Razia Jan, born in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

is the founder of Razia's Ray of Hope Foundation, a nonprofit education organization in Afghanistan.

Career and charity work

Jan moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1970. The proprietor of a small tailoring business in Duxbury, Massachusetts, she served as president of the town's

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

. After September 11, 2001, Jan rallied her New England community to send over 400 homemade blankets to rescue workers at

Ground Zero In relation to nuclear explosions and other large bombs, ground zero (also called surface zero) is the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation. In the case of an explosion above the ground, ''ground zero'' is the point on the ground ...

. Her efforts expanded to include sending care packages to US troops in Afghanistan. Through her involvement in the military's Operation Shoe Fly, she coordinated the delivery of over 30,000 pairs of shoes to needy Afghan children.

In popular culture

Jan is the subject of a children's picture book biography, ''Razia's Ray of Hope: One Girl's Dream of an Education'', written by

Elizabeth Suneby Elizabeth "Liz" Suneby is a children's book author. Biography Suneby earned a bachelor of arts degree from Brown University. She is Jewish and has written several mitzvah-themed books. Suneby is known for her nonfiction picture book ''Razia's R ...

and illustrated by Suana Verelst, published by

Kids Can Press Kids Can Press is a Canadian-owned publisher of children's books, with a catalog near 1000 picture books and 500 e-books, non-fiction and fiction titles for toddlers to young adults. The Kids Can Press list includes characters such as Franklin ...

in 2013. The book came to the attention of Roya Hosseini and was then used as part of curriculum of the

Khaled Hosseini Khaled Hosseini (;Pashto/Dari ; born March 4, 1965) is an Afghan Americans, Afghan-American novelist, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR goodwill ambassador, and former physician. His debut novel ''The Kite Runner'' (2003) wa ...

Foundation. ''Razia's Ray of Hope'' was a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor Title in 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jan, Razia Living people Year of birth missing (living people)