World Heritage Cultural Center is giving out Five Global Appreciation World Of Colors Awards to Five oustanding Citizens of the World each  year. 

For our first five awards to be given out in 2010 at the World Of Colors Concert, World Heritage Cultural Center is proud to announce the honorees below.

2010 Awards Sponsored by
State Farm Insurance

Zolaykha Sherzad
The centerpiece of Zarif Design's studio in Kabul is not, as one would imagine, the racks of brilliant-hued clothing samples leaning against the simple white walls. Nor is it the massive carved-wood mirror that dominates one side of the fitting room. The centerpiece is a low coffee table fashioned out of an antique door, adorned with a steaming pot of green tea, handmade mugs and matching turquoise-colored bowls filled with raisins and pistachios—the epitome of Afghan hospitality. It is here that Zolaykha Sherzad, the designer behind the label's hand-tailored coats and dresses, greets her clients. In Afghanistan, tradition holds that no business can be conducted without a preliminary conversation over tea, and while tradition does not define Sherzad's work, it is her touchstone.

The studio, on a quiet street just off one of the capital's major thoroughfares, exudes the timeless exoticism of a Silk Road bazaar. Bolts of handwoven ikat silks from Uzbekistan spill from cabinets. Silver buttons, cast from antique coins bearing Greek and Persian inscriptions, fill crockery bowls. The walls are decorated with samples of the delicate needlework of Afghanistan's Kuchi nomads. A half-finished blazer, made from fabric with the iconic green, white and purple stripes of the traditional cloak that transformed President Hamid Karzai into an international fashion darling in 2002, is draped over a stool. The crisp structure and clean lines of the jacket betray Sherzad's architectural background (she earned a master's degree in architecture at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, in Switzerland); the narrow waist and all-but-invisible dart work are evidence of her degree in fashion design from New York City's Fashion Institute of Technology.

"I am a bridge," says Sherzad, 38, a stunning, slim brunette with large, dark eyes, who could easily be a model. " Read more





Meera Teresa Gandhi
The Giving Back Foundation is the Vehicle that Mrs Gandhi heads up with offices in Hong Kong, NYC, Mumbai and London.

1. Committed Humanitarian and Business Woman:
CEO of The Giving Back Foundation, Mrs. Gandhi is a well known international community leader, committed humanitarian and philanthropist dedicated to solutions to human suffering and deprivation around the globe. In February of 2010, she has completed the film "Giving Back" that shows how many people are giving back to humanity in different ways. The film, set in four continents, is a global journey that begins in the words of Former US first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, When we cease to give, we begin to die."

Meera's current work, a film called "Giving Back" The Film: features Celebrity and global rights activist, Singer Bono, human rights activist and lawyer and daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Cherie Blair, Lawyer and advocate of women's advancement through education and wife of former Prime Minister of the UK, Tony Blair, Bollywood Producer Viveck Vaswani, Clodagh, Homayra Sellier, Charles and Randy Fisher, Vikram Gandhi, David Harilela, Hillary Clinton through the EleanorRoosevelt Val Kill photo journey and a host of well known faces from around the world. The key messages of her productions are uplifting and basically an extension of her deep beliefs in life for humanity and the idea of each human giving bcak something to another human.

Noted for her motto. Meera says "We are to the universe only as much as we can give back to it."

These values have won her many friends and admirers alike who are always happy to be aligned with any cause or project that Meera Gandhi is currently associated with.
2. Leadership and Values

Meera has been on the boards of FERI ( The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute) , ERVK, (The Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill), Safety Net (for battered women), Pratham ( education for street children of India), Children's Hope (underprivileged children in NY), and was also Co-Chairman of the US Committee for UWC with HRH Pavlos and (HRH Queen Noor of Jordan who is the patron of the organization).

While hosting many charitable events at her New York residence, Meera has opened her home to a long list of world leaders that include the Hon. Hillary Clinton, The Hon.Cherie Blair, Rahul Gandhi , Kerry Kennedy, Robert Kennedy Jr., Kathleen Kennedy, Anna Roosevelt ( granddaughter of Eleanor Roosevelt) and numerous literary, academic and entertainment personalities like Gabriel Byrne, Phylicia Rashad, Glen Close, Judith Light, Janet League Katzen, Dev Anand, Singer Asha Bhosale, Zakir Hussein, Mira Nair, Waheeda Rehman, the late Ismail Merchant, Ruth Westheimer, CNN's Anderson Cooper, Mike Wallace, historian Arthur Sclessinger and the Galbraith Family to name a few.
Read more




Nnimmo Bassey.  It wasn't an oil spill that made Nnimmo Bassey an environmentalist. It was a massacre — the 1990 assault by Nigeria's armed forces on the village of Umuechem, where residents of the oil-rich Niger Delta had accused the Shell Petroleum Development Company of environmental degradation and economic neglect. In two days of violence, 80 people died and nearly 500 houses were destroyed. "We woke up from a sleep and ... everything was collapsing around us," says Bassey, 51, head of Environmental Rights Action, the Nigerian chapter of Friends of the Earth.

The deaths convinced Bassey and his colleagues that they needed to broaden their efforts. "We realized that if people don't have a safe environment to live in, then they don't have literally any other rights," he says.

The petroleum wealth of the Niger Delta runs from the ground into government coffers and the accounts of foreign oil majors, leaving the region one of the poorest in the world. Its schools are crumbling. Its hospitals often lack doors — never mind modern equipment. Electricity, drinking water and employment are all in short supply. The oil itself doesn't always flow smoothly. Spills are common, all the more so because thieves tap into pipelines and angry villagers prevent infrastructure maintenance. If oil catches fire, it can burn for days. Bassey's group documents all these consequences and educates people about their rights. "Oil has been the destruction of the Nigerian economy," says Bassey. "It destroys the relation between the people and the state."

In a country where 85% of government revenues rely on oil money, Bassey's positions often pit him against the authorities. Under the dictatorship of the 1990s, he was stripped of his travel papers and detained without trial several times. As the battle over Nigeria's oil wealth has turned into full-blown militancy, he has found himself on the same side as the armed rebels who have taken on the now democratic government in Abuja. While Bassey disagrees with the militants' tactics — kidnapping of oil workers, attacks on infrastructure, clashes with the military — he stops short of condemning them. "Any society that uses violence against its own people will eventually have a segment that stands up against it." Read more







Olivia Bouler. Eleven years old and willing to help is how she described herself to the Audubon Society when she contacted them about the tragedy in the Gulf. Aspiring ornithologist, artist, and saxophone player, Olivia wept when she heard about the oil spill in the Gulf Coast, a place where she spent many vacations with her cousins and grandparents who live in Louisiana and Alabama. Knowing birds were going to suffer, she had to take action. Inspired by her hero James Audubon, Olivia wrote to the Audubon Society about her fundraising idea, using her talent as an artist to give bird drawings to those who donated to wildlife recovery efforts. To date, Olivia has drawn at least 100 different species of birds in 400 original drawings.

The response has been incredible:
• Over $175,000 raised for organizations helping wildlife in the Gulf region
• Over 28,000 people have signed up for her Facebook fan page
• Over 140,000,000 impressions of her AOL Artist Page
• She has received many fan letters, including one from former President Clinton
• An exhibition/ silent auction of 25 of her drawings is taking place at The Cole Art Center in Texas (http://www.finearts.sfasu.edu/sites/gulf.php)

Her story has appeared on many media outlets including
• CNN, The Today Show, Larry King Live, People Magazine, The Mobile Press Register, The Guardian (UK), BBC radio, AOL News, Newsday, CBC, Independent, USA Today, and international news outlets.
• CBS Evening News with Katie Couric: Watch Video
• http://923now.radio.com/2010/06/23/rollin-with-olivia-bouler/
• She even had the honor of ringing the closing bell at the NYSE
The family went to Washington DC to express concerns over bird habitat and to support clean energy legislation and met with Congressman Waxman (CA), Congressman Engel (NY), Congressman Israel (NY), Senator Schumer (NY), Senator Gillibrand (NY) as well as Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar and Carol Browner, director of President Obama’s committee on Energy and Climate Change.


RANDY & CHARLES FISHER  Published 50 Hip-Hop Books on some of the top artists in the world to promote Literacy, Gun & Gang Violence Prevention. Created the Hip-Hop 4 Peace Program in recognition of slain Hip-Hop Icon Jam Master J; helped develop Operaton SNUG to fight Global Gun & Gang Violence with the United Nations and founded the 9/11 Project 4 Universal Peace. They have also worked with the United Nations for many years.
http://www.hhsyc.org/