Because she joined the Museum staff during the week of a devastating cyclone in Bangladesh that killed many thousands of people, Akbar's first activity was to immediately organize a fund raiser featuring a sitar concert.
Her idea began in 1991, when she invited "South Asian women and girls living in London to visit the museum's Nehru Gallery of Indian Art.
For many of the women, the subsequent tour of the gallery -- with talks in Bengali, Urdu, Hindi, Gujarati and Punjabi -- was their first museum experience.
"[4] Project participants were asked to craft 10-by-4-foot panels for a nomadic tent telling "new, culturally diverse stories through traditional needlework and innovative techniques."
[3][4] In 1996, Akbar was made a member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her accomplishments in the South Asian communities of London.