Bushra Razack (31) interviewed Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu at the age of 11, participated in the Millennium Young People’s Congress in Hawaii at 12, and co-edited her first book at 13.

Since then, she has spent much of her life traversing the globe and trying to make a positive contribution wherever she goes. In Kenya, she focussed on eye care, mobilising people with eyesight-related issues like cataracts to get treated.

Elsewhere, she worked on design projects that aim to improve the way people cook and eat, by looking at issues such as food security and energy efficient cooking technologies.

Now Razack, a single mom, directs Baitul Ansaar, an emergency placement centre for children in Mitchell’s Plain. It is home to 30 children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned. She has initiated several projects aimed at uplifting communities in the area surrounding the centre, including the Little Box Project.

This project gives grandmother-headed households a box full of activities that they can use to keep their charges stimulated. As if that wasn’t enough, Razack is involved in several other humanitarian projects, ranging from skills-empowerment to self-image enhancement in young women. “There’s no criteria to dreams, desires, and the ability to change the world. You just need to want to.”

|I live by the words: All you have is now.|

Categories: Healers