Fariza Ellahi—changing the world with her words and actions

Fariza Ellahi is a twelve year old girl from Raffles International School, Dubai and her story is a proof that you can make a difference at any age. In 2017 Fariza was elected to the Learning Council and in 2018, to the Student Council. In 2019, she became the Head Girl for Primary, demonstrating outstanding leadership skill. Currently she is a Student Leader, heading the Eco team. Fariza was awarded first place at the Science Fair both in year 4 and 6 for sustainable solution to climate change. In 2018, Fariza with her team was nominated for the Innoventures Film Festival award. In 2021, she was awarded first place in graphic design and third place in Photography at the Innoventures School Competition for Agents of Change, IVEI art.

Fariza with her sister Zehra are co-founders of a toy charity initiative called “Little Founders For Change” http://littlefoundersforchange.com/ providing support to underprivileged children globally while promoting recycling. This initiative serves children in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Ethiopia UAE, USA, and has received extensive global media coverage. She is the editor of her own online newsletter called Fariza’s Corner (https://www.farizascorner.com/) and spent lockdown making educational videos with recycled items for underprivileged children.

Fariza is a member of the Emirates Environmental Group and has participated in beach clean up with Dubai Municipality. In 2020, she was featured in EEG for the neighborhood-recycling program. She enjoys playing piano, photography, movie making and has served as an IT monitor at RIS. She produces an online reading program in partnership with her sister, shared globally. 
Fariza is a volunteer at the US food bank, Dubai labor camps and at Protigga Foundation, Bangladesh. 

When it comes to making this world a better place, we can learn a thing or two from her. Beginning with her story, I have compiled a list of some of the most influential young trailblazers across the world. My list includes just a handful of the young change-makers that have paved the way for many generations to come. There are many young girls out there who have inspired change in such creative ways. These are the born leaders — the girls who will go on to inspire the rest of us to take action. Most of them had an idea or an invested interest in something at a young age, and instead of letting their birth year deter them, they continued on with their quest for change. These are the girls who will change the world as they serve as excellent role models for other children today.

Enjoy reading the story of Fariza Ellahi…..

Describe yourself or tell me more about yourself.

Hello, my name is Fariza Ellahi and I am a year 7 student at Raffles International School in Dubai. My family and I moved to Dubai when I was 3 months old and I currently live here with my parents and my 9 year old sister Zehra. 

When I think about describing myself, one personal experience comes to my mind that I think reflects my personality. I love music and play the piano. A few years ago at my first piano concert, I tripped and fell on the stage before I even got to the piano. I heard the audience whispering and the commotion backstage followed by complete silence, with everyone’s eyes on me. Instead of leaving the stage at that point, I got up, bowed to the audience and played all my three piano pieces. At the end of my performance I received a huge applause from the audience. This incident taught me that things don’t always work according to plan. So when faced with unexpected situations, you have to find the strength within yourself instead of giving up. I try to apply the same philosophy in my life. I try to stay composed under pressure and challenge myself to be the version that I can be. 

Tell me a bit about your family:

We have a big family as I am very close to my cousins and count them as my immediate family as well.  But in Dubai I live with my family of four. My dad Taimur Ellahi, my mom Pusha Karim and 9 year old little sister Zehra Ellahi. I was very close to my grandfather from my dad’s side, Sikander Ellahi, my Dada, who passed away recently due to Covid. He used to visit us in Dubai and we would go to Pakistan to see him. We all used to travel a lot together until the pandemic. We have loads of fun memories with him we talk about all the time. My grandmother from my mom’s side Hosneara Begum lives in the US. I am lucky to visit her in the summer and in the winter. She always teaches us important life lessons and makes the most delicious food ever! Nanu’s fried fish, chicken and potato curry (Aloo chicken) and “mishti doi” meaning sweet yogurt in Bangla are a must try if you ever visit my family. No one can beat my Nanu’s awesome cooking!

What are three areas of strength and three areas of growth:

I am usually very calm under pressure that helps me divide up my work and multitask. I try to be organized so that I can balance my school work and extracurricular activities as well. I like giving back to the others either through charity work, volunteering or by being helpful to those around me.

For areas of growth, I think sometimes I can be critical of myself setting very high expectations for my work. Often this works well to set high standards, but sometimes I could be critical if it is not up to the expectation I set for myself. I am very detail oriented so if I have to fix anything, I will continue to work on it even if it is not as relevant, although this often helps to improve the level of work. If there are certain subjects that do not interest me, I often tackle them last. That way, I already have a good start with my other work and feel motivated to continue with less interesting topics. I think handling the less interesting tasks first may actually help grow my interest better in those topics.

What three adjectives best describes your personality?

Kind, generous, friendly

What personal achievement are you post proud of?

Me and my sister Zehra are the founders of a charity initiative called “Little Founders For Change”. We collect gently used toys and travel around the globe during our school holidays and deliver to the children in underprivileged schools and orphanages. This in turn promotes recycling. We now operate in 6 countries including Bangladesh, Dubai, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan and the USA. I find doing this fulfilling because I want to share the same joy that I have when I receive a toy! For most of these children, the toys we give are their very first toys they can call their own. Every toy has a memory so when we share it with them, they get to create new memories just like us. Even when we don’t share the same language, we can manage to communicate with smiles while playing together. For instance, at one of the schools that we had visited, we did not speak the same language but we could show the children how to put puzzle pieces together. Before we knew it, small groups of students started to compete against each other to see who could finish their puzzles the fastest. We were all cheering for each other. It was loads of fun! 

What do you read outside of school?

I enjoy reading different types of books. Recently, I enjoyed reading “I am Malala”, “Bridge to Terabithia”, and “The Tale of Despereaux”. One of my favorites books is “Wonder”. These books are very different from each other but they all have their own unique inner meaning. 

Tell us more about what you do outside of school?

Outside of school I am member of the Emirates Environmental Group in Dubai often participating in recycling projects or beach clean up with Dubai Municipality. I also volunteer at the Dubai labor camps during Ramadan helping to serve meals. In the US, I volunteer at the food bank. I am a part of the Protigga Foundation in Bangladesh that work to serve the less fortunate children and women. 

I am the editor of my own online newsletter called “Fariza’s Corner”. I created this during the lockdown to connect with children around the globe. The 2020 lockdown was a time that affected most children. Fariza’s Corner was created to provide a platform where children could express their views on various topics like how to maximize time at home, recipes, music, writing, recycled crafts, riddles and more. I also enjoy movie making and made educational video tutorials with recycled items for children in underprivileged schools in Bangladesh and Pakistan during the lockdown to reach out to others virtually. In partnership with my little sister we also make story reading videos that the teachers at these underprivileged schools as well as our school use for story time. Zehra reads short stories and I do the filming and editing. The Burlington public library in the US has been kind enough to post the story reading videos so that all children around the globe can have access to it. 

What extracurricular activities are you interested in?

I absolutely love music. I was in the Yamaha music program and now continuing in Grade 5 with LCM. I often play my own compositions at our school assemblies. I am really fond of movie making and photography. I like public speaking since I have had to talk about our toy charity in different countries or during media interviews. During my spare time I like rollerblading, biking, swimming or challenge myself to parkour. 

What has happened recently in current events that interests you?

The world is facing a massive crisis with the Covid-19 pandemic. We recently lost our grandfather from Covid. To honor our grandfather’s interest for reading my sister Zehra and I started a story reading program. We make story reading videos that get shared by our teachers for younger students and are also being used at underprivileged schools that we visit for our toy charity. I want to continue to do my part any way I can to help others virtually whether connecting with them through my newsletters, making educational tutorials, or teaching them virtually as I plan to at an orphanage in Bangladesh called “Maer Achol”. I think every obstacle has a hidden opportunity and we need to seek out those opportunities to make a difference any way we can.

If you could meet anyone in the world dead or alive, who would you meet and why?

Even if a person has passed, their memories live forever. My grandfather/Dada left us too soon. He was  always very organized, disciplined and punctual. He always taught us these lessons but there is so much more still left to learn. We talk about our grandfather and all our fun memories together as if he is still with us. So I would love to keep him alive the same way in my memory and see him if I could. Whenever he visits me in my dream, I always wake up happy.

What is your favorite subject and why do you like it?

I love Innovation. In Innovation, I get to find my creative outlet and use those creative skills within me to complete the tasks. We do different woodworking projects and often have to use recycled items to create pieces. I have made a nameplate using woodworking techniques, a pan stand and now currently I am working on making a wooden mobile toy. We learn useful techniques along the way and use tools that are unique for its purpose. I learn to appreciate the work and technique involved in making different objects we see at stores or around the house. 

What is your least favorite subject and why do you dislike it?

At home my parents are from Pakistan and Bangladesh so we are exposed to speaking Bangla, Urdu and English. I enjoy being able to communicate in three languages without having to learn it through a course. Here in Dubai we have to learn Arabic and French in school.  I find it more fun to engage in spoken Arabic or French, rather than the grammar. Although I do realize that grammar is the building block for all languages specially when learning through a course.