Help me Educate remote children!

We are raising funds to continue an active volunteer program, IEI Pakistan, at a school in a remote community for 4 months. The program focuses on Engaging children and  adolescents via Education & Art with the aim to empower our children & thus our communities.

My Story

The Northern Areas of Pakistan is one of the most beautiful destinations in the world. During my visits there over the last few years I fell in love with the place – the warmhearted people especially. 

I wanted to give back to a place that had given me so much joy, so I quit my job as a Software Engineer to collaborate with a local school in Misgar, a town near the Afghanistan - Pakistan – China border.

Many parts of the north including Misgar have very limited access to basic every day necessities such as gas, electricity, health & running water In the midst of such hardship, education takes a back seat.

With a long term vision of building communities with a higher tolerance for diversity, my mission is to enhance the experience of going to school by providing a well-rounded, interactive educational experience while encouraging creative art a tool for healthy self-expression & community building.

My Work in Misgar Valley

I successfully ran a pilot program under the name Innovate. Educate. Inspire Pakistan, using personal funds and donations, in collaboration with the Government School, Misgar Valley, Gojal, Gilgit Baltistan from August-November 2016. 

The valley is home to around 150 households and the program worked with 60 students between ages 7-15 and influenced over 80-90 households. We recruited & managed program tasks,travel & living of 8 volunteers for four months. The volunteers were actively involved with the school & children for 48 hours per week.

We constructed a library; using recycled material with around 600 books, received as donations, covering a variety of subject areas. 

32 art pieces created by the children at Misgar will be exhibited for charity in March 2017 to fund the academic year for some of the students.

 At a community building level, one of the successes of our initiative was that children began appreciating the importance of wildlife conservation. They realized that hunting was detrimental not only to the wildlife but also to their own sense of compassion and empathy. They vowed to not hunt or eat endangered wildlife again such as the local Markhor & ibex.

I need your Support! Help me run the next program!

Our most pressing need is for funds. After a successful pilot program, I want to reach out to more communities and children, to make this a year round sustainable platform for people who want to volunteer their time to go and integrate into communities with tough access.

Upcoming Program resumes Mid-April in the Chipursan Valley, Upper Hunza, GB and I need your support to be able to run it. I am looking for funds to support:

• Volunteer Management for 4 months including travel, accommodation & food.
• Purchasing educational & creative art material,to be used by artists & creatives to engage students.
• Organizing in school events to raise Environmental, Cultural & Wildlife Awareness.
• Construction of a Library that is to be an all-inclusive space for the children to learn and interact in.

Transparency is one of our founding principles, all the money goes directly to costs related to running the program. All cost breakdown will be available to those donating.

Other ways to Contribute

We are also always looking for fantastic volunteers. If you are in Pakistan and want to spend time in these beautiful but hard to reach places, please contact us to see if you are a fit.

Books also go a long way. We took hundreds of books up with us last year; please donate any books that could interest children, especially those that add value from an educational standpoint.