My 3rd and most favourite stop for the day was the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat. I just love this building because of all the incorporation of Islamic architecture in it.  It is designed by the distinguished Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki.  The use of simplicity, white and light are just phenomenal.  My two  most favourite parts of this building are the Courtyard and the exquisite lattice work in the central foyer. The courtyard houses a garden which is inspired by Islamic Gardens. The walkways are all sloped a bit so that in the winter the water flows to the center from all 4 walkways.  The lattice work in the foyer is beautiful - The shadows created just add so much character and detail.

The Delegation serves as the headquarters of Aga Khan Foundation Canada, a non-profit agency that supports social development projects in Asia and Africa.

Door’s Open took place in Ottawa on June 6-7th.  I did manage to go out on the 6th and visit a few sites - I’ve been so busy with other things that I couldn’t blog about the buildings I saw - So I put aside some time today to do this!

I also just recently got myself a present…a 16-35 lens for my camera. It is just so purty and gets the awesomest pictures. I made sure I had it before doors open so I could try it out and get some awesome shots of the buildings I visited.

The First stop was the Old City Hall on Sussex now known as City of Ottawa Central Archives. This building is designed by Moshe Safdie and includes an inner courtyard and gorgeous hallways - The coolest part is that this building is designed to look like a floating island - it is constructed on Green Island and literally looks like it’s just floating in the water!  Another really cool feature of this building is the glass pyramid at the entrance - The architect used the Lourve in Paris as an inspiration for this design.

They didn’t allow any photography inside the building so I really couldn’t get anything there..but got some pretty cool shots of the exterior.

Hello everyone,

As you all knew I have been collecting donations for the IDP’s of Swat.  I managed to send $1,000 because of all your support and generosity.  A friend of mine was going there himself to go and distribute food and necessary items.  He just sent me an email with details on what he saw, did and achieved along with pictures. I would like to share these with you.

Murtaza wrote:

It was on this Monday that I was able to go to the IDP camp in Charsada. When I came to Islamabad on Friday last a friend of mine who is professor in Peshawar University asked me to accompany his brother to the camp and see for myself what are the requirements over there. He also said that there is lots of supply of food items in the camps but
non-food items are in little shortage. One thing I wanted to tell you is that only 9% of the IDPs are living in the camps. The other 91% are in schools empty factory buildings and are guests in homes of people
in Mardan, Sawabi etc.

When I went to the camp with Ehsan Ullah Sahib (the guy with blue hat) I noticed amazing ghurbat(poverty). The Swaty people are hard working ones. They are always working and they never beg or wait for someone to give them food. Now such people are stuck in tents or camps. You look at their faces and you hate yourself. You just can’t help them.

There is nothing that can you can do for them to get them out of this depressing situation. You can give them food. You can provide them medicine shelter anything but cant give them any thing to do. I hated
my self there.

When I was in the camp the people in charge there had a list of recent widows. I, with the advise of Ehsan Ullah sahib decided that we will distribute cash to these widows directly. So we took the list and with help of lady in black burqa (her self an IDP) went to each widow and gave them cash that they can use directly.  The following pictures show how we went to each tent and gave the widows cash. In almost all pictures you cant see the widow herself as they don’t like being photographed.

We also gave each child in the camp Rs.5 to get some smiles on their face. we got many =)

These pictures show  the camp sites and how people are living in them.

These pictures show all the different Aid agencies/people that are there to help.

Our whole process ended with the prayer that the IDPs can go back to their homes. Aameen. .

But the pictures that sums my whole day is this one….

When I was coming back the black burqa lady gave me a list of female hygiene products that I will buy on Sunday and send to the camp. Also in the list are soap and dettole which some one is helping me to buy and send to the camp.

Before I go one thing more. if you think that it is possible to collect more donations, do it. I am here in this area of  the country, at least till 15th of July and if you can send me more donations, I’ll either send the money or if possible I’ll make the trip to the camp again.

Thanks for all the help

Murtaza

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For more information on the IDP’s of Swat, Click here

For my initial post on fundraising for Swat, Click here

Hi guys - I’ve been so busy lately trying to juggle everything that I really haven’t been getting time to blog in detail - I shot a beautiful wedding in Toronto last week and I’m going back again this weekend for another one. Yes, I’ve been doing a lot of travelling - soon life will slow down a little and I will get on top of blogging once again.

In the meanwhile, have a look at some pictures I took when I recently visted a Boardwalk over a  Bog in Ottawa.   

A few weeks ago there was an Ikebana display at the Museum of Nature called ‘Retrosepctive’. For those of you who don’t know.. Ikebana is the Japanese art of Flower arranging.   So I’ve been dying to enroll in an Ikebana class for a while now..but something always takes presedence and I end up putting it off.   But when I heard about this display, I knew I had to make it a point to go have a look.  I’m so glad I went becuase each arrangment was so unique and creative and just amazing!  Each display was sooooo different and so well presented, I had a little fun with my camera and got some shots of my favs.

If you would like more information on anything related to Ikebana, please visit:   http://ikebanaottawa.ca/