“Chilly Sunrise on Mill Pond,” by Rifat Zaidi. (Courtesy image)
Now through Saturday, Feb. 25, Skidompha Library in Damariscotta is pleased to host an exhibition of photographs by Newcastle surgeon, philanthropist, and amateur photographer, Dr. Rifat Zaidi.
The metal prints are available for purchase and all proceeds from sales will go to fund one of two schools Zaidi helped found in Basti Awan, Pakistan in 2010.
Zaidi was born and raised in Pakistan where he completed his early medical education before going on to train in orthopedic surgery in the United Kingdom and the United States. Since 2002, he has been in practice as a general orthopedic surgeon at LincolnHealth’s Miles Campus in Damariscotta.
Zaidi is an active member of his alumni charitable organization, Rawalpindi Medical College Overseas Foundation, through which he, along with the generous donors from Maine, assisted in setting up two medical relief missions to Pakistan after the devastating earthquake there in 2005.
In 2010, after the great monsoon flooded the village in Basti Awan, the organization adopted the village, fundraising and eventually replacing 322 mud homes with more permanent housing units. Learning there was no school to educate girls in the village, the foundation built two schools for the purpose. Zaidi is the director of one of those schools, working from his home in Newcastle.
Photography has always been Zaidi’s passion, along with golf and cooking, and he has dedicated his photography to fundraising for the school. Proceeds from a previous exhibition were used to help set up a computer lab at the school.
For more information, go to rifatzaidi.com.
Located at 184 Main St., in Damariscotta, Skidompha Public Library is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call 887-0919, email info@skidompha.org, or go to skidompha.org.
“Valentine bouquet,” by Rifat Zaidi (Courtesy image)
