Report from BHW Pakistan Partnership Facilitator Following Visit April 2019

Key person:  Edward Qasar  

Recent Events

Activities

I spent three days with Edward and while there met a number of the beneficiaries and attended a meeting with about 70 potential, existing and past students in attendance (see photos below). A number of them gave little speeches saying how much they appreciated the help and the opportunity the scholarship programme had given them.  

Personal Stories

Arwa and Naim Younus

Arwa and Naim are brother and sister and are cousins of Edward. Naim is a male general nurse now and earns around US$600 per month at a hospital. This is a good wage and with it he is able to help the family. His father was a workman but has now retired. Arwa is in her second year of study to become a nurse and wants to work in a surgical ward. She is a good student and cannot wait to graduate and then be able to help the family more and have some money of her own. They were so keen to tell us their story and were so thankful and happy. 

One evening we visited three families with students in the programme. Here are photos with a few comments:

Anika lives with her mother and two other siblings in her grandfather’s house. She is a very bright student as is her younger sister. The grandfather has two other sons who are trying to make sure that he doesn’t leave the house to his daughter-in-law and are making life very difficult despite the grandfather's determination. 

This woman (S) is the wife of one of the men who work with the EGM team. She is doing a teaching diploma which will mean she is able to earn more and that will free them up to serve God more effectively. She was so proud to share her story. 

This young man (E) is so proud of his opportunity to study aircraft engineering. His family is very poor, we visited and had dinner with them. His older brother had to drop out of education and the younger brother is now struggling to remain in school. This is not untypical. One child will be selected to study so they can support the rest of the family. The others miss out. 

Samir Masih is 19 years old. Her father died three years ago and her mother is uneducated. She lives with her mother in rented accommodation that consists of one bedroom, one cooking area and a washroom. Currently she is studying at Shalimar Nursing School. She attends school five days a week - it takes her three buses to get to school leaving home at 6:30 a.m. and finishing at 4:00 pm, a 1 to 1½ hour bus trip.  She also studies after school for 4-5 hours.

Samir wants to be a nurse and then to specialize as a paediatric nurse. She would eventually like to become a paediatric doctor. The nursing training takes four years of study and then 1-year internship. Samir’s dream is to become an ideal person however she knows this to be very hard. She loves to spend time with her friends and to help people. She studies very hard and believes that there is nothing else other than study.

Her biggest challenge is coping with people who say that she is not strong, she ignores them and seeks to prove them wrong. Her dream for the future of Pakistan is that everyone would understand one another.

Partnership's Influence within the Community

We heard many stories about the impact of the programme. We talked to many families with people in the programme and they are so thankful. Most who get employment contribute a significant portion of the family income. 

Many of the Christian families spoke of the difference the programme has made in their lives. Many pastors told stories of the difference the programme has made in the lives of some of their young people and their families. 

Ideas for the Future

There are a couple of examinations people can sit that if passed allows them to enter government service. This moves them into roles of responsibility. Edward would like to include a number of young people in these programmes. They attend a 6-month course at the end of which they sit the exam. The two exams are the Civil Superior Services (CSS) and the Punjab Civil Sevices (PCS). Very few Christians have ever passed these exams. Edwards sees that putting Christians into these positions has a lot of potential benefits. 

He intends to start two or three students in these courses sometime soon, especially if there is an increase in the budget available. They sit the exam in November each year. If they pass, they go into a high salary scale and take up roles of leadership in justice, economics and other strategic sectors of society. 

Current Issues and Challenges

Edward would sometimes have 10 people in a day come to apply for the programme. It is hard to say no to deserving young people. Currently they are only able to add about 15 new students per half year. 

There used to be a number of scholarships available from most colleges but these have virtually dried up because of hard economic times. 

There are still security challenges in the area and there are even extremists living among them. 

They would love to have more resources available to be able to help more young people. 

Prayer and Praise Points

Some of the team members are so moved by the stories that they are now supporting students. Edward’s father supports one and Edward supports two. In addition to the students BHW supports, about 15 more are being supported by local people and some of the alumni are talking about contributing to the programme. 

There are more than 500 alumni now making up a significant number. 100% of those who have graduated have gained employment. 

Comments

It appears to me that this is ready for us to invest more per year. The young people are really benefitting and are so rapt to have an opportunity they could never imagine. These people are very poor and under constant pressure as Christians. This gives them a boost and when they get a job, their family is totally transformed.