The citizens foundation were today acknowledged in an article i read the other day.
It reminded me of own visit to one of the citizens foundations schools, in a slum near Karachi international airport, and then to their very impressive head office in karachi.
It looked more like the operations centre of your typical multinational. In particular, i remember then going over the details of the 50 or so schools that they have under construction at any given time.. incredible stuff
oh, we've come a long way baby..
As happy as we are to blame pakistan, and pakistanis for all our troubles-we are often completely blind to the true progress that happens around us.
How many of us know that Pakistanis are officially the worlds most generous people. We give away more of our income (as a percentage of our GDP), than any other nation in the world. And that is despite the fact that most of economy is largely undocumented, (especially true in a something like charity), and official figures choronically undervalue the true figures.
Pakistan has seen over the years a remarkable amount of work done by private individuals to improve the state of there fellow man. I need not even cite EDHI-one of the worlds largest public service organizations. All within the help of a single international donor [EDHI sources all its donations from pakistan or from the pakistani diaspora]. Even i was surprised by the length and breath of the activities that they undertake, below is a list i took from there website:
Major Activities
Baby Cradles
Destitute Homes
Welfare Centers
Warehouses
Missing Persons
Graveyard Services
Prisoners' Aid
Projects
Highway Projects
Cancer Hostel
Blood & Drug Banks
Emergency
Field Ambulance
Air Ambulance
Marine/Coastal
Checkposts
International
Refugee Assistance
Community Centers
Offices Abroad
The fact that our government has been an unqualified failure in supplying these essential services to its people is obvious. But what is not is the fact that behind the scenes, private individuals have stepped in to fill the void.
How would we, after all have come to know that EDHI supports prisoners throughout pakistan. Arranging for there entertainment, providing them with medical attention and even giving them EID gifts?
I guess this is just a national affliction of ours, being obsessed with all that has gone wrong. We never pause to consider all that we have progressed in.
Getting back to the theme.. Shaukat khanum is another such venture-i believe one of the very rare breeds of free cancer hospitals in the world.
And then there is the
citizens foundation, which has been widely cited (most recently in 'The Times' of the uk, which prompted this outburst in the first place) for the immense impact of its work in providing education to the poor, underprivileged constituents of pakistan's
katchi abbadis.
All of these are just some of the plethora of such home-grown movements that have served as models and as an inspiration for others the world over.
Finally, and perhaps surprisingly, even our otherwise flippant 'super' stars are actually spearheading a number of initiatives themselves.
Abrar with his hospital, and that other bloke with his education trust and lots more, are really a far cry form what one generally comes to expect from those that have fame and fortune in disproportionate abundance[like the american band that set ablaze a million dollars, 'just for the heck of it'].
jahan chali hai rasm ke koi na saar utha key chaley..