Four Indians have been selected for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s youth leadership programme, Faiths Act Fellowship, the first time that the country finds representation among 30 fellows.
The year-long fellowship pairs each young person with someone of another faith to undertake practical work in local communities to help tackle global poverty. These youngsters will be tasked with building understanding between different religious communities by mobilising them around the common cause of eradicating deaths from malaria, which this year alone caused more than 750,000 unnecessary deaths.
The four Indian Fellows will work together in interfaith pairs with two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in New Delhi for the next year.
Aparajita Bharti, a 21-year-old Buddhist from Vikas Puri is going to be paired with Sarmistha Pattanayak, a 24-year-old Hindu from Bhubaneswar. Ayesha Nusrat, a 22-year-old Muslim from New Delhi will be linked with Rohit S, a 21-year-old Hindu from Bangalore. They will receive a month of training in London before starting their year-long interfaith service.
