What We Do

For more than 30 years the Trust has contributed to groups that support people with intellectual and physical disabilities, including the Pakistan-based Mehnaz Fatima Foundation as well as the U.S.-based Global Down Syndrome Foundation, Helen Keller International, Kennedy School/Catholic Charities and L’Arche of Greater Washington D.C.

Founded in 1993 by Azizali and Sakin Mohammed, the trust has directed most of its donations to the Mehnaz Fatima Foundation, an NGO which operates an inclusive school in the high mountain region of Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan that focuses on children with intellectual and physical disabilities. 

The school, which has nearly 900 students of which 11 percent are children with special needs, serves children from the age of 3 through high school and has a rehabilitation center with treatment and specially designed classes for children who need more help.

The school is named for Mehnaz Fatima ‘Mini” Mohammed, Azizali and Sakin Mohammed’s youngest child, who was born with Down Syndrome. Mini grew into a high-functioning person who held a variety of jobs, could read and write, spoke English, some Urdu and a smattering of Spanish and often surprised and delighted with her wit, charm and clarity.

Through the Zauqi Trust’s donations to a wide range of charities, the Mohammed Family has sought to help people with physical and intellectual disabilities live lives of greater happiness, engagement and integration into their communities.