Hand In Hand: Imran’s Selfless Passions for Education and Foster Care.
Imran lives his life with determination and purpose. As a high school math teacher, he is driven by his desire to promote both academic success and personal wholeness in the students he teaches. And as if caring for and investing in youth every weekday isn't enough, Imran is also a single foster dad, currently caring for two boys.
His passion for serving and mentoring vulnerable kids shines through in the way he has structured his life and his thoughtful perspectives on teaching and foster care. These two realms of education and foster care, Imran says, go “hand in hand.”
In the classroom, Imran operates with compassion for his students and a lighthearted silliness, creating an atmosphere of positivity. “It’s hard not to smile when I’m around,” he explained. Through joking and implementing humor in his teaching style, Imran strives to uplift and encourage students while commending to them the importance of taking their education seriously. There is also a deeply personal connection that Imran feels with many of his students, especially when he knows that they are lacking a father figure in their lives. Having lost his own father at a young age, he empathizes with them and understands the kind of support they often need. With his work as a foster parent also in mind, Imran remembers that “a lot of these boys don’t have that father figure around.” When students walk into his classroom, he can often see on their faces that they are struggling and without anyone to turn to for guidance and help. He says, “When I teach, I don’t want anyone to feel that way.”
As if overflowing, Imran’s passion for these kids has spilled over into his home life as well. He has dedicated his free time to caring for vulnerable children. He explained that he decided to take on fostering after realizing that there was “no real purpose” when he would return home after the school day. He admitted that foster care was “a little crazy” when he first began. The administrative, logistical, and bureaucratic aspects of the foster care system caught him by surprise in some ways. “There were a lot of things I didn't expect that took me for a spin,” he said. But Imran learned the ins and outs of the system before long, and he hasn’t slowed down since. His philosophy centers on his desire to prepare the kids well for life after foster care. He views his primary responsibility as “making sure that no matter what happens, [he] gives them every opportunity to survive out there.”
Imran emphasized the importance of his care community in the lives of his foster children. In addition to taking some of the burden off of him through providing meals, occasional child care, and other forms of support, the care community from Northland Church makes an impact by their loving presence in the boys’ lives. “They’ll sit and talk with us,” he said, “and the boys love it.”
With a mind for education and a heart to set the boys up for life success, Imran explained that he sees this time socializing with the care community as an opportunity for the kids to learn valuable social skills. He said, “They love that extra presence in the house.”
As a Muslim man, Imran’s hospitality and acceptance of support from a Christian church is striking. His attitude reflects a selfless heart that is focused on the wellbeing of the vulnerable kids he is caring for. He resists the all too common pressure to distance ourselves from those who are different from us, instead choosing to embrace unity for the sake of the children in his home.
Both inside and outside of the classroom, Imran makes an undeniable impact in the lives of countless vulnerable children. He is driven by his determination to ensure that as many kids as possible are prepared well for their life ahead. His advice to anyone wondering how they can help is a perfect representation of his own philosophy of service: “Always keep your heart open.”