Zerbanoo Gifford - Early Life

Early Life

Zerbanoo was born in India, the eldest daughter of Bailey Irani, the founder President of the World Zoroastrians Organisation, and Kitty Mazda, who studied child development with the educationalist, Madame Montessori. She was brought up in London, where her parents ran a hotel, and attended Roedean School, near Brighton.

Zerbanoo’s charity work began when she was six years old. After seeing children in need in the Indian city of Pune, Zerbanoo returned to London, made flags and sold them to passers-by for a penny each; she raised ten pounds, which she sent to the then Indian Prime Minister Pandit Nehru. The Prime Minister sent Zerbanoo a thank you letter stating that if all little girls in London were like her, there would be fewer poor children in Poona (Pune).Years later, Zerbanoo would be honoured with the Nehru Centenary Award for her work championing the rights of women, children and minorities internationally.

Read more about this topic:  Zerbanoo Gifford

Famous quotes containing the words early life, early and/or life:

    ... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.
    George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)

    It is so very late that we
    May call it early by and by. Good night.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    The advantage in education is always with those children who slip up into life without being objects of notice.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)