Educate a Girl in Pakistan & Give Her a Future

Educate a Girl programme has educated 1000 girls in Karachi, Pakistan, through its project Educate a Girl in Pakistan and Give her a future.

While we are fundraising for Educate a Girl Lahore, we are in the second phase of the Karachi programme for which we have partnered with the British Council and British libraries and will have monthly sessions and trainings for our Educate a Girl alumni in Karachi.

Our first session was in January which was an open mic night where we provided a platform for our girls to share their thoughts, ideas and feelings which we believe helped in building their confidence. Through this we were able to strengthen the bond between our alumni as well which definitely will help them because they got people to share their feelings with and those people will never judge them as that's one of the main drawback of the society or culture in Pakistan that girls never share their feelings just because of ' what others will think'.

Sara, who is an Educate a Girl scholarq in Karachi was one of the attendees of the first session and shared her story that how this programme gave her a hope. Sara has two more sisters and they lost her father in an accident some years Back. Sara shared how her life and her sisters lives changed after that. When there was no source of income at home and Sara had to stop her education as she had no money to pay for her education and how much she wanted to study. She explained how the Educate a Girl programme motivated her to do something so she could help her family and especially her sisters as she didn't wanted her sisters to experience the same things she did. Being the elder sister, she made it her responsibility that her sisters will complete their education and she'll help as much as she could and that's when she started writing as a freelance and now from last 7 months, Sara is doing a job. Her sisters are doing graduation and Sara just shared that she pays all their fees and she's now planning to get enrolled in masters.

All the girls present were very much motivated by Sara's story and they could relate to her feelings as many of them also had some similar experiences. We were very happy to see and know how these girls are bringing positivity in each other’s' lives.

There were some girls who just shared some poetry which they really like and some girls sang their favorite songs as many were shy but most always wanted to speak in front of an audience and this was the best chance.

We are planning for the next session. Every month, there will be a session and we as always will try our best to make the session much more amazing. As we have completed the training of 1000 girls in Karachi, we are currently educating 1000 girls in lahore but for that we need help from our wonderful donors.

It was in 2011 that the United Nations General Assembly declared 11th October as the International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC) with the aim to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges that girls face around the world. Basically, this day focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights. And recently, to commemorate International Day of the Girl, Educate a Girl (EAG), celebrated the completion of the education of 1000 vocational scholarships funded for deserving girls in Karachi in order to help them become journalists and find jobs as well. 

The celebration, hosted by Lincoln’s Corner, Pakistan American Cultural Centre (PACC), included training modules by sculptor Amin Gulgee, designer Deepak Perwani, news anchor Nadia Naqi, Imran Zakir (Bureau Chief (Khi), Pakistan International Press Agency), Social Development Professional Bilquis Rehman, grooming expert Khadija Chagani of Pivot Point, Honorary Consul General of Finland Sadia Khan, fashion journalist Zurain Imam and news anchors Sana Hashmi and Jaweria Ali. 

At the event, Tara Uzra Dawood, Founderr –Educate a Girl said, “I am proud to announce that some girls have become news anchors, several girls have newspaper columns, some now work at TV channels, and eight girls have funded the scholarship of other girls out of their first ever pay cheque. EAG winner Jaweria Ali has funded two scholarships including Ghanwa Akram, our 1000th winner!”

It’s all because of the wonderful donors who made this happen and on behalf of Educate a Girl and all these 1000 girls we would like to thank you all!!

We are looking forward to begin this journey now to educate 1000 deserving girls in Lahore and would love your support in that.

 

TOGETHER, WE ARE TRANSFORMING LIVES.