This project supports schools in poor, rural areas around Peshawar, Pakistan, where education would otherwise not be available. Unless the up-and-coming generations get educated, families can be trapped in poverty for generations.
According to UNICEF, out of 19 million primary-school-age children in Pakistan, just over half are actually enrolled in school. 3.6 million children under age 14 are working, mostly under exploitive conditions. Just over a third of women in Pakistan are literate. Often in rural areas, no schools are available. If there is a school, it may be physical crumbling or without electricity or water.
The Dosti Welfare Organization operates schools in rural areas around Peshawar, with financial support from the Global Education Campaign in the United States. We hire local community members to teach, secure space for the school, and provide free books, uniforms, and admission when families can't otherwise afford education. We try to provide water, electricity, and otherwise solid infrastructure for all the schools.
Our 14 schools currently educate between 2000 and 3000 children. By educating children, especially girls, we give them the means to lift themselves and their families out of poverty and keep them from having to become slaves, prostitutes, or members of hate groups just to survive. Many poor families join hate groups not for ideological reasons, but just for food and clothing. Young men seek their mothers' blessing to join the hate groups; educated mothers will withhold their blessing.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
