Dr Rajiv Shah, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development who happens to be the senior-most Indian American Obama administration official, was clearly the rock star for the 2,500 plus physicians at the convention of the Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin in Washington, DC.
Shah was mobbed by the physicians, their spouses and the media at the recent event with everyone wanting to exchange a few words with him, pose for pictures with him and congratulate him on his recent high-profile activities in Haiti and Afghanistan.
Obviously, his earlier appreciation of AAPI in his remarks endeared him to the audience who cheered lustily when he recalled AAPI's assistance to an organisation he had formed more than two decades ago with his then soon-to-be wife Shivam Mallick Shah. The organisation was called Project Impact and it tried to promote and empower a rising second generation of politically active and socially conscious Indian Americans with internships and a mentoring programme.
Shah pointed out, "AAPI's work to support health here in the United States and especially in India, your work to encourage Indian-American physicians to go and volunteer, your ability to create clinics and to send equipment and to provide services and expertise makes a tremendous difference -- and it serves as a model of what the Indian Diaspora can do. And it inspires others to do more."
He recalled, "When I was in college, I had the chance to work with a group of Indian physicians who were serving in a development programme in a rural community in south India. And having just left the University of Michigan and the lovely city of Ann Arbor, for those of you that are from there or have gone there, and going to a place called the Behar Hills in south India somewhere between Bengaluru and Mysore to an environment where people literally lived off of less than a dollar a day, to get by they foraged in forest communities, and almost everybody was malnourished, it was a level of poverty and suffering that I simply had never been exposed to before.
"But what I saw there was that a group of physicians, who went in to provide TB therapy and treat leprosy and epilepsy and a range of other diseases, were also able to create a development programme that allowed women to produce products for export, whether it was baskets or honey or candles. And over time, slowly they built the trust of that community, they stayed committed to that community and they saw that community move itself out of poverty."
Shah acknowledged that, "I was only there for a brief period, about four to six months, but it was enough to plant in me a sense that when we put our minds together and when we come together to resolve the extreme poverty that exists in this world, that we can be successful."
"And in that context, I really appreciate what AAPI has been doing to create that sense of possibility amongst so many of you in this room," he said.
Finally, Shah said, "I'd like to thank AAPI for one other thing: When I returned from that experience -- and at the time, Shivam and I were just dating -- we had this strong belief that the Indian-American community in this country was a proud, capable, educated and very talented group, and a group that had a lot to offer to communities in America, to communities in India, to the American political process, and should do more to engage more deeply in the policy debate and the community service opportunities of our time."
"So we created an organisation called Project Impact for South Asian Americans. And like so many post-college efforts, we got by doing things that you do to establish a new organisation with almost no resources. One of our first grants came from AAPI in the form of a $5,000 commitment and with that commitment we created a mentoring programme. We were in Philadelphia -- I was in medical school -- and we created a small program that brought sixth and seventh-grade Indian American students from around Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York to Washington to walk around Capitol Hill and meet with legislators, to tour the city and see the institutions of power, and to really be inspired about the potential to serve."
Shah declared, "Today there are more than 20 Indian-American appointees in the Obama sdministration, more than any previous administration. There are eight candidates for national or statewide office that are currently running in this cycle from both parties."
"And perhaps more than anything, I can sit here with members of this organisation and look out at a room with 1500 or 2000 people who have come together to express a basic idea: that this is a community that has benefited a lot from being in this country, that has been founded by immigrants who often made tremendous sacrifices to come here to plant seeds in a new environment, to raise their children in a new and different culture, and to do it all for the sense of opportunity. And now, to see that community be so organised and so capable of leadership and of giving back, and to see this community be able to participate in the relief effort of Haiti, in the international health effort in India and in the political process here in the United States is very, very inspiring."
"So I just want to say thank you for having me, along with a humanitarian that we all deeply, deeply respect. Please continue to demonstrate that this is a community that has a lot to give back, and we will stand with you."
