Report of a visit to the Umeed Partnership (Pakistan) project
18 February to 4 March 2011
1. Preamble
From the earliest days of the Umeed Partnership Mr Yousuf Jalal, the Project Co-ordinator, has insisted that, wherever possible, a member of the UP(UK) Executive Committee should visit the Project as a check against inappropriate use of funds. I have managed this in all years except (for compelling personal reasons) 2010.
At the request of Yousuf I have just spent two weeks in Pakistan observing the activities of the Project in Lahore, Bahawalpur and Yazman (Cholistan Desert). Sadly, for well-documented security reasons, this year I was unable to visit the UPP embroidery and tailoring centres in Baluchistan (Quetta and Loralai).
The purpose of the visit was twofold. Firstly,
- to assess progress of the training centres and Umeed Schools;
- to satisfy the UP(UK) Executive Committee that the funds are being used in accordance with the mission and constitution of the charity; and
- to attend end of year certificate-awarding ceremonies.
As in previous years, I was the guest of Yousuf Gill and his family, and apart from the three day visit to Umeed activities in the Cholistan Desert region, I had excellent accommodation in Yousuf’s home in Johor Town, Lahore. The hospitality has been second to none. Yousuf and Shamin are excellent, thoughtful hosts, as are the families I stayed with in Yazman.
2. UPP Committee meeting – 201 February 201
At a meeting of the UPP Committee it was reported that there were currently two Umeed middle schools and 16 embroidery/sewing centres. It is gratifying to note that there has been a consistently good outcome from this activity whereby the trainees can earn money immediately following their training with a relatively modest outlay for materials. Woodworking centres would be re-established when funds are available; the demand is there, but it is acknowledged that the start-up costs (purchase of timber and tools) following training are often prohibitive. There is a proposal for a mobile team of carpenters to go into homesteads when producing bespoke items. The Umeed Sports Club, set up in Yohannabad, Bahawalpur and Loralai by Clive Southerton, continues to be self-sustaining since there are no costs. An annual teachers’ refresher course is run in Johor Town, Lahore and a day trip is planned for the trainees of the training centres in Lahore, Bahawalpur and Yazman in April. This is part of the wider remit of UPP to bring together young people of different faiths in a spirit of fellowship and tolerance. The pupils of both Umeed Middle Schools are also taken on an annual study tour to places of historical interest.
Three seminars are conducted annually on a regional basis (Lahore Bahawalpur & Loralai) and one on a national level in Lahore. These seminars are held principally for teachers and trainees at the embroidery and sewing Centres.
UPP, being a grass-roots organization, has always listened to the requests of the communities in which it is active. Advocacy is brought up time and again by women, and the Co-coordinator believes that we should consider setting up a Umeed Legal Aid Forum to support victims (almost always women) of domestic abuse, rape, acid attacks, kidnapping and honour killings. Of course, there are costs involved, and again we must apply for grants as a matter of urgency. It was agreed that I should consult Bangor University Law School for advice on procedure.
The cost of running the Umeed project at its current level is GBP 2,000 per month – well in excess of current income levels. Also, transport is an issue. Due to the distances involved and also the geography of the project public transport is not an option; the Co-ordinator needs a more substantial vehicle. At present his small city car has to be used for all UPP-related journeys, which can be heavily laden and of 9 or10 hours duration across the unmade roads in Cholistan. We must submit bids for grants to relevant grant-awarding bodies and endowment funds as a matter of urgency. The present car will die before long!
2.1 Appointment of Supervisor/Principal for UPP Schools
There has been difficulty in appointing a supervisor to cover the two Middle Schools in BC18 and DB52. Applications by CV have been invited on several occasions, but all applicants were totally unsuitable and unqualified. Shamin Gulzar, the wife of the Project Co-ordinator, is a qualified graduate teacher and I’ve suggested that she might apply for the post, having been involved with the Umeed Project from the outset. I’ve made it quite clear, however, that Yousuf, the Co-ordinator, must play no part whatsoever in the selection procedure, which must be 100% transparent. The post must be advertised in the Cholistan region, and selection of the candidate must be made following an interview by a panel of four ( I suggested 2 members of the the School Governing Board, the UPP Supervisor for the region and 1 member of Lahore Cosmopolitan Rotary Club).
3. UPP activities in southern Punjab
I spent a few days in southern Punjab, in Bahawalpur and Yazman in the Cholistan Desert. This entailed a very fast, dusty and chaotic 8 hour journey from Lahore with all life centred on the main trunk road – camels, donkeys, bullocks, buffalo, goats, sheep, tractors, rickshaws, bikes and of course lorries, cars and buses in various stages of decrepitude.
I visited all 10 Umeed embroidery centres in this region, inaugurating 2 new ones. There is tremendous enthusiasm for this training in the region, and it is clear that the UPP is more than just a training NGO; it provides a support network for women and girls long after they’ve finished the embroidery training. Young women are now making a significant contribution to their families’ budget through the sale of their products. The UPP Supervisor in this region – Ado Raam – is highly competent and totally reliable; he is widely respected in these impoverished communities.
I visited the two Umeed mixed-faith Middle Schools. The most recently established, in Minority Community 52, has a roll of 95 with two teachers and has very basic facilities. There is neither electricity nor sanitation and the school functions through the enthusiasm of the teachers (who are guided by Shamin, Yousuf’s wife, a qualified teacher) and the UPP supervisor. The pupils are aged 7 to 17 and are 50:50 Hindu:Muslim. It is hoped to concentrate UPP funds on bringing this school up to the standard of the other school in BC18 (see below). Two additional classrooms are planned, and the new development is likely to be relocated in the Hindu sector of the village on land allocated by the provincial government.
3.1 Umeed Middle School in Minority Community BC18
This school was opened 5 years ago and really is a success story, thanks very largely to the Rotary organisation. Five years ago there was one derelict building used as a fodder store. Today there are two additional classrooms, a computer room with 4 computers, flushing latrines for girls and boys, pumped potable water and a 6 foot security wall and steel gates. The classrooms have been provided with locally made desks and benches, plus stationery and the latest teaching aids (and also traditional slates). Last year this School was reclassified from Primary to Middle since the pupils now range from 5 to 15. There are now 160 pupils in three classes and three teachers, again guided by Shamin. All pupils have been provided with uniforms, which more or less doubles the size of their wardrobes. A government school teacher from the area has decided to send his children to the Umeed school, and will recommend others to do likewise. That really is most gratifying! In this region, neglected by government, the communities cannot believe their good fortune. Further developments in the next month or so include a paved walkway through the sand and a stage for school (and community) functions, all to be paid for from a grant made recently by Bangor Rotary Club. The School Board has decided to plant trees and grass in the school grounds to provide some green and to “…..make the desert bloom…”. The School Board has employed a janitor /security guard. It is hoped to employ a fourth teacher to improve the pupil:teacher ratio. Also, a cleaner is needed in due course. The final development would be the erection of a modest teachers’ residence. This may seem an unnecessary extravagance but due to the prevailing social infrastructure and the desert conditions this is a necessity.
In what I regard as a very significant development, the leader of Pakistan Rotary Polio Eradication Programme (who is based in Karachi) has asked the DG of District 3272 (Afghanistan and northern Pakistan) to arrange a polio awareness programme in a final push to rid Pakistan of the disease. This event will be held on Sunday 3 April at the Umeed School in MinorityCommunity BC18 (funded largely by MG and Bangor Rotary Club grants ) and it will be organized jointly by Lahore Cosmopolitan Rotary Club and the Umeed School Management Board.. There will be over 1,000 mothers from across southern Punjab who will be informed of the importance of vaccination for eradicating the disease. Apparently, amongst the uneducated masses in this area, the polio vaccine is believed to reduce fertility and there is a degree of resistance to vaccination in an area where a few polio cases have been diagnosed in recent months. This is sure to raise the profile of both the Umeed Partnership and of Rotary generally, and Bangor Rotary Club in particular.
For the information of Bangor Rotary Club members, the paved footway and stage at the Umeed School, paid for by the recent £1,000 grant from Bangor Rotary Club, will be constructed within one month, hopefully in time for the polio eradication education event.
Bangor Rotarians may also be interested to learn that Yousuf Gill will be the President of Lahore Cosmopolitan Rotary Club in 2011/2012, and that he will be visiting north Wales with his family in summer 2012. This is clearly an opportunity to form a friendship link between Bangor and Lahore Rotary Clubs.
4. UPP activities in Yohannabad Township, Lahore
Yohannabad is a Christian colony/ghetto with no discernible social or economic infrastructure. Poverty is extreme and life expectancy as low as anywhere in the developing world. The poverty is exacerbated by debilitating and life-limiting chemical and organic pollution. Milk and meat from buffalo that drink the polluted water in the factory discharge sewers cause skin and liver disease. There is electrical power, but is on load-shedding for between 8 & 16 hours daily. Sanitation is feeble or non-existent; the streets are lined with overflowing open sewers.
It is in this context that UPP offers support for very poor families. There are 4 Umeed embroidery and sewing centres in Yohannabad - all started in October 2010. NGOs come and go in this community – most produce impressive budgets and even more impressive promises of action, but usually disappear within weeks leaving a trail of broken promises. An example is of an NGO which produced sewing machines and a promise of trainers. After 12 months nothing had happened; the NGO officials returned for a photoshoot, then removed the sewing machines and were never heard of again. The result – a wariness of honest NGOs trying to help. (It should be noted that Umeed has a sound track record in delivering promised support for its activities).
4.1 UPP Certificate – awarding ceremony, 1 March, 2011
This event took place in the Renewal Centre, Yohannabad 1. This is a well-resourced retreat and conference centre run by the Catholic church. Attendance was approximately 350, of which 85 received certificates for embroidery, sewing and carpentry competence. The emphasis here is on life-long membership of UPP as a sort of women’s ‘sangham’ Support especially for the bereaved, family illness, and victims of rape and domestic violence. Here the Umeed certificate has an increasingly credible reputation and it really does mean something because master tailors in the city have shown preference in offering work to UPP certificate holders.
The UPP woodworking centres have yet to re-start following the end of the 2010 training session – this is disappointing, especially in the light of the Rotary grants from the Matching Grants Scheme. Twenty certificates were awarded at this ceremony for those training in carpentry in 2009/2010. However, the tools and equipment are safely stored in the Supervisor’s house awaiting funds to restart the training. This is a challenge for UP(UK) & UPP. The set-up costs for these centres and the cost of tools, equipment and timber are considerably higher than for the embroidery and tailoring centres. There were several requests for funds to establish training in beauty and fashion. Funds don’t allow expansion in this way at present, but it will be borne in mind.
As evidenced by the song, dance and dramatic presentations at this event, there is a huge pool of talent suppressed by the cultural dictates of this society which keep women under the control of men who have total, but by our standards undeserved, power over their womenfolk.
I met a number of exceptionally talented young women: Saba, an accomplished dancer and entertainer who in another society would have easily made it to FE/HE, but managed to complete two years only in primary school. Also her sister who produced mud-built dolls’ houses in the style of the township.Then there was Cynthia with two infant daughters. She is married, but her in-laws want her husband to divorce her because they do not approve of her interest in dancing and her general outgoing personality. What did her husband think? He was fine until she bore him a second daughter. He wanted a son, so he’s fallen in line with his parents and has thrown her out of the house, having violently abused her. Cynthia’s membership of Umeed has provided her with the support of other women at a very difficult time of her life.
5. Summary
- Two thousand pounds required monthly to sustain the current level of activity;
- Embroidery & sewing training is a continuing success, and has been running now for eight years;
- Carpentry and woodworking training have high start-up costs;
- School at BC 18 is a model for future developments by other agencies;
- School at DB 52 will be next in line for development
- Future diversification in advocacy and fashion & beauty when resources permit;
- 4×4 truck required for transport of personnel and equipment – for the Co-ordinator;
- Long-term need for Umeed Training Centre in Lahore;
- Encourage Umeed ‘life-time membership’ concept – support agency for women victims of physical and mental abuse.
6. Conclusion
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 I came across young women who had received training in the Umeed embroidery Centres over the past seven 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 Umeed woodwork Centres will be restarted and 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.
The Umeed Schools also have provided a lifeline for uneducated communities in southern Punjab; they are a credit to the dogged determination of the UPP Co-ordinator and Supervisor to improve opportunities in these impoverished communities.
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 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.
A reminder that the Umeed Annual General Meeting will be held at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 11 May in the Senior Common Room Reading Room at Bangor University. I’m hoping for a good attendance.
Please feel free to pass this report 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 my safety and well-being were top of their agenda. My sincere thanks to them.
John Perkins 10 March 2011
Chair, Umeed Partnership (UK)
