HOPE Arranges Iftaar for Students of Thatta

The last of this year’s iftar programming by HOPE - an NGO in Pakistan was a heartwarming event in Thatta.

Thatta is 100 kilometers away from Karachi (about 2.5 hours’ drive) and lacks quality educational infrastructure. HOPE - an Educational NGO in Pakistan helps to fill in this gap. At HOPE’s Formal school-Thatta, located in a slum area, there are 340 underprivileged children receiving a free-of-cost quality education up to matric. These students are mainly the children of farmers and laborers, whose families would have otherwise been unable to afford education and the accompanying costs of provisions (such as that of stationery, school bags, and uniforms) all of which are given to HOPE students free of cost.

Sponsored by Dubai Ladies,and organized under the leadership of Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla this year’s annual Thatta iftar was as usual a huge success, and it was clearly apparent from the children’s beaming faces. The teachers struggled to seat the excited students in preparation for iftar, a delicious affair consisting of a wide variety of popular iftar dishes: the customary dates, along with puff pastries and spring rolls, cutlets and samosas, bananas and brownies. There was also sherbet and water to wash it all down.

After iftar, the sated children’s excitement only seemed to increase in anticipation for the next segment of the evening’s programming: Eid gift distribution. Each and every single student was gifted a new, festive, Eid dress in exactly their size. One by one, each child received their gift.

Just like education, these fancy clothes would have been completely out of reach for these kids and their families had it not been for HOPE. Lastly, the popular dish biryani was distributed to all the children for dinner. Their unadulterated joy and shukr was reflected in their eyes.

Oftentimes, many of us take for granted what others consider luxuries. This privilege we have, to take our blessings for granted, comes with great responsibility to reach out to the less fortunate and less privileged. Ramadan is a time when this is especially important, and HOPE goes to extra efforts to reach out, as is clearly seen through the numerous and very diverse projects and events happening daily during this holy month. These projects are possible only due to the ever increasing volunteers and donations HOPE receives from individuals and organizations worldwide.

Under the leadership of Dr. Mubina Agboatwalla - a child specialist in Karachi, HOPE aims to not only reach out, but to completely eliminate poverty, illiteracy, and hunger.