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Najah Bazzy
Inkster
Hero Story
Najah has been serving the community her entire life — as a caregiver, nurse, mother, sister, daughter, mentor, advisor, and founder and CEO of Zaman.
In every role she plays she gives, gives, gives. While Najah is often in the public eye much of her work is behind the scenes. Drawing on her experience as a nurse in end-of-life care, whenever there is a tragic situation with a death in the community, she has lent her hand to help families through the grieving process. She has been serving for over 30 years and has impacted too lives many to count.
One of the most transformational moments occurred when Najah was working as a transcultural nurse at a local hospital in Southeast Michigan. She was asked to work with a refugee family who had a newborn with a terminal illness. The family wanted to take the baby home and spend the last few days/weeks with their infant in the comfort of their home. Najah did a home visit to check on the family and when she did, she thought she had pulled up to an abandoned home. The home had nearly nothing in it, including no appliances as the family was extremely poor. The milk for the baby was stored in a fisherman's cooler and they were warming it up on a small gas stove.
Despite their financial challenges, the family had created comfort for the baby in a laundry basket with clean white towels as they shared their time together during the remaining time the baby was alive. Being moved by the experience, Najah sprang into action and called family and friends, asking everyone to provide household items and furniture and appliances that they weren’t using. The rest is history.
That baby in a laundry basket inspired the creation of Zaman International, and its mission to end the cycle of poverty. And it all began with Najah gathering donations out of her van for that family.
Fast forward to today, and Zaman is an international organization that serves women and children helping them to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. It has served more than 450,000 in Southeast Michigan and more than 3 million globally.
Zaman means “time” in a few languages and Najah choose this name to reflect on the mission of the organization and the importance of what we do with our time as stewards on earth.
Najah is a visionary and is pushing herself and Zaman to provide the most dignified care and support to women and children facing extreme poverty.
Najah Bazzy
Inkster
Hero Story
Najah has been serving the community her entire life -- as a caregiver, nurse, mother, sister, daughter, mentor, advisor, and founder and CEO of Zaman.
In every role she plays she gives, gives, gives. While Najah is often in the public eye much of her work is behind the scenes. Drawing on her experience as a nurse in end-of-life care, whenever there is a tragic situation with a death in the community, she has lent her hand to help families through the grieving process. She has been serving for over 30 years and has impacted too lives many to count.
One of the most transformational moments occurred when Najah was working as a transcultural nurse at a local hospital in Southeast Michigan. She was asked to work with a refugee family who had a newborn with a terminal illness. The family wanted to take the baby home and spend the last few days/weeks with their infant in the comfort of their home. Najah did a home visit to check on the family and when she did, she thought she had pulled up to an abandoned home. The home had nearly nothing in it, including no appliances as the family was extremely poor. The milk for the baby was stored in a fisherman's cooler and they were warming it up on a small gas stove.
Despite their financial challenges, the family had created comfort for the baby in a laundry basket with clean white towels as they shared their time together during the remaining time the baby was alive. Being moved by the experience, Najah sprang into action and called family and friends, asking everyone to provide household items and furniture and appliances that they weren’t using. The rest is history.
That baby in a laundry basket inspired the creation of Zaman International, and its mission to end the cycle of poverty. And it all began with Najah gathering donations out of her van for that family.
Fast forward to today, and Zaman is an international organization that serves women and children helping them to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. It has served more than 450,000 in Southeast Michigan and more than 3 million globally.
Zaman means “time” in a few languages and Najah choose this name to reflect on the mission of the organization and the importance of what we do with our time as stewards on earth.
Najah is a visionary and is pushing herself and Zaman to provide the most dignified care and support to women and children facing extreme poverty.