For Syed Najam, giving a hand to the community has always been a habit, and now Cochrane is next on his list.
Beginning this spring, Najam and volunteers within the organization Love with Humanity have been building wooden book cabinets, installed on four-foot tall posts, and filled with literature from every language possible to create mini multicultural libraries.
A lawn chair seating area is arranged on his own front yard – the first of the library setups – where he brings readers tea and samosas.
“Amazing response,” Najam said. “People are appreciative of these things.”
The idea to build the libraries came to him after talking to the elderly in his neighbourhood who have little to do throughout the day. As well, he noted the wide diversity of people who came from in Calgary.
He said the library has been a huge success, with visitors nearly every day and now he wants to spread that to communities surrounding Calgary.
Recently, Najam installed libraries in Airdrie and Chestermere with plans for another in Mahogany Beach.
Najam said he hopes the library will contain multi-cultural books relevant to the demographics of the community.
Being a community helper isn’t new for him.
During Najam’s college days in Karachi, Pakistan, he and his peers self-organized a hospital pick-up and drop off service.
“There is ambulance service but not enough. So we purchased one big van, wrote our own logos,” Najam said. “We all together accumulated the money and all these things.”
“If there (were) any emergencies they called the hospital and we’d do pick and drop service.”
Najam later spent 10 years working in the Middle East where he would offer his time to help right labour injustices.
“The middle east system is different. They have issues for not paying money, not paying salary,” Najam said, explaining there were incidents where some employers weren’t paying their employees for several months at a time. “We … asked why he is six months not paying, five months not paying, please solve (this), because he had a family back home. So how, if you’re not paying, will he send the money there?”
“Lots of issues we faced there and we tried to do our best to solve them, we do our best always.”
After settling into his new home in Canada back in 2009, Najam made every effort to be there for his friends and neighbours, whether it be to help with home chores or to help with moving. Now, Najam organizes events for seniors and the community through Love with Humanity.
Najam is calling for any and all Cochranites to come forward if they are interested in an installation.
The library, he said, is perfect for anyone who is willing to lend out their front yard for a morning or afternoon reading spot to passers-by.
“We will install it free, we will put in the library free,” Najam said. “This is our gift for every city in Alberta.”
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