Educate a Girl in Kashmir

Dear HOPE Friends,

Over the past two weeks, HOPE's on-ground field team in Pakistan visited our Azad Kashmir network of poverty alleviation facilities which includes 40 home schools set up in remote mountaintops, 3 Maternal & Child Health Centers, and a Vocational Training school. Altogether, our impact in Azad Kashmir spans over 60,000 Zakat-eligible people per year; 70 percent of whom are disadvantaged mothers and children.

During this trip, over 2,000 needy children participated in annual ceremonies and received school supplies such as backpacks and stationary as well as warm winter clothing and a special lunch including biryani and egg rolls. The HOPE Team also distributed blankets, biscuits, and other treats to the surrounding community.

HOPE has revived the neglected concept of home schooling in Pakistan whereby we readily remedy the difficult barriers to both supply and demand in the education sector for the poor in Pakistan. We have found that the most effective and sustainable long-term solution for education in Kashmir is the home school system.

Home schools are a cost-effective and innovative solution to addressing the availability of schools barrier that has been overlooked in Pakistan. Additionally, parents feel secure in sending their daughters to neighborhood facilities which are overseen by trusted community members. Home schools engage the communities they serve by employing educated women (whom parents trust) as teachers.

Currently, HOPE has 40 home schools in Kashmir serving 2,000 students, 70 percent of whom are marginalized girls.

Thank you to all our supporters for helping us reach those in need as far away as the remote mountaintops of Kashmir!

Links:

• HOPE USA website

Dear HOPE Friends,

Today we wanted to share a special firsthand report written by one of our generous supporters, Mehmudah Rehman. Mehmudah and her family visited HOPE's home schools in Kashmir in July. She documented her experiences with exquisite words and pictures. We are ever so grateful to Mehmudah and her family for taking the time to visit these remote areas and share her experiences with us. Below, please find Mehmudah's experience written in her own words.

Mehmudah is an accomplished freelance journalist whose editorials often appear in newspapers and magazines across the Middle East.

Warm regards,

The HOPE USA Team

Kashmir, 21 July, 2022

An experience to cherish
By Mehmudah Rehman

Touching down in the lush green mountains of Muzaffarabad literally took our breath away. As the gushing rivers welcomed us into the city I did not what to expect, but I knew one thing. It would be special.

And special it was. The few days spent in Muzaffarabad with the HOPE Team were an out of this world experience for me and my children. Living privileged sheltered lives in Dubai, we had never known what it meant to be able to go to school for these children and how rewarding it would be for us to meet them, give them gifts and watch their performances. The schools run like any good institution does, with a proper curriculum and extra curricular activities in place. Teachers are experienced and qualified and genuinely care about their charges — most teachers here have been with HOPE schools for over a decade! The parents are proud and grateful because HOPE schools across the network and virtually free of charge.

I had seen photos of the schools many times but visiting them was a different experience altogether. What impressed me was the children’s confidence, their smiles and positivity and their evident desire to put up a great show at their annual awards ceremony. The HOPE school nestled in the mountains was a simple but beautiful place — my children said it would be lovely to get out of class and get that stunning view! Later, after the lovely ceremony we were treated to a delicious meal of sarson ka saag, makaii ki roti and akhrot ki chutney, all prepared by the school teachers lovingly, and to perfection!

I am extremely grateful to Dr Mubina and her conscientious team for allowing us to experience this. They have shown us what true hospitality is, and they have welcomed us with open arms and open hearts. Dr Mubinas house here in Kashmir has a small clinic running in it and it is heartwarming to see patients walking in and being treated completely free of charge.

Special word of thanks to the HOPE Coordinator Ms Fozia who has left no stone unturned in making us comfortable. All in all, this has been an experience to cherish and I hope I am able to learn and implement some meaningful life lessons from it. Kudos and congratulations to the team for making it happen. Alhamdulillah!

https://www.hopecharityusa.org/post/a-hope-supporter-s-firsthand-report-of-her-trip-to-hope-s-kashmir-home-schools

Links:

• HOPE USA website

Dear HOPE Friends,

During the month of Ramadan, HOPE USA ramps up its outreach efforts to make sure that this blessed month is enjoyed by those who are less fortunate.  We have been distributing Door-to-Door Iftars, Food Rations, and Eid Clothes to thousands of underprivileged people across Pakistan. 

This week, HOPE USA began distribution of Eid Clothes in Kashmir while treating hundreds of students to food rations for their families and a biryani meal.   

Donations made to our Educate a Girl in Kashmir project for the next two weeks will go towards Eid Clothes and/or Food Rations for underprivileged students in Kashmir.  

Monthly Food Rations: $33/family of 8 [Zakat-eligible]

Eid Clothes: $17/child [Zakat-eligible]

For students who are struggling to acquire the basics of shelter, food, education, and health, a new Eid outfit means the world. Join HOPE USA in spreading smiles this Ramadan.

Watch a child’s face light up when you gift them a beautiful traditional outfit for Eid!

Thank you all for your generosity towards people a world away!  

Links:

• HOPE USA website
• Download HOPE USA 2020 Accomplishments

Dear HOPE Friends,

At HOPE, we believe that every child should not only have access to a quality education and healthcare, but also the correct state of mind to be able to absorb these rights. Throughout the year we try to incorporate activities and events which uplift children's mental state. After all, what use is attaining education and healthcare and reaching adulthood with these gifts, yet not thinking that you are worthy of these blessings? Breaking the cycle of poverty means transforming someone from within - having them truly believe that they are a worthy human being. Oftentimes, it is the metamorphosis of someone's frame of mind which is the most challenging struggle. We in first-world countries know all too well that material benefits can abound in someone's life, yet mental health and self-esteem can still be lacking. For children born into poverty, this is even more apparent because when one's basic needs are not being met, the floodgates to a perpetual cycle of low self-worth can open.

Ambereen Siddiqui

Director - HOPE North America & Europe

https://www.hopecharitiesuk.org

https://www.facebook.com/hope-ngo

Links:

• HOPE USA website

Dear HOPE Friends, 

HOPE Opens a New Home School in the Isolated Mountaintops of Kashmir

In the remote mountaintop regions of Kashmir, attaining an education becomes an arduous and ongoing struggle - these students not only face barriers of poverty (similar to our beneficiaries in other areas of Pakistan), but also grapple with geographic and climate hurdles which are part and parcel of life in Azad Kashmir.  Due to safety and cultural factors, female students often end up absorbing the brunt of the repercussions, so much so that there is still a wide discrepancy in literacy rates between males and females in Pakistan.  As of 2021, the overall literacy rate in Pakistan has remained stagnant at about 60%, with males and females reporting literacy levels of 73% and 52%, respectively.  Dire statistics such as these only serve to reinforce the need for innovative interventions such as the home-schooling system, a solution which has been largely underutilized in Pakistan, but which HOPE USA has been implementing in Azad Kashmir (along with other rural areas and urban slums within Pakistan) for the past 20 years. 

Through your generous support of our Educate a Girl in Kashmir project, we are humbled to report that we have successfully opened yet another school in Azad Kashmir!  Below, please find the details along with pictures from the welcome ceremony: 

Links:

• HOPE USA website
• Download HOPE USA 2020 Accomplishments