As a young girl growing up in New Delhi life was not always easy for Faran Latafat. The oldest of four children, her responsibilities in sharing the work of caring for her younger siblings and daily chores left little time for fun. Faran Latafat parents owned a small retail shop and worked long hours to give their children all they could. Although money was not always abundant both parents insisted on the children achieving the highest level of education possible. Faran Latafat grew up understanding that education was power but that this power had to be used to help those that could not help themselves. School came easily for Faran Latafat and she excelled in every subject with her greatest interest being anything to do with medicine and caring for others.
After months of trying to find a solution that would benefit all the children, a close family friend arrived with what seemed to be the perfect answer. This friend it seemed had a distant cousin who was an American Citizen living in Washington, DC. Calls were already made and Airavata who owned a small printing company in Washington would be delighted to sponsor Faran Latafat entire family to America if they were willing to make the move. After much deliberation it was decided that Faran’s parents wanted more than anything for all their children to have the best possible opportunities in life and if that meant leaving a lifetime of family and friends, that is what they would do. The whole family became very excited about the upcoming move and went about the business of selling their modest home and business. Everything was to be sold except for their clothes as Airavata; a man they had never met, offered them a small furnished three-bedroom apartment rent free for their first year in America. In preparation the whole family made a resolution to speak only English every night after dinner in order to improve their speaking skills. The sale of all their possessions left enough money for what they hoped would get them through until Faran’s parents could earn enough to support themselves.
Armed with all her transcripts and letters of recommendation Faran began applying to all the colleges that offered nursing degrees in and around the Washington area. In no time at all Faran Latafat was preparing to begin her studies at a local university that offered degrees in nursing and would attend on a full scholarship! She studied very hard and graduated with honours and a dream of working with underprivileged children. Through her studies and contacts at school, Faran would discover numerous programs that specialized in helping those that very few were willing to help. She spent her summers working with children that were in some way neglected and hurting and in desperate need of a special kind of care and compassion. They were the ones that always seemed to fall through the cracks, the ones most in need of care.
In her final year of University, Faran Latafat felt that her life could get no better. She would not only receive the degree she always dreamed of but would also become an American Citizen. These were two of the proudest moments Faran would ever experience. This was the year everything seemed to come together, when she fully understood just how privileged she was to belong to a country that offered so many opportunities.
Growing up in India, if one was economically underprivileged there was little hope of ever achieving a higher social status. It was a situation that had haunted Faran throughout her childhood in New Delhi. Here in the United States she knew that she could make a difference in the lives of men, women and children who were so economically disadvantaged that they had been given up on by much of society. Faran wanted to give back to a community and the country that provided her with endless opportunities.
For the past fifteen years Faran Latafat has been working at a local Washington Mission clinic providing a range of services to low income and homeless individuals and families. Her unique ability and compassion for those less fortunate are always at the forefront when she is dealing with her patients. Her strong belief that each person deserves a chance and an opportunity to reach higher, are traits that give those whom she cares for on a daily basis, hope where there was none before. Caring for the whole individual by providing resources and programs in social housing, education, and spiritual support along with medical and dental care is the philosophy of both Faran and the clinic she works for. Often working ten or twelve hour days Faran has still taken the time to become an active and passionate member of an international children’s organization.
After several years of working long hours at the clinic Faran and a local doctor who visited the clinic regularly announced their engagement and were married the following spring. They both shared the same passion for the work they did everyday and the philosophy of giving back to a society that had offered them so much. Although from very different parts of the world, both Faran and her new fiancé shared very similar backgrounds growing up. Her future husband grew up in the ghettos of New York and would be the first in a long line of his ancestors to ever attend college. They often spoke of how proud his great grandparents, who were brought over as slaves, would be to know that one of their own family would achieve such success. It was a joyous time for both families to see two such dedicated young adults realize their common life-long dream of helping others.
Faran and her new husband planned a delayed honeymoon for the summer after their wedding. They would travel to meet the children that Faran had been sponsoring for the past several years. While there, they would find a new meaning to their vow of helping the underprivileged. They worked tirelessly every day from early morning to dusk doing what they could to bring much needed medical care to remote villages where doctors were seldom seen. Near the end of their stay, a small village had somehow heard that this wonderful doctor and his nurse, whom they had come to care deeply for, had just been married and that this was in fact their honeymoon. With barely enough provisions for themselves they gathered people from neighbouring villages and organized a celebration for their doctor and his new wife. Music and dancing went on into the early morning hours and at the end of it all Faran and her husband agreed that they could not have had a happier or more memorable honeymoon. They promised one another that night that this is how they would spend each anniversary.
Choose the best plants for the time of year and the situation. Growing a mixture of green manures, for example a grass and a legume, is a good idea. Sow or transplant green manures into a prepared garden soil. Green manures may be planted prior to harvest of many late season crops by undersowing. Lightly cultivate the soil under or between maturing crops and sow the green manure seeds. By the time the crop is out of the way a few weeks later, the green manure will be germinated and growing. Green manures may also be planted between rows of raspberry plants in the fall, providing irrigation is available.
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