Pakistan, Asia
Key Partnership Information:
Partnership Ref.: PAK11a
Partner: Edward Qaser - EGM Pakistan
Commenced: 13/07/2021
Funding Status: No Current Donor
Partnership Type: Training / Education, Community / Agriculture Development, Humanitarian
Funding Size: $3,000 - $7,999
Annual Budget: US$ 5,962
Current Partnership Impact:
10 families are being assisted
1 people are being employed in businesses established by our partners
10 people are in vocational or agricultural training
Other Partnership Information:
No partnership video available yet
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For several years the EGM team has been visiting this village and supporting the large Christian population in the area. This has involved:
- Regular visits to the community to encourage them
- The placement of a potable water drinking machine to enhance village health (PAK11)
- Several older children have benefitted from the Brilliant Students Scholarship Fund (PAK07)
- They have many students from here enrolled in the IBS correspondence Bible courses (PAK10)
- They have recently commenced working in two brick kilns with informal education support
This project is established to train Christian women and girls to develop a skill and the opportunity for income generation. This area is rural, on the border with India and surrounded by military installations. As with other similar projects, this will empower a number of women who are poorly educated and who have few options for anything other than a life of servitude.
History of Partnership
In 2007 BHW was contacted by a group of people in Lahore who had commenced a programme of church growth and development. 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 New Partnership Facilitator visited Lahore and discovered that 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 learn skills that would give them opportunities for employment. At that stage a decision was made to commence a computer centre (PAK02) as a first point of engagement for BHW.
Since then we have continued to be involved with EGM and commenced a number of other partnerships including a sewing factory (PAK04), a scholarship fund for exceptional students (PAK07), rural village sewing centres (PAK09), and funding of correspondence courses (PAK10). In early 2019 EGM presented a proposal to pilot a water purifying project and this was commenced in May 2019. In mid-2021 they then mentioned their desire to expand the sewing classes that were being run in this village and in July the BHW Executive approved financially supporting this new project.
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Beneficiaries
The beneficiaries will be the women and their families.
A major issue facing the young women in this area is that the families are large and very poor. Girls are perceived to be a drain on family resources so, even in Christian communities, they are married off very young. Because they traditionally have no earning capacity, some are even traded off to Moslems to get rid of them. A project like this gives them earning capacity so they are much less likely to be treated this way.
What We Like About The Partnership
These people have run similar projects successfully.
This adds to the ongoing investment that EGM is making in this Kasur community amongst a very vulnerable group of people. The unmarried women and girls in this area are very vulnerable. Over the years, hundreds have been forcibly kidnapped and converted to Islam. Because there is a large Christian community, certain groups target this place to find girls!
The pastor is used to working with the team and is a good man on the ground to give day to day encouragement.
Leadership Profile
Our key contact person at EGM is Edward Qasar. He was a school teacher before going into full time Christian ministry. He has studied and completed at least 12 Emmaus courses in Urdu and has a Diploma of Theology from the Evangelical College of Western Australia.
Edward is married to Shakila and they have a small family. 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
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Pastor Sadiq Masih is the local key person. He is actively involved in the community and has sent numerous young people into the Brilliant Students Scholarship Programme (PAK07). He is active and wants to assist as many as possible and give them a chance of a better life.
Sadiq Masih serves as an elder of Grace Church in Kusar and General Secretary of Brick Kilns Union of District Kusar. He is married to Naseem Bibi and they have five children. He has been serving on the Brick Kilns Union for Christian families and human rights issues. He is the only Christian man in the Union of Kusar and many people do not like him because of his faith.
Vision
The vision is to empower young women and give them dignity and some basic skills and earning capacity. It will help and encourage them to remain strong in their faith as well and participate in the Christian community.
Strategy
They have already begun to do something here by setting up a sewing course with five sewing machines but do not currently have a tutor and also need more machines. EGM does not have the capacity to make it effective and provide all that is needed to make it successful. With funds for a tutor and new machines they will now increase to training 10 women per course.
The budget for each six-month course is approximately US$2,500. This covers:
- Sewing machines x10
- Scissors and cutters x 10
- Iron x 2
- Desk & Iron Stand
- Teacher (6 months)
- Admin expenses plus electricity, first aid, needles and threads etc
- Cloth for training use
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