Zerbanoo’s zeal

"Change doesn’t come from politics anymore. I make more impact speaking outside, because I have no agenda, I don’t have to win an election or anything,” says Zerbanoo Gifford, the one Zoroastrian lady who has been active on the political front in the UK.

A Liberal Democrat who was elected municipal councilor in London in the early 1980s before multiculturalism became an article of faith in Britain and who fought — and lost — the election to Parliament, Gifford has remained consistently active in the field of social work, campaigning for the rights of women and children, the homeless and other marginalized groups, building public opinion through her writings, ensuring funding, organizing pressure groups. Political ambitions are now history.

Gifford holds the Nehru Centenary award for her international work, championing the rights of women, children and minorities. A former advisor to the British Home Secretary and a member of the Race Relations Forum, she has chaired the Commission, "Looking into ethnic minority involvement in British Life.” Gifford made history by being elected as the Liberal councilor in 1982 in Harrow, and has stood three times for parliament. She is author of numerous books, including The Golden Thread; Asian Experiences in post-Raj Britain; Dadabhai Naoroji: Britain’s first non-white Member of Parliament; Thomas Clarkson, and the Campaign Against The Slave Trade; Asian Presence in Europe; and Celebrating India’s 50 Year Anniversary, which accompanied a television series.

Gifford: "network for something bigger”

So it was no surprise that Zee TV honored her as the first International Woman of the Year for her "humanitarian and human rights campaigning” at a glittering event on August 5, 2006 as notes a press release. Flown to Bombay by Zee TV to attend the event, Gifford created time to share with Parsiana news of the advances made by her brainchild and major preoccupation in the past six years, the Asha Foundation.

On June 28 this year Gifford says she took possession of a substantial estate in Glouces­tershire as the headquarters of the Asha Foundation. Comprising a Georgian house with six outhouses and, a delightful surprise, a secret walled garden, the vast acreage is blessed with "spring water from St Anthony’s well.” The one million sterling estate, acquired with the help of the Aga Khan and Godrej Foundations, is said to be located on the border of the Forest of Dean. Brisk as usual, she had Ervad Rustom Bhedwar, vice president of the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, organize a jashan on the premises, invited 30 young people from Europe to help her clean up the grounds and organized two conferences before the trip to India. Part of the land has been employed for organic farming of vegetables and poultry and is being laid out by a former gardener of the Queen’s household, Gifford tells us. The official opening is slated for March 21, 2007.

With accommodation currently available to 25 persons at a time — Gifford is already working on obtaining permission for more accommodation — the place is open to young Zoroastrians for a week’s holiday on the house. Gifford’s aim is to further communication between cultures and beliefs so that they meet, train and reflect in an environment of astounding natural beauty. Hence the center is offered as a meeting place for charitable organizations and in-house courses. Gifford’s emphasis is on the needs of younger people in order to foster social responsibility and give them an opportunity to work and experience this inspirational place. Already it has been booked for the next three years over the Easter weekend by Palestinians and Jews, she notes.

This is the Asha Foundation’s second property. It acquired one, Asha House, in Coventry last March with seed money provided by the UN, says Gifford, which has been given over on a seven-year lease to the Minorities of Europe. Here too the emphasis is on use by the youth.

And now she says she is working on a conference, "Women on Terrorism,” to be held in Delhi some time next year, comprising strategic thinkers and doers. Gifford says that the Asha Foundation has funded a Chinese Center in Northern Ireland, helped the Guja community of Dehra Dun and is funding a Chagos Community Center in Mauritius on land given for the purpose by President Ram Ghoolam. The Chagosians — people of the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean — had been uprooted in the late 1960s by the Harold Wilson government, transported and dumped in Mauritius. Zerbanoo notes that the British government, which had accepted no responsibility for their property or well-being, recently lost the case the Chago­sians had filed in the British courts where they had been represented by her husband, solicitor Richard Gifford.

Tirelessly networking, to put individuals and organizations together to help transform people’s lives, for well over a year Zerbanoo had been busy interviewing women achievers around the world, the result of a fellowship from NESTA (National Endowment of Science, Technology and Arts) which she was awarded in 2004. The 250 inspiring women she met have been profiled in an upcoming book, Confessions of a Serial Womanizer, Zerbanoo tells us with a delighted laugh. Proceeds of the book will go towards a home for disadvantaged children. Collaborating on the project is noted artist Jeroo Roy who has painted their portraits, to be exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, according to Zerba­noo. The originals will eventually home in a gallery at the Asha Centre. All Zerbanoo’s archival material, including her collection of books, newspaper cuttings and posters from her life as a politician and author, will be kept at the Women’s Library in London for future researchers to experience the lives of women in the new millennium.

Now launching a campaign for street children in Bombay along with Byram Jejeebhoy and Zinnia Khajotia, Zerba­noo is already an old pro in the field. The Zee TV press release refers to a long history of working with Bombay’s street children and notes that she has helped fund a home. "On one occasion, she asked the children at the Snehsadan Home what they wanted. When they asked for Lego, she rang the Chairman of Lego International who delivered boxes to her home the next morning. The story didn’t end there. She contacted Air India and they had the Lego flown to Bombay where she was stopped by customs officers who accused her of being a toy smuggler! Eventually, she charmed her way through with the boxes to the delight of the children. Zerbanoo has made two programs for Channel 5 television on the plight of street children and a national appeal that helped fund the rebuilding of one home damaged by the monsoon,” notes the press release.

Recalling her 20-year campaign against child labor, Zerbanoo says she embarrassed the royal families of the Middle East "to stop employing Bangla­deshi children as camel riders.” With the help of women’s organizations, media and enlightened corporations she says she got Reebok and Nike to set up crèches and schools for children. Their goods now have labels saying "not made by slave labor,” she notes. A similar campaign has been planned against the carpet weaving industry where "children work like battery hens!” she adds indignantly. "Jeroo’s paintings had a poignant effect on women in Sweden,” mentions Zerbanoo.

Social commitment in the Gifford household has impacted her son Mark Mazda, now Reverend Mark Mazda Gifford after he took a second degree in theology after an initial degree in law. She says he has studied Judaism, Christianity and Islam and can say prayers and provide blessings in any faith for which there is big demand. He has also spent two years studying all the major world religions including Zoroastrianism and is in the process of writing a book. This is apart from his work as lawyer-trustee of the Mosaic Trust and trustee of the World Congress of Religions.

Son Alexander, whose interest lies in theater and films, is currently into script-writing and teaching drama. He also acted as the 16th Dalai Lama in a recent production, the life of an unconventional monk who got married, had an affair and was bumped off, as Zerbanoo capsulated it.

"The world is becoming a nicer place,” says Zerbanoo optimistically. Though she qualifies her statement: "People may be as greedy and as unkind, but now they know they can’t get away.” Then she adds wistfully, "There are 100 million people in bonded labor. If people would only take care of the children...”

Having been offered some free land in Mauritius, Zerbanoo says she is networking for a women’s center and refers to the work of Jeroo Adenwala of Poona who is creating a site where one can access all women’s organizations, anywhere in the world. "People should network for something bigger,” she says, adding, "Zoroastrians were great philanthropists. Beatrice and Sydney Webb (founders of British socialism) had been funded by the Tatas; Jamsetji Jejeebhoy was the largest donor for the Irish famine; The Cama Trust was the largest benefactor in Southern Africa; the Marker family gave unstintingly to Iran. People know who are genuine, who will deliver and who will bullshit. We were brought up in the faith as fighters, we fought for the underdog…It’s good to get a few scars, a few bruises. It’s good to live…”