Our Story

The Amin Foundation exists because of three people: Basir Amin, Nasrin Amin and Afrid Haider. In August 2022, Basir and his brother-in-law Afrid drowned. In September 2022, Basir's sister Nasrin also died. Their family started this foundation in their memory, so that more families can stay safe in the water, and so that no family facing this kind of loss has to look for help alone.

Basir, Nasrin and Afrid

Basir Amin was 18. Nasrin Amin, his sister, was 21. Afrid Haider, Basir's brother-in-law, was 34.

They were loved, and they are missed every day. We keep the private details of those weeks within the family. This page is about what came next.

What the family set out to do

In a statement dated September 4, 2022, the Amin family wrote down what they wanted the foundation to do:

“to raise awareness around water safety education and the need for proper training and equipment for emergency response personnel. The organization also strives to provide scholarships for swimming lessons to underserved communities and lend emotional support to families dealing with drowning-related loss.”

The statement names four pillars: water safety education, swimming lessons, creating awareness, and raising funds for training and equipment for emergency response teams. It also names the families the work is for:

“Lack of water safety/swimming education is rampant in the desi community as well as in other minority communities in the United States.”

The Amin family is Bangladeshi-American, from Queens, New York. Two days after that statement, on September 6, 2022, the foundation's papers were filed with the New York State Department of State in Queens County (public record (opens in a new tab)).

A brother's promise

The founder, Faruque Amin, is Basir and Nasrin's eldest brother. That is why siblings run through this website alongside water safety.

The Dougy Center, a national grief center for children and families, describes a sibling's death as a “before-and-after” experience (opens in a new tab) that changes a child's life. It is also not rare: in two large U.S. studies, the death of a brother or sister affected 5% to 8% of children who had siblings (Fletcher and colleagues, Demography, 2013 (opens in a new tab)). Grieving brothers and sisters deserve support of their own. So we write for siblings too:

• for brothers and sisters who want to stay close while they can, in Siblings: Bonds That Last;
• for anyone who has lost a brother or sister, in losing a sibling;
• and for families after a drowning, in Grief, Loss and Healing.

Faruque's memoir, Enduring Bonds, is about siblings and sibling loss. It is published by Starling Publishing LLC and is in production. Its afterword is about water safety, and its QR codes open pages on this site. The Enduring Bonds companion page gathers them in one place.

Carrying their names forward

Our tagline is Every life is worth saving. We try to honor Basir, Nasrin and Afrid with work that is useful, accurate and kind:

• free water-safety guides, tools and printables for families, schools and communities, with every fact sourced;
• help finding swimming lessons, for children and for adults who never had the chance to learn;
• shareable resources for desi, Bangladeshi-American and other communities;
• clear information about what emergency responders need to do water rescue safely;
• and support for families after a loss.

Some of this is ready today. Some of it, like swim-lesson scholarships, is still a goal. Our programs page is honest about which is which.

What you can do today

• Tell a brother or sister what they mean to you. It can be a text, a call or a letter. Say it while you can has ideas.
• Make your family's water-safety plan. It takes a few minutes with the free family water-safety plan.
• Help someone learn to swim. Start with how to find swim lessons, for a child or for yourself.
• If you are grieving, find free support for families and siblings, or call or text 988.
• Share this page with someone who would want to know why this work matters.