Notes of a visit to the Umeed Project in Pakistan

January/February 2009

I have just returned from a visit to the Umeed Project in Pakistan, and whilst I will be producing a full report in due course, I thought that I should inform Umeed Partnership supporters as soon as possible of the highlights (and concerns) so far.

I was accompanied this year by Mrs Anita Henderson from Co. Mayo in Ireland. Anita had expressed an interest in the Project several months ago, and Yousuf, the UP Co-ordinator, was keen for her to visit the Project and so hopefully raise its profile in Ireland (where the whole thing was conceived in 1999).

A very full programme had been arranged to enable us to see every part of the Project. Unfortunately, due to inter-tribal conflict and hence security concerns, we were advised not to visit the UP activities in Baluchistan (Quetta, Loralai and Duki); however, Yousuf will be going in early March for several days. In the other areas where Umeed is active there were no security problems and we were able to satisfy ourselves that the money raised in the UK is being spent wisely and in line with the original mission statement  -  a grass roots project giving hope through education and training.

We visited the following Umeed Training Centres and Schools:
slum communities (mainly Christian) in Johannabad (Lahore) – 2 new sewing Centres, 1 woodwork Centre and 4 new embroidery Centres. Attended embroidery certificate awarding ceremony.
Bahawalpur – 1 woodwork Centre, 4 new embroidery Centres;
Yazman – 1 new multi-faith Umeed Middle School, 1 existing multi- faith Primary School, 3 woodwork Centres, 3 new embroidery Centres. Attended embroidery certificate awarding ceremony.
The five woodwork Centres and the two sewing Centres were established last year with the support of the Rotary Matched Funding grant following a successful application by Prestatyn Rotary Club and Lahore Cosmopolitan Rotary Club. (A similar bid is currently being made by Bangor Rotary Club to facilitate the erection of a security wall and sanitation at the Umeed Primary School in Yazman).

The most recent development has been the opening of a multi-faith Umeed Middle School in Minority Community DB52 in the Cholistan Desert between Bahawalpur and Yazman. The building is owned by a local landlord in the Muslim Sector of the Community, but the aim is to relocate midway between the Muslim and Hindu sectors of the Community in a new building. There are at present 100 non-fee-paying pupils from both the Muslim and Hindu sectors, ranging in age from 6 to 16 years. A full range of educational materials has been provided, and the demand for places is very strong. This has been funded largely through UP(UK) with money raised over the past 12 months from sponsorship and other fund-raising activities in the UK (mainly north Wales – the Santa Run in Prestatyn in particular).

Yousuf has been approached by a couple who run a private fee-paying school in a desert community near Yazman, with a view to UP taking it over and running it under Umeed principles. This school will close on 1 March because local families are unable to afford the fees. I visited this school last week and found that the building is in very good order, and the staff still in place. Sadly, we decided that this is too ambitious an initiative for Umeed at present due to the uncertainty of future funding, and so the school will close.

The Umeed Partnership really does make a difference to people’s lives, and I get quite a buzz out of being part of it. Time and time again we came across young women who had received training in the Umeed embroidery Centres over the past four years, and who are now making a living for themselves and their families, bringing home up to Rs 7000 (£60) per month – a very respectable sum in the rural desert communities. Some have become trainers themselves, and so this is an example of the Project becoming self-sustaining. Hopefully the woodwork Centres will develop in a similar way, and the young men in training this year will, in two or three years time, be trainers themselves, and also earning to support their families. Without these training facilities, the young people would face empty lives, and therefore be more likely to be attracted to fundamentalism.

In addition to visiting the Umeed activities, I was given an opportunity of raising the profile of the UP in Pakistan by addressing the Cosmopolitan Rotary Club in Lahore and also research students at the College of Health Sciences at the University of the Punjab.

So, to conclude. The Umeed Partnership is demonstrably improving the quality of life for women, children, families and communities. In addition to  skills training and education, Umeed is evolving into a support network for vulnerable women who may be victims of domestic violence, illness and bereavement.

Fundraising is not easy, especially in the present economic downturn. Also, Pakistan has been demonised by the western media and this has inevitably caused a certain amount of donor resistance. This is, of course, more of a reason to support these vulnerable communities.  I’d therefore like to thank all of you who have supported the Umeed Project in a variety of ways in the recent past, and hope that you might find it possible to continue to do so.

The next Umeed Partnership Committee meeting will be held in Bangor at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 24 March. Non-Committee members would be warmly welcomed, but please let me know in advance.

Please feel free to pass this message on to anyone whom you feel may be interested or has no access to email.

As always, Yousuf proved to be the perfect host under trying security conditions. Nothing was too much trouble for him and Shamin, and our safety and well-being were top of their agenda. Any Umeed supporter who may wish for a ‘holiday’ with a difference (and certainly not obtainable through a travel agent) will be assured of a very warm welcome. Just let me know.

JCTP
28 February 2009