Asif Zamir is a business consultant and philanthropist born in Guyana, South America, who then relocated to Ontario, Canada with his family in the early 80s. (Hey guys I no longer maintain this page, go to my main site www.asifzamir.com )
Asif started working early in life – around age 6 to help support his family and earn money for school. By age 15, Asif decided to start his own company.
Every time Asif Zamir makes a financial profit, he sponsors mission works such as the digging of fresh water wells, and the building of schools. Asif has participated in 16 major missions projects, and several dozen smaller projects, including involvement with 14 orphanages worldwide (South America, Africa, India and Ukraine).
In the late 90s, Asif participated in an interesting project in Sudan, Africa, buying slaves for the purpose of setting them free. Sudanese slave owners typically charged $100 USD for 1 slave of any age. This endeavor went well at first, and hundreds of slaves were successfully and permanently freed; however, in the end, the project failed because the original slave owners started re-capturing their former slaves once the missionaries were gone, starting the cycle all over again.
Asif Zamir is currently participating in an beta-stage project that involves having churchwomen take to the streets, paying prostitutes to attend local church services so that they can connect with God, people, and social workers who will help them get out of the industry. The project has been successful (picked up by several churches in Canada, the USA, and overseas), but it is not without controversy. “Paying prostitutes to go to church is just sick” says a vocal critic of Asif Zamir’s work.
Jesus commanded that all His followers improve the lives of those in need. He did not say that everyone could be helped, or even that everyone should be helped, but that Christians should make an effort and make helping part of their lifestyle. This can take many forms.
Asif Zamir has cheerfully completed over 3,000 hours (a conservative number) of service work. He volunteers to help and mentor children, teens, young adults and seniors. Asif typically bypasses mainstream charitable projects, moving directly to the controversial and bizarre.
Regarding his faith, Asif Zamir says, “I’m more liberal that most Christians, and I’m certainly not a fundamentalist evangelical, but I strongly believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation, and that apart from Jesus, there is no hope whatsoever. With that said, Jesus has a way of winning over people who are far away from Him and saving them, so you’ll see a lot of people in heaven that you didn’t expect, and you’ll expect to see certain people in heaven but won’t see them because they didn’t make it.”
