Students receive humanitarian award

By Anand Shah
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

The three students honored with the Charles E. Young
Humanitarian Awards Tuesday seemed to have the same reaction:
“Who, me?”

Emile Sharifi, Abigail Valencia, and Sherry Yafai ““ all
lauded by Chancellor Albert Carnesale for their extensive community
work ““ attested that hundreds of other people deserve an
equal amount of praise.

But the afternoon was a chance for UCLA to shine a spotlight on
the students, whom Carnesale called the “most outstanding
examples of the altruistic spirit that runs through
campus.”

“It’s not really a matter of us honoring
them,” Carnesale said. “They honor UCLA.”

The recipients either did medical work or assisted homeless
individuals.

Sharifi’s brief acceptance speech belied his long-standing
commitment to the University Muslim Medical Association Free
Clinic, where he led a fundraising campaign to prevent the clinic
from being shut down. His efforts garnered $300,000 for the
clinic.

Sharifi, who oversees the clinic’s volunteers, also
recruited the largest group of volunteers in the clinic’s
history.

“In all my years as a physician I have not seen the same
altruistic display of service my colleagues as I have seen in
Emile,” said A.K. Jaffer, a medical doctor and clinic
sponsor, in a statement.

Sharifi shied away from such praise.

“I feel like I’m being given way too much
credit,” said Sharifi, a fourth-year European studies
student. “The number of people (running the clinic) is
mind-boggling.”

He said there’s a fine line between helping others and
condescending to them, but said the clinic succeeds in its
mission.

“We try to give them service with dignity,” he said.
“Some people say that they get better service than they would
at the county hospital.”

Still, as Carnesale pointed out, it’s difficult balancing
community work with academics and a social life.

“It was really bad the first quarter, especially when
MCATs came around,” Sharifi said. “But once you get a
feel for the job, it makes it easier.”

Valencia, a fourth-year applied math student, knows the feeling.
For the past four years, she has spent her Saturdays in various
roles at the Good Shepherd Center, a homeless shelter for women and
children in downtown Los Angeles.

“Thanks Mom and Dad for understanding that this is why I
couldn’t come home on the weekends,” Valencia said
jokingly as she accepted her award.

Valencia has also been a mentor for Samahang Pilipino and the
Pilipino Recruitment and Enrichment Project and has coached
athletes for the Special Olympics.

But she said she gained the most fulfillment when she started
teaching a computer class at the Hawkes transitional residence,
housed in Good Shepherd.

In fact, Valencia helped create the lab, getting individuals to
volunteer their computer parts and expertise to the center.

“The truth is, I don’t consider what I do to be
volunteer work,” she said. “I consider it visiting
friends, and the people who volunteer with me feel the same
way.”

She said she doesn’t work with a homogenous,
easy-to-categorize group of women.

“People are always surprised when I describe the women
““ they are teachers, college graduates, Ph.Ds,” she
said. “They are people like our mothers and sisters, people
who remind us of ourselves.”

She recalls the first time she went to the shelter ““ and
how that experience hooked her to the work.

She recalled working with a 75-year-old woman named Fernanda,
who needed help creating a résumé.

“She reminded me of my grandma, and I couldn’t
imagine her taking a minimum-wage job,” she said.

Like Valencia, Yafai spent a good chunk of her undergraduate
career working with homeless people. While working with the West
Hollywood Food Coalition, she extended her work by establishing a
mobile clinic to address the medical, dental and social needs of
the homeless population.

The treatment process includes a social evaluation, physical
examination and a final diagnosis. Students from the medical
school, public policy school and undergraduate schools are involved
in the project.

“It’s not anything special, anything hard ““
just some time, some care,” she said of volunteering.

She said the clinic’s clients are pleased with the little
things the volunteers do.

“One day, all I did was see a client, and he needed his
shoe repaired. I fixed his shoe, cleaned his glasses, and his smile
was more than any thank you,” she said.

Students nominate themselves for these awards. This year,
between 15 and 20 students applied, said Jerry Mann, ASUCLA student
support services and student union director.

He said a diverse group of people judges the applications to
distinguish the sincere volunteers from the resume-builders.

“If someone’s trying to pull a snow job ““ if
they’re long on words and short on substance ““
we’ll know that,” he said.

The award was formerly called the Chancellor’s
Humanitarian Award. It recognizes service in any field, including
aid to the hungry, homeless or sick; protection of the environment;
work for the elimination of cruelty or justice; and efforts for the
resolution of community or national conflict.