Thursday 26 December 2013

HOPE in the Mountains of Kashmir

Mesmerizing snow capped mountains, fast flowing River Jhelum and Neelum, beautiful fruit trees and streams, all together make Kashmir a natural wonderland. Despite this magnificence, the people of Kashmir are deprived of a lot of blessings of life. As the unemployment rate is very high in AJK, therefore, the underprivileged class can’t afford to send their children to school. However, with the passion to serve humanity, HOPE, an NGO in Pakistan, reaches out to all those who no one reaches out to and has established several schools on different mountains of Kashmir. These schools are giving free and quality education to the poor children who cannot even afford to have a sweater or a single pair of socks to prevent themselves from cold even in extreme weather.
In order to help the deprived community of this region and extend a helping hand towards the deserving community, HOPE an educational NGO, has established two Formal and thirty Informal Schools in AJK. Some of the schools are till tenth grade while the others are Primary Schools. Altogether, there are 750 students enrolled in different HOPE Schools of AJK and 36 teachers employed who are educated community girls. 

HOPE which is running under the leadership of Dr Mubina Agboatwalla, child specialist in Karachi,  is proud to be spreading hope and education even on the mountains tops where no other NGO or government organization is working to eradicate education emergency!

Friday 20 December 2013

HOPE in Awaran- Relief Activities

An earthquake measuring 7.8 magnitude struck district Awaran and Kech in Balochistan on the 24th September, 2013. The worst affected areas are districts Awaran and Ketch. In district Awaran, an estimated 123,209 people were affected, and in district Kech, approximately 9,224 people were affected. According to the initial assessment, the earthquake killed 557 people in Awaran and 44 people in Kech. There are also a significant number of injured people. The number of those reported as dead may be more than that as people were trapped under rubble. This has been observed as a high risk in Tehsil Mashkay. The earthquake caused widespread damages, destroying houses and cutting communications. Almost 90% houses in Awaran, with the exception of Tehsil Jahoo, and 90% houses in union council Dandar in Kech were completely destroyed, 10% were partially damaged. All infrastructure including schools, health facilities, mosques, Madrisah, and roads are damaged. Water and sanitation systems are completely destroyed.
HOPE an NGO in Pakistan,  in its efforts to help the earthquake affectees visited Mashkay and Mashi in district Awaran in order to distribute dry ration, blankets and P&G products. Approximately 1000 families were given ration and blankets whereas 500 families received P&G purifier of water, pampers, safeguard soap, baby wipes, always and Ariel.
When the team asked the local doctors about the health related issues, they informed HOPE’s team that some of the most common diseases people suffer in this area include skin infections, diarrhea, malaria and most importantly scorpion bites.
Despite the risky conditions of district Awaran, HOPE team was able to distribute the donation items to the deserving earthquake affectees who are totally dependent upon the generous support of both the NGO sector as well as

the government.
HOPE a health NGO in Pakistan under the leadership of Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla, child specialist in Karachi, will continue to extend a helping hand towards those who need help despite bureaucratic impediments and insecurities which are normally the abiding concern in the affected areas.

We are thankful to our supporters for always being there for the poor souls of affected areas. We at HOPE are hopeful that our supporters will continue to support us when the time comes.