Azim Khamisa, the Tariq Khamisa Foundation

“SUSTAINED GOODWILL creates friendship. Sustained friendship creates trust. Sustained trust creates empathy. Sustained empathy creates compassion. Sustained compassion creates peace,” states Azim Khamisa, articulating his Peace Formula.

- MARIA OKORN

Azim is a living example of how goodwill can lead, eventually, to peace: He found it in his heart to forgive the person who murdered his son.

After extending this extraordinary act of forgiveness, Azim began a journey to promote the power of compassion, forgiveness, and restorative justice. He established the Tariq Khamisa Foundation after his 20-year-old son, Tariq, was shot by 14-year-old Tony Hicks in 1995. Azim explains that through the foundation, “I emphasize the importance of accountability, of empathy, of compassion, of forgiveness, of peacemaking and peacebuilding as cornerstones of becoming a committed nonviolent leader.”

Tony’s grandfather, Ples Felix, quickly joined Azim in his efforts. “The one thing we can both do is make sure other young souls do not end up dead like Tariq, or in prison-like Tony,” Ples vows. The two men have given over 1,000 presentations worldwide, mostly in schools. Granted parole in 2018, Tony himself is now an active representative for the foundation.