By Jodi Fischer | Program Director
Fostering dignity, not dependence…Providing choice, not charity…
If you received our past project update, you know that this past summer was one of the toughest in Pakistan history. Schools, homes and crops were washed away, a fifth of the country was under water, and more than a million people were displaced due to the flooding which has been estimated to be worse than hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, and the Indian Ocean tsunami combined.
Although the floods have delayed some of our operations and increased our costs, we are committed to continue to provide access to education and skill building. We have utilized funding to purchase generators necessary to enable women to utilize electricity and any machinery throughout the frequent power outages. We plan to pilot the program with one or two different types of products. The last few months we have collected prototypes of embellished fabric and clothing and have been busy securing end market linkages and strategic relationships that will aid in the success of this vocational program.
The Executive Director, Silbi Stainton, and I visited our field office team in October and are pleased to announce a formal partnership with local organization, IKI Foundation. They are currently operating in Pakistan Administered Kashmir and have several successful vocational centers. We plan to work with them to strengthen existing programs and expand best practices for new vocational centers in the Punjab.
MDF would sincerely like to thank all of our donors and supporters. Please know this project is helping youth and their families to obtain credible education, critical thinking skills, and a safe place to learn and grow so that we may all have a more secure and rich future. Please help us generate awareness – Become a fan of our Facebook page, join us on Twitter, and share with your networks. If you would like to start a MDF Circle group in your community there are various one-time or re-occurring ideas and activities that we would be pleased to share. You can reach us at info@marshalldirectfund.org or +01 (970) 963-3150. Learn more about our activities by visiting our website at www.marshalldirectfund.org.
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