Najia Hamid, Executive Director/Founder: 

Najia Hamid was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and has lived in the US for over 20 years. Her past experiences include working with the United Nations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and volunteering with VISTA in Fremont. It was her experiences working with VISTA that exposed her to the difficulties that many seniors in the Bay Area Afghan community were facing. In an effort to help them, she founded the Afghan Elderly Association in 1995 as a grassroots organization. It was run on a volunteer basis for a number of years, until it was given nonprofit status in 1998. Mrs. Hamid is now the Executive Director of the AEA which serves as a critical resource for the Afghan community.

Arezo Sayid, Program Assistant:

Arezo Sayid received her bachelor’s degree in International Studies, Concentration in Global Politics and Societies along with a Minor in Middle Eastern Studies at the University Of San Francisco, CA. Her hard work at USF made her a President's Ambassador for Education and provide great leadership within her academic community. As a Health Policy intern with Childern's Defense Fund she helped out with families connecting them to healthcare services and other medical needs while doing research on Health Policy. Her passion lies with children and helping those in need for a better safe healthy living. Her last year at USF, she attended a study abroad to Israel-Palestine where she studied conflict management and experiencing first-hand poverty and hardhip. Her passion to help the Afghan community brought her to the Afghan Elderly Asscociation as a Program Assistant. While at AEA she accomplished of becoming a Community Ambassador for Seniors Program given by the City of Fremont, Ca.