SARAH Francis, at the age of 15, will be the youngest of a group of 14 remarkable people who will receive special awards from the British Government’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Right Honourable Gordon Brown. He will present each of the winners with a Beacon Prize, in recognition of their outstanding acts of philanthropy and generosity, in a prestigious ceremony to be held at his official residence of 11 Downing Street in January 2004. At the occasion, he will also announce an overall winner out of the 14 who will receive a cheque for 20,000 Pounds Sterling.
Sarah will be crowned “Young Philanthropist” by the Beacon Fellowship alongside multi-millionaire environmental campaigner Zac Goldsmith, aged 28, son of the late Sir James Goldsmith, and younger brother of Jemima Khan. Others receiving awards that day include 88-year-old John Profumo MBE, a former Minister of War in the British Government; Niall Quinn, internationally renowned football star with the Republic of Ireland, and several Lords, Dames and Professors, as well as a posthumous award to one of the wealthiest men of all time, the legendary Sir J. Paul Getty.
Founder of the Beacon prizes, businessman David Charters, has highlighted the qualities which led to his eminent panel of judges selecting these 14 as standing out from the crowd, in a nation of some 60 million people. “One of the common factors is almost a quality of unreasonableness, in the sense that there are individuals who are faced with big problems, enormous problems — and they could easily say, ‘This is too big for any one person to tackle’... but instead of shrugging their shoulders and walking away, they’re getting involved, and they’re going the extra mile,” he said, when interviewed for Zee TV’s 7 Days, broadcast on Nov 9, 2003.
His words describe Sarah Francis very well: Everything about her seems “unreasonable”, in the most positive of senses. As a girl in a male-dominated world, as a youngster on an earth ruled by age and experience, as an Asian in Britain and as a Pakistani, Sarah is, in almost every imaginable way, in the minority! She could have had a million excuses for giving up in the face of the challenges that confronted her, and yet she chose to give her all for the sake of suffering people, many of whom will never know what she did on their behalf, and will never have the opportunity to show her their gratitude. Entrepreneur and philanthropist Ram Gidoomal, one of the Beacon judges, put his finger on it when he pointed out the cross-cultural aspects to philanthropy: from this perspective, a young Pakistani-British girl’s apparently unreasonable decision to champion the cause of Afghan refugees has lifted her out of the ordinary, after she presented a cheque for over 12,000 Pounds Sterling to President Pervez Musharraf for his Afghan Relief Fund at the Royal Albert Hall this June.
Lord Puttnam, one of the Beacon judges and a renowned Hollywood film director with 24 honorary Masters degrees to his name, has built his reputation by creating films with a conscience. He, more than most, must have been aware of the epic and dramatic nature of Sarah’s decisions, and of the integrity and courage which sets her apart from a generation better known for its self-absorption and individualistic narcissism. Another giant on the judging panel is the (Retd) Hon Lord Deedes, a former Parliamentary Secretary under Winston Churchill, and recently voted “Journalist of the Century” for his work with the Daily Telegraph, UK.
Sarah will be following in illustrious footsteps when she goes to Downing Street, on the strength of the Quaid’s words: “Unity, Faith, Discipline”, now inextricably linked with Sarah’s calls for world peace and compassion towards the poor and needy, through her song, Voice of Freedom, which incorporates a live 1948 recording of the Quaid’s voice.
From one perspective, Sarah’s very ordinariness compared with her rich and famous co-winners marks her out as a people’s champion. However, as is demonstrated by her list of achievements, the teenager has lifted the esteem in which the entire nation of Pakistan is held in the UK, and has been accepted and embraced as a positive role model for all British youth, not just those of Asian origin.
In 2002, Sarah was made a special case nomination for “Pride of Performance” for boosting Pakistan’s positive image in the Western world.
SARAH Francis, at the age of 15, will be the youngest of a group of 14 remarkable people who will receive special awards from the British Government’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Right Honourable Gordon Brown. He will present each of the winners with a Beacon Prize, in recognition of their outstanding acts of philanthropy and generosity, in a prestigious ceremony to be held at his official residence of 11 Downing Street in January 2004. At the occasion, he will also announce an overall winner out of the 14 who will receive a cheque for 20,000 Pounds Sterling.
