Dear Friends,
We would like to thank you all for your unwavering support through an exciting year at FTCF. Our supporters have avidly contributed at every event and appeal, whether it be running the ASICS 10K Marathon or trekking to the Roof of Africa, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Supporters have demonstrated their dedication and commitment to educating the disadvantaged youth of Pakistan and tackling illiteracy head-on. Well done to you all - it is only with your continuous involvement that TCF is able to grow so successfully.
We hope that you enjoy the second edition of our newsletter, highlighting the latest results to emerge from TCF and new literacy initiatives providing skills and giving hope to the wider community. Preparation for another industrious year at FTCF is underway and we hope that you will assist us with the same vigour and enthusiasm in 2010 so that together we can empower thousands of children through the light of education.
Best wishes,
Friends of The Citizens Foundation |
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Ahsan Saleem’s visit to the UK |
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In July, founding TCF Trustee Ahsan Saleem provided an update on the school network to FTCF supporters in London and Newcastle. He discussed TCF’s superb matriculation results and the success of star TCF graduates entering Karachi’s leading business school, CBM (College of Business Management) and world renowned Fatima Jinnah Medical College.
The sky is the limit for TCF students as 73% of graduates joined college this year! To encourage the pursuit of higher education, Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan’s largest International Bank) has also offered 1000 scholarships to TCF students under the Intermediate College Placement program. With so much on offer, TCF students are determinedly realising their potential, dreams and ambitions!
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FTCF Kilimanjaro Trek 2009
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In our pursuit to battle illiteracy head-on and provide the impoverished children of Pakistan with access to a quality education, Friends of The Citizens Foundation (FTCF) have organised a journey of a lifetime in association with Action Challenge, specialists in travel-based adventures. After the successes of the treks to the Hindu Kush, the Karakoram and the Himalayan (K2 Base Camp) ranges in 2005, 2006 and 2007, FTCF are very excited about their current trek to The Roof of Africa, Kilimanjaro from 16-25th October 2009.
We would like to wish our 12 participants from the UK, 10 from Singapore, 2 from Hong Kong and 1 from Bahrain the very best of success in reaching the summit of Africa’s highest mountain. Our courageous trekkers are following the beautiful Machame route, approaching Kilimanjaro from the South, through rainforest, moorland and scree, climbing to its snow-capped summit at 5896m for simply breathtaking views. In preparation, FTCF participants have been avidly fundraising for the last six months through all possible avenues and endeavour to raise in excess of £50,000. Good luck guys and well done to you for undertaking this challenging task for the youth of Pakistan! |
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Working to survive and studying to secure a brighter future... |
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Many of TCF’s students come from extremely deprived backgrounds with most living in slums or remote rural villages. Often they come from poor, illiterate families, many of whom sacrifice the vital income potential of their children to send them to school. Some of our students fit jobs around their school day, often studying late into the night. For some girls, the disapproval of their families and communities is an added risk. Despite these tremendous odds, our students aim high and trust in hard work and perseverance.
Rashida is 11 years old – her father works on a fishing trawler. He goes out to sea during fishing season and can be away for weeks. When he is away, Rashida has to go to work with her mother at the shrimp peeling factory. |
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Asics British 10K Run
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As part of FTCF’s summer fundraising activities, 11 brave supporters took to the streets of London with their fastest running shoes! On Sunday 12th July, they gallantly participated in the popular Asics British 5K and 10K London Runs! The much loved event attracted runners from all over the world, including current Olympic and World champions, who ran shoulder to shoulder with our own FTCF volunteers. The 10K route took runners past many of London’s renowned historic landmarks, mirroring the route planned for the 2012 London Olympics Marathon. This year FTCF runners raised an impressive £8,627!
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FTCF Ramadan Appeal 2009 |
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This year, FTCF surpassed all expectations and raised an incredible £60,000! This will be enough to support 7 TCF schools for a year and enable 1,000 bright, underprivileged children to achieve their full potential. We would like to thank everyone who has helped us to raise an amazing amount this year, thereby giving the invaluable gift of education to hundreds of deserving children. We owe you a debt of gratitude for your openhearted generosity in helping us to reach this year’s target. Well done to all FTCF supporters! |
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Through the Eyes of a Supporter by Shazia Ali Khan |
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"I was due to go to Pakistan on holiday in spring 2009 and had asked Friends of The Citizens Foundation if I could do anything while I was there. That’s when they suggested that I take photographs while on my visit to a TCF school near Islamabad. Being a freelance film-maker, I suggested that I make a short documentary instead and the idea was born."
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Sobia Raja, Commercial Portfolio Manager at The Royal Bank of Scotland shares her diary of events while volunteering at TCF’s Summer Camp 2009. The Camp was attended by TCF students and children from the local community who received help in English and Science from volunteers.
My Diary of summer 2009 - TCF Summer Camp
...As we drove closer to the school, we were on a main road and all I could see were a few scantily built houses across the road from the school and a donkey and camel sitting in the middle of the road. I was shocked to see the animals and to see the amount of rubbish that was lined up along the side of the street - it was horrible and it made me realise the extreme poverty these people live in.
Once we went inside the school, we met with the Head Mistress and she showed us around the building. It was a complete contrast to what you would see when you looked outside. I was very impressed with the school; the building was at least three stories high with classrooms on each level. The classroom sizes were good with the capacity to fit at least thirty children in each room...
...The children stamped their Identity Cards using thumb prints and then as a class we discussed what having an identity meant. They did such lovely drawings of themselves and decorated them to their own personal taste. It was in this exercise that my student Ayesha was unable to tell me what her date of birth was as she didn’t understand what a birthday was. I really felt for her; in modern times, every person should know when they were born and to know that this girl had never celebrated her birthday really saddened me... Isn’t a birthday something that every child looks forward to?
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Ilmathon |
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This July, FTCF organised its very first sponsored walkathon in London’s Hyde Park to help turn strides into schools for the deserving children of Pakistan.
West Hatch students and teachers travelled all the way from Chigwell in Essex to take part and thoroughly enjoyed the picturesque and educational experience - walking past the Diana Fountain, 7th July Memorial, Speakers’ Corner and the enchanting Serpentine.
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Manchester Event with Dr. Marie Lall
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On Monday 3rd August, Friends of The Citizens Foundation hosted their first speaker event in Manchester with senior lecturer, Dr. Marie Lall from the Institute of Education. Dr. Lall is an Associate Fellow on the Asia Programme at Chatham House and is a member of the education advisory council at TCF (Pakistan). She has written extensively on South Asia and specifically on Education Policy, holding a Ph.D. in International Relations from the LSE and an MPhil from Cambridge.
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We once sought to receive and discovered the thrill of giving... |
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Once a student at TCF, Almas Khushi is now 23 years old and is teaching at the TCF Minhala Primary School. She comes from a family of four sisters and three brothers, all of whom studied at TCF schools. Almas had a difficult childhood, with both parents being uneducated and her father also being handicapped. Despite the odds, she studied conscientiously at TCF and through dogged determination she was given a TCF scholarship for her college education and Bachelors Degree in Computer Science. She became the first member of her family to attain an education to this level. Almas’s aspirations however do not stop there; she is currently studying for a Bachelors Degree in Education and hopes to go on to do a Masters in her specialist field, Computer Science.
We hear Almas’s thoughts on going from TCF student to TCF teacher…
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Friends Of The Citizens Foundation
Lyon House
160-166 Borough High Street
London
SE1 1JR
Tel: 0845 230 1947
Charity Registration No. 1087864
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