Social Action Projects Selection - The Interviews!

Clad in a crisp black suit and a nervous smile, Saad Hussain waits patiently for his interview call. The judges have just gone in and were carrying voluminous files. Only 5 minutes are left for his interview to begin.

Half an hour later: Saad emerges from the board room, exhilarated. He’s very happy and confident that the judges are convinced of his Social Action Project (SAP) being sustainable and dynamic.

Saad and his friends from a group called “The Maximizers” are one of the eighteen contestants vying for the Active Citizens award. Their SAP revolves around the prevention of Cataract- a killer eye disease that is rampant in the remote areas of Karachi.

We arranged Social Action Projects interviews on Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 April for all the short listed contestants from Karachi and Hyderabad. There were 5 SAPs from Karachi and 13 from Hyderabad altogether. Each group was allotted 20 minutes to make presentations about the work they were doing for their community’s welfare and answer judges’ inquiries.

It was overwhelming to see each group’s energy and passion to make their communities a better place to live in. If one group was providing free medical assistance to the needy, the other was endeavoring to save Mother Nature.

“We are trying our best to make Qasimabad pleasant and greener. Therefore, we cleaned a park in our neighborhood and planted trees. Many locals joined us in the activity and are still helping us in taking care of the park and plants,” remarked M.Hussain Vighio, the group leader of “The Challenger Group” who has accepted the challenge to work for Climate Change.

“Who will help our neighbors if we don’t? Most of them aren’t aware about the causes of Hepatitis B & C, let alone seeking medical assistance for these diseases,” said Murtaza Shaikh, who organizes free medical camps in the rural areas of Hyderabad and vaccinates the locals for Hepatitis B & C.

The Social Action Projects interview panel included Shireen Naqvi, CEO- School of Leadership, Saima Khan, Director- School of Leadership; Nasir Nazir, Project Manager- British Council Lahore; Nabeel Alvi, Head of Programmes- British Council Karachi; Shazia Khawar, Head of Programmes - British Council Islamabad and Obaid Khan, Project Manager- British Council Karachi.

“This country belongs to you; you need to take care of it. We can show you the path, to accept it or decline it - is your choice,” encouraged Shireen Naqvi while speaking to the youth groups. She was thoroughly impressed with the efforts of young people and offered them her project mentoring services for free.

Social Action Projects Certificate Distribution Ceremony

The Social Action Project Certificate Distribution Ceremony was held in the afternoon of Wednesday, 28 April. Dr M. Shah, Minister of Sports and Mr. Shoaib Siddiqui, Secretary Youth and Sports were the Chief Guests of the event.

We organised this certificate distribution ceremony to praise and acknowledge the hard work and efforts of young people who were bringing a positive change in the communities of Karachi and Hyderabad.

We presented them with a "Certificate of Appreciation" which encouraged these youngsters to keep up their spirits of community work.

All the youth groups had set up and decorated stalls showcasing their project work, reports, pictures, souvenirs and videos.

Mr.Shoaib Siddiqui personally visited each stall and boosted the morale of the stall owners. “The efforts of young people are very inspiring, motivating and productive. I refer to British Council’s Next Generation Report every time I devise a strategy for the youth, trying to make good use of this very rich and abundant resource. My department is striving to utilize this “opportunity window” for the benefit of this country and I can see that the British Council is already doing it very successfully,” he expressed while commending our efforts.

Important Announcement!!!

Dear Readers,

We have extended the deadline for the submission of Social Action Projects. It's now: 31st March 2010. So keep those innovative, exciting, amazing projects rolling in and try bringing a change around you.

The results will be announced by Mid April 2010....

Let’s learn English Language...

“Learning English is very important. Most of the text books are in English. Plus, if you apply for a job, the first thing that they see is how fluent you are in English,” reflects Hajira Khan, a BBA student in Kinnaird College, who’s endeavoring to teach English Language.

Have you considered that, at times, all one needs is a bit of encouragement, a bit of guidance and a bit of appreciation to achieve even the most seemingly unachievable things?

It’s true, though!

Hajira Khan attended the Active Citizens workshop back in January 2010. She received a bit of encouragement, a bit of guidance and a bit of appreciation, and she has proven how one person can positively affect many lives around her.

She is teaching English as a second Language to 16 young children who can’t afford to join private schools or English Language classes. Hajira uses colorful English Grammar books, educational softwares, short stories and poems to familiarize the kids with English words and sentences.
She also relies on the best asset of all times- Speak in English- to help these kids improve their English!!

“I try using creative and fun-to-learning methods of learning English. I use YouTube clips to help them develop English speaking skills. It makes teaching fun and the best part is- kids love it!” Hajira says cheerfully, as she shows me the YouTube clips she’s collected.

Besides English, she is running art classes too, as kids love arts/drawing in school. The art classes take place thrice a month and her younger sister, Taalia helps around.

Teaching is not only Hajira’s passion but her mother’s as well. She helps Hajira plan her lessons and material for the class.

Hajira has launched her very own Newsletter, called “The Guardians” which contains all her latest activities, pictures and future ambitions. Taalia is the editor of it.

Wana know more about her English Teaching?

Visit her website: http://www.theguardians.giving.officelive.com/ and connect with her!

“Crystal Future” are helping out in a school….

Four girls – Tooba, Deeba, Mina and Fatima have started helping slum kids who are studying in a government school.

What’s so special, I heard you say?

These girls are not just teachers, but “preachers” - of good morals, standards and principles of living a good life.

Tooba and her friends always got concerned about the slum kids whenever they saw them begging, working in garages, loitering on the roads or becoming maids/peons in rich homes. Without education, these kids didn’t have any where to go, apart from doing the kind of work they were already involved in.

They decided to something and together they formed "Crystal Future", a group devoted to help slum kids.

Crystal Future attended our Active Citizens Workshop and their mission, objectives and strategy got clearer. They had planned how they wanted to help.

There is a shattered school in Islamabad F 11 for the slum kids; it was constructed a long time back, it’s in a shabby condition now. The slum kids are “supposedly” studying there and the school administration is benevolent enough to provide them with the course books.

The school’s called “Baykah Saeeda". There are 32 students, taught by just one teacher.

Crystal Future started visiting Baykah Saeeda School regularly. They didn’t want to do the conventional teaching there. They wanted to focus more on the moral and religious development of these kids. Pupil are already taught from the books, but they aren’t taught morale values, how to be a good citizen, how to care for others and how to lead a quality life.

“We wanted to help the slum kids become good citizens. If they acquire education, it’ll be easier for them to earn a respectable living,” said Tooba when I asked why she volunteered spending time in the slum school.

“I have taken the responsibility to impart religious guidance to slum kids. They are young and need correct guidance about their religion. If they aren’t taught now, they would have wrong concepts about Islam forever. This could play havoc with their lives,” said Deeba.

Crystal Future involves kids in as many activities as possible that introduce them to every day basic concepts like hygiene, health care, table manners etc.

The voluntary work that these young girls are doing is to be applauded! They are striving to bring a change in the lives of these young kids who are yet to see and experience this world.

Check out more of their pictures!!! :)

A Day for “Women”

Let me ask you a question – How many of you celebrated this International Women’s day?

I see a couple of hands raised. Well, the international women’s day is an admirable dedication to the glory of women; a soul who has many beautiful images - as a mother, sister, daughter, wife and grandmother. This day was celebrated with much zeal and enthusiasm in all the cosmopolitan cities, as well as, remote villages, tehsiles and rural communities of the country.

Pind Dadan Khan, is a tehsil in Northern Punjab. Our Active Citizens introduced the International Women’s Day to the villagers, and educated them about the "Glory of Women". The young group who is working with these humble villagers is called “AIM” (Active Involvement and Motivation).

Ubaid Malik, Farah, Arsalan, Zainish and Imran – are AIM.

“We want to help women of this village recognize their splendor and honor. They should be respected and appraised for their talents, hard work and sacrifices,” said Farah, who’s very hopeful that a change will come once these women realize their worth.

The International Women’s Day function started with the recitation of Holy Quran and Naats.

An interactive theatre was performed by the young people of Pind Dadan, which showed how women should stand up for their rights, not endure any domestic violence and should demand for the basic necessities of life.

“After theatre, we asked the women to display their handicrafts. I was surprised to see the kind of work these females had done. It was amazing. And it’s the only source of their household income,” said Ubaid Malik, showing me snaps of some of the most beautiful handicrafts.

AIM is doing a superb job, its spreading awareness about women justice- an information that’s much needed by the women in today’s world. It’s the first step toward women empowerment.

Not only this, AIM has also discussed with the local government about tehsil’s serious issues like water shortage, lack of education and garbage problem.

I wish them “all the very best” for their future good and noble activities.

Valentines Day Special…

Love’s in the air!! Big red stuffed hearts, vibrant red cards, roses are all breathing evidences. Accept it or not, but we all cooked up plans for this Valentine’s Day. And why shouldn’t we? After all, it’s an official day to “declare” our love for our beloveds.

Similarly, Hassan Vighio, a businessman from Hyderabad had always wished to celebrate this beautiful day in an extra ordinary way. He’s in love with Mother Nature. Yes- our very own Mother Nature…!! Unique, is the word that springs to my mind. While, beautiful lasses and lads occupied all our time on this Valentines, Hassan was busy caring for something that we’ve always taken for granted.

Hassan wanted to save the dieing Main Qasimabad Park; he wanted to plant more trees, seeds, spread awareness about the importance of family parks and with a conviction to bring a difference, he discussed his notions with friends - Mukhtiar Ali and Sindh Balcoh.

Together, they formed a group called “The Challengers”. Soon they were joined by more young people – Sindhu Baloch, Fozia Rustamani, Paras Rustamani, Farzana and Nazar Bajeer.

The Challengers woke unusually early on the Valentines Day. Bought seeds and tidied Main Qasimabad Park, Hyderabad where they planned to spend the entire day and afternoon sowing seeds. Just, 8 people in the entire district started cleaning the park while the onlookers probed with doubtful and questioning eyes.

“People thought we’re crazy to be doing all the cleaning up ourselves and that also of a public park, and when they got to know we plan to sow seeds and plants, they thought there’s surely some thing wrong with us! But it’s our (Active Citizens) duty to spread awareness about the importance of greenery and Mother Nature,” says, M.Hassan Vighio, the group leader.

The crowd watched in silence; eventually one passer-by gave a helping hand. Observing the spirit of volunteerism, more people joined, and in no time a huge crowd was cleaning the park and sowing seeds and plants.

Together, the crowd rescued the dieing park and sprayed new life into it. They sowed 1000 seeds and plants in Main Qasimabad Park and today when the seeds are budding, the park looks more beautiful.

Mother Nature is at her peak in the park. Qasimabad Park has become a great family hangout, where elders can relax; breathe fresh air while kids play. All of this is due to the sincere efforts of 8 young people who thought about the Nature and its serene characteristics.