Arman is accessible

"Please feel free to come and see the facilities… the welcome and warmth of the living room, the comfort of the bedroom, the thoughtful fittings in the bathroom, and the common dining area for companionship and family-feeling,” urges What’s On, the newsletter of the Karachi Zarthosti Banu Mandal (KZBM), inviting community members to Arman Home, the recently inaugurated senior citizens home in Avari Colony in Karachi.
After the inaugural jashan on November 15, 2015, Arman Home was opened on December 1 and "can accommodate 14-16 seniors,” clarified KZBM president Kermin Parakh. The facilities will be open to mobile males or females aged over 65, preferably having a guardian in Karachi who can take over in time of medical emergency. "Of course, KZBM will assist,” assures the managing committee.
"We have a nurse on night duty and three Parsis employed on six-hour rotation to manage the daily affairs of the Home,” states Parakh. Monthly contributions vary according to the room size but KZBM is willing to look after persons with meager or no financial means, she specifies.

"With an aging community and children seeking better lives overseas, need for company and assistance with daily living is a need that has been felt by the Zoroastrians of Karachi. Arnawaz Maneck Kakalia felt this very keenly in her lifetime,” notes the What’s On article explaining the genesis of the project. Kakalia’s children Kaikobad and Nargis sought to convert their late parents’ Kakalia bungalow in Avari Colony into Arman Home, a facility for the elders, using the first syllable from their mother’s and father’s first names to perpetuate their memory. After obtaining permission from Byram Avari, chairman of the Karachi Parsi Anjuman Trust Fund, the children entrusted the responsibility to the KZBM managing committee.
Thereafter the KZBM engaged a professional architect to convert the residential bungalow into a living facility for the elders. Besides the KZBM contribution, financial support also came in from the Kothari Trust and the Feroze and Shernaz Bhandara Charitable Trust.
To make the Arman Home inmates feel happy and cared for in Avari Colony where reside the largest number of Karachi Parsis, KZBM urges community members, "Feel free to take a resident along with you when you take your evening walk. Send your children to KZBM’s Sunday Open House to delight the elders, walk in with a movie to show the residents or perhaps play a card game or other.”
The seeds for such a facility had been sown nearly 20 years ago by the then president of KZBM Toxy Cowasjee who had done the initial survey, obtained detailed plans and even commenced fund raising, acknowledged What’s On editor Sunnu Golwalla, reminding the community, "Karachi Zarthoshtis have been blessed with forefathers who built baugs where generations have lived in secure gated localities and three generations of neighbors have grown up together in some cases. This has kept our community close-knit and strong. Today a sizable number of elders are living alone and Arman Home is a small first step to provide them company and care… Arman Home in physical shape is a reality but it can be meaningful only with the involvement and support of our community.”
The new managing committee of KZBM elected on November 25, 2015 include president Parakh, vice president Dr Perinbanoo Virji, honorary secretaries Farahnaz Marker and Alla Rustomji, honorary treasurer Roshan Mehri, chairpersons Spenta Khambatta (welfare), Nilofer Noshirwani (rehabilitation), Dr Bakhtaver Rabadi (medical), Meher Cawasji (education), Mitra Irani (child chapter), Dilshad Irani (program), and members Zarin Mobed, Shahnaz Sethna and Zenia Anklesaria.