I help out a lot of kids. I try to give them help when they need it," he said. "I felt really excited about getting this award."
While Nasrin Ahmad chuckles about her son's quick action to lend his trombone, she said that is the way he always is, the way all her children are.
"By the grace of God, I have these children," she said, adding that all her actions came out of wanting to create a safe, welcoming environment for her family. "This is my home, this is my community, and I try to help out."
