Pakistan, Asia
Key Partnership Information:
Partnership Ref.: PAK09
Partner: Edward Qaser - EGM Pakistan
Commenced: 14/07/2016
Funding Status: Completed - No Funding Required
Partnership Type: Training / Education, Community / Agriculture Development, Humanitarian
Funding Size: $0 - $2,999
Annual Budget: US$ 0
Other Partnership Information:
No partnership video available yet
No funding currently required for partnership
Khaliq Nager is like a rural village in the middle of Lahore. It is a strange place with a huge open sewer in the middle of it. The children are very unwell from the contaminated water all around. This community has 2,700 families, about 17,500 people. Many are poor, most are illiterate and place no value on educating their children, especially the girls. There is no school, no clean water, no medical or health center and most of the families have no toilet in their homes.
The EGM team has a vision to transform the community and a strong component of this is to empower uneducated women by training them to sew. Most of the women are illiterate.
History of Partnership
In 2007 BHW was contacted by a group of people in Lahore. EGM (Evangelistic Gospel Ministries) have a great understanding of holistic ministry and seek to tell people about the Christian message and at the same time to help the poor and vulnerable.
In October 2008, the Bright Hope World Field Director visited Youhannabad, Lahore and discovered these people had a clear vision and a great plan for development. They had already commenced a number of sewing centres to assist women to train and to learn skills that would give them opportunities for employment. At that stage a decision was made to commence a computer centre as a first point of engagement for BHW (PAK02). Later, in 2013, a scholarship fund was established for exceptional students (PAK07).
Khaliq Nager is an adjacent suburb to Youhannabad in Lahore where Edward and his family have been working among the people for a number of years. Some people from Khaliq Nager began to come to church in Youhannabad and Edward and his team began to visit them. They realised that the people there were very poor and the community was desperately poor. They did a baseline survey and found many families in crisis and that children were generally unwell and vulnerable.
EGM developed a strategy to help the community socially, educationally and spiritually. The sewing programme is an essential component of that strategy.
Beneficiaries
The immediate beneficiaries are the 10 women who participate in each of the 6 month training programmes. Their families will also benefit and as each woman represents approx 8 other people indirectly another 70 or so people will benefit from the training of these women.
The women who train will be able to save money for their families by not having to get others to sew for them. They will also be able to sew for others and earn some money every month. Those who demonstrate good skills will be able to apply for employment at Friends Fashion Centre (PAK04).
What We Like About The Partnership
These are existing partners and they have a real concern for this community.
They have already commenced the training courses with few resources.
There is good acceptance in the community. Hundreds of people each day come to the centre for training, care and support.
Leadership Profile
The key person is Edward Qasar. He was a school teacher before going into full time Christian ministry. Edward is married to Shakila and they have a small family. He spends a lot of time with young people, encouraging them, advocating for them and helping them reach their potential. Edward and Shakila live in the area of Yohannabad with their extended family, they lead a church there and he preaches around the country.
Other People Involved
Zeeshan Assim and his wife Sharish Zeeshan (photo on right), Zeemal Pervaiz, Zoya Pervaiz, Nazish Javed and Suleman Masih are volunteers serving in the school for orphans and poor students, and helping with all the projects (group photo below).
Zeeshan is studying his Masters in Urdu and his wife is studying to become a homeopathy doctor. She is receiving a scholarship as part of the Brilliant Students Scholarship Programme (PAK07). Zeemal is a B.A. student, Sharish is studying commerce, Zoya is a medical student and Suleman is full time pastoring there. Their parents encourage them in their evangelism and ministry work. Once a week there is a Bible study, Sunday Service, Sunday school and many other activities.
Zeeshan is the key person for this project. He looks after, manages and cares for all the equipment there.
Vision
The vision is to transform this community by various means. The sewing courses are a key component of their vision as they immediately give women opportunities for income generation.
Strategy
Edward and his team have set up a centre in Khaliq Nager. They have a number projects operating out of the centre including:
1) An orphan care centre; as they have become involved in the community they have discovered a lot of abuse and many vulnerable children. They felt they had to do something and now about 10 young children are being cared for. These children will be looked after until they are about 8 or 9 and then they will be moved over to the SOS children's village.
2) A school; they have found hundreds of children in the community not going to school. The parents will go off to find work and if they find daily work they just don't come home that day. The children roam the streets and get into mischief and more serious trouble. There are now 84 children in the school. It operates from 8:00 am until 12:45 pm and is staffed by young people from the church.
3) Sewing classes for women; 10-12 women and girls are in the 6 month course. This operates each day from 2 pm until 4.15 pm in the school building.
4) Computer class; the computer hardware from the Youhannabad centre has been shifted across and the course has begun with 8 students. It commences at 4.30 pm and goes until 6.30 pm.
In 5 years they hope that more children will be going to school, families will be better off financially, there will be a vibrant church in the area, and the place will be much healthier to live in.
The annual budget here is US$3,696 to run two six month courses. This covers the costs of 10 sewing machines per course (these are given to the students at the end of the course if they pass), scissors, an iron and stand, desks, fabric, thread, needles, building rental and wages for the teacher.
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