OA INTERVIEW
FAHEEM AHMED The satisfaction of being able to serve others lef t a lasting impression on me
Tell us about your organisation, Selfless, and what inspired you to found it?
Selfless started with a group of enthusiastic friends who wanted to creatively and consistently serve their communities alongside their studies and various other commitments. Charity is often synonymous with donations, but although students have big hearts they often have small pockets! So we coined the term ‘skillanthropy’ to tap into the wealth of talents young people possess, encouraging them to dedicate their skills and ideas towards creating social change. I’m a firm believer in charity starting firstly at home, so we designed a strategy focusing on meeting the health needs of London’s most marginalised communities. There are huge disparities in outcomes between patients of different backgrounds and a lot of it comes down to a lack of access and understanding. Our volunteers developed workshops in ways the general public could relate to, covering a range of topics from sign language to diabetes up and down the country. Having grown up in an area with gangs and youth violence, I spearheaded a campaign that used clinical case studies to teach teenagers about the physical and psychological effects of gun and knife crime. It was great to see the positive impact we were having on our local communities, so we wanted to take it further by helping to address wider global health issues. My father first arrived in the UK from Bangladesh during the 1960s in response to the invitation to the Commonwealth to help rebuild the post-war economy. It’s a shame that the public now has a very different attitude towards immigrants – but I digress! It’s easy for those of us in the diaspora to lose touch with our heritage, and Bangladesh was slowly fading away as a distant memory, so my brother and I felt we had to give something back to my parents’ motherland. We delivered health camps in areas where most villagers, trapped in desperate poverty, had never seen a doctor before. Since our first trip we’ve been able to provide free treatment to over 10,000 inhabitants and our next team of volunteers will be flying out next month. The satisfaction of being able to serve others left a lasting impression on me and I guess that’s what ultimately inspired me to pursue a career in medicine.
Faheem Ahmed (2003-2010) was Vice- Captain of the College and Bainbridge Scholar. He completed his Masters in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and will be graduating from Guy’s, King’s and St Thomas’ Medical School this summer, where he has been student president. Faheem is the UK regional lead for The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (Open School) and is a founding member of ‘skillanthropy’ charity Self less. Adam Sherif f and Shehzore Adil spoke to him about charity, the state of the NHS and what he remembers of Dulwich
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