Educating 1800 child workers in Pakistan

From the very first day that Yashwa enrolled in a Zindagi Trust School for working children, his has worked hard on his studies and kept up his good grades. His teachers follow his progress keenly and always encourage him to pursue his dreams. He is currently in Class 5 and has great ambitions for his future - he wants to become an engineer and build a greater Pakistan for his parents and his nation.

Yashwa grew up in a slum in suburban Lahore. He always saw his parents struggling to support him and his other five siblings on the meagre earnings from his father's work at a welding workshop. When he was barely old enough to be in grade school, Yashwa joined his father and started working as a helper at the workshop.

Our Academic Field Coordinators found him and convinced his parents as well as the workshop owners to allow him to come to school in the afternoons. He enrolled in an accelerated program which gets working children through primary school in just over two years. Today, he is in the fifth and final grade of this program. He still helps his father at the workshop, chipping in four hours every morning before going to school in the afternoon.

Yashwa has faith that his education will make a huge difference in shaping his life. He is thankful to Zindagi Trust, and most of all to supporters like you, for enabling him to get an opportunity to chase his dream. Check out Yashwa speaking about his school and work and future plans here: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Links:

• Our website

Fahim is a 5th-grader from an Afghan refugee family living in a Rawalpindi slum. His parents decide to move their family of 10 from the small town of Banda in Laghmaan Province to Pakistan due to the uncertain situation in their war-torn country. His father had experience selling fruits and vegetables and started work in a market close to their new home in Fauji Colony, Rawalpindi.

Since his early childhood, Fahim would wake up and help his father sell produce in the morning. Today he still starts his day by going to the market with his father and their fruit and vegetable cart. In the afternoon, he goes to Zindagi Trust's primary school for working children where he is now in his final term. After school, lunch and revision, he goes back to work his second job - selling books on the road to passersby near traffic signals.

He is regular at school and studies diligently, having bagged a top positition in every grade from Kindergarten to 4th grade. He is motivated by the aim of becoming a general physician when he grows up. He's also very proud of Mr Shehzad, who sponsored his education and mentored him through our Be My Buddy program.

He is thankful to the donors who have sponsored his education so far and hopes that through them Zindagi Trust will continue to support his studies until he is ready to support himself. The trust runs several schools under the Paid to Learn program which offers an accelerated course in primary education to children who are forced to work. The key to the success of the program is the inclusive student recruitment process, where our field workers get approval from both the parents and employers of the children. We hope you will continue to support the education of these children with a donation!

Links:

• Paid to Learn Program Website