MHF Projects
This past year has been a busy one. You will remember the devastating earthquake in the north of Pakistan in October 2005. Thank you all for your financial and other support. Our President went to Pakistan in November 2005 and Dr. Bernard Mohan from the Board of Directors went in September 2006. They met with our partners working in the earthquake-affected areas, and also visited our other schools.
The MHF contributed toward the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts in the earthquake-affected region by:
- a) helping to establish a temporary field hospital in Mansehra ($11,830)
- b) reconstruction of the Hazara Tameer-e-Millat School in Shinkiari ($116,060)
- c) paying the salaries of teachers of the temporary tent-school set up for students from the above school ($8,770)
- d) paying the cost of construction of six classrooms to build a residential primary school in Ratwal for orphans of the earthquake ($57,800).
As you know, our mandate is to provide educational and medical aid to poor families in South Asia, and offer bursaries to qualified university students in financial need in Canada. Over the past several years we have concentrated mainly on providing educational aid and skills training to the poor in Pakistan. All our projects are in Pakistan and are in partnerships with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The Bursary Fund at the University of British Columbia is continuing. Below we present highlights of the new projects and updates on the existing ones
(click on map to enlarge)
In Pakistan: Education
We provide educational aid by helping to build permanent self-sustaining primary schools, establishing temporary primary one-room home-schools, and offering half-fee scholarships to children from poor families registered in schools that we helped build, as well as those registered in other schools.
A. Permanent Primary Schools. Typically, the local community provides the land. We pay for construction of the school building, as well as for furniture and equipment. This costs us a total of anywhere between $40,000 and $70,000. Our Pakistani partners manage the schools, charging low fees and covering the operating losses by donations collected locally. In these schools, which are self-sustaining after building has been completed, tuition fees are generally about $5 per month, and teachers' salaries are between $40 and $60 a month. All schools are co-educational and non-sectarian, and the teachers are almost exclusively women. We have helped establish four such primary schools, and helped reconstruct one demolished school in the earthquake-affected area:
- 1) Hazara Tameer-e-Millat School (2006). This high school in Shinkiari, comprising five separate buildings and an open playground, was damaged beyond repair during the earthquake last year. The damaged buildings could not be repaired, and we have helped build a completely new two-storey structure on the empty playground. The school accommodates about 450 students, 300 of them in the primary section.
- 2) Maria-Helena School (2006). Construction of this school in Dharyala Jalip, a village near Jhelum started last year. The building will be completed by the end of this year and about 300 primary school students will be registered. The school will be managed by Tameer-e-Millat Foundation (TMF), who provided the land and building plans and supervised the construction work. The TMF is already managing about 30 primary/high schools, and 322 one-room primary home-schools.
- 3) Dadi Helena School (2004). The enrollment of this school, in Dina Nath village just south of Lahore, has reached about 400 students. The school is managed by our Pakistani partner CARE (Cooperation for Advancement, Rehabilitation and Education).
- 4) Haji Bostan Public School (2001). The enrollment of this school in Ghaziabad, Lahore, is about 270.
- 5) Fazal Noor Model School (2000). This school in Kot Lakhpat, Lahore, has a current enrollment of 480. Our Pakistani partner, Khidmat-e-Khalque, is expanding the school, at its own cost, to high school level.
B. Temporary Primary Home-Schools. These are one-room, one-teacher schools meant for the poorest children and for working children. Classes are held at the teacher's home or in a community building. Students do not pay any fees. We provide them with books, notebooks, and mats or benches to sit on, and also pay the teacher's salary. All schools are co-educational and non-sectarian. In the Pakistani school system, the primary school academic programme is five years. In the home-school system, due to fewer holidays, the same curriculum is covered in 36-40 months. Typically, the cost of supporting one such school of 25 to 35 students is about $1,000 per year. Currently, we are sponsoring 9 such schools in partnerships with four NGOs:
- 1) Tameer-e-Millat (literally, nation-building) (2005). We sponsored four schools in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. A total of about 100 students are benefiting.
- 2) Iqra (literally, read) (2005). In April 2001 we sponsored the first group of three such schools in Lahore. When that group completed its 3-year cycle we sponsored, through the same organization, three replacements schools in villages in Bahawalnagar. About 100 students are registered in the three schools.
- 3) Roshni (literally, light) (2004). One school in the city of Multan has about 45 students.
- 4) Godh (literally, lap of mother) (2004). This is a school for children of squatters, homeless people, gypsies, etc. Godh specializes in providing education and health care services to children of these communities who make a living scavenging in garbage dumps, or working as porters or street hawkers. Children generally help their families' incomes by working alongside their parents. In addition to paying for the 3-year schooling of about 40 children, we also pay for bi-monthly visits of a physician who attends to the medical needs of the children and their families; a unique service for that community.
C. Scholarships. This is an ongoing program for primary school children, which offers half-fee scholarships valued at $2 per month per student.
- 21 scholarships in Haji Bostan Public School
- 30 scholarships in three Christian schools
- 20 scholarships in two schools managed by Tameer-e-Millat Foundation
- 30 new scholarships are proposed in memory of John Mahovlic, Alvin Fast and Victor Fast who died this year.
In Pakistan: Skills-Training
We have helped establish two small vocational schools in which young girls and women learn traditional needlecraft and sewing. This training helps the invisible household economy of poor families, and can potentially generate income from outside work.
- 1. Dr. Marilyn Mohan Vocational School, Sagian Sitar Campus (2005). This temporary school is housed in a Church, and is benefiting about 35 young girls and women, at a cost of $1,000 per year. It is run by AMEN (All Mothers Educated Now), a Christian women's welfare organization.
- 2. Nani Maria Vocational School (2000). In this three-room school the enrollment has varied from 25 to 50 students. Khidmat-e-Khalque manages this school.
In Pakistan: Health
- 1. Amina Jabbar Trust Hospital (1998). This, our first project, is an outpatient hospital, the size of a single-family detached bungalow in Vancouver. It is managed by Khidmat-e-Khalque. About 80 patients per day receive a medical examination and 3 days of medication at a nominal cost of 5 cents per patient, about one-sixth the cost of private care.
In Canada: Bursary
The Maria-Helena Bursary Fund at the University of British Columbia (2000). This year, bursaries were awarded to two undergraduate students, one in History and the other in Engineering. These bursaries are awarded from the income generated from the capital of this fund. The University selects the recipients.