On our recent trip to Pakistan, we had the honour of visiting a local IDRF project in Islamabad. We met with the Country Director of IDRF’s Pakistan Office, Yasir Khan, and the NGO that IDRF partners with called PAGE (Pakistan Alliance for Girls Education). Having had been on the Board of Directors for the last 12yrs and actively fundraising for various projects from afar, it has been a dream of mine to be able to see the work IDRF does in person on the ground and this was an eye opening experience for me. My only regret is that I didn’t have enough time to give to see more of the impactful projects around Pakistan. Living in Canada you know that there is poverty and people are in need, but seeing the work with my own eyes, witnessing progress in motion from organizations like IDRF gives me hope and assurance that our donations are being used effectively and changing lives everyday.

IDRF is rolling out temporary schools in the flood affected areas of Balochistan and Sindh.They will be schools just like this one I saw in Islamabad. There are 24 schools and 1260 students in total learning subjects such as language, math, science. These are accelerated programs to fill the learning gaps of children and quickly get them up to grade level. It’s not uncommon to have a 10yr old at a grade 1 level. Please swipe through photos in my gallery of both the school I attended and the ones in the flood regions.

This year, my birthday falls during Ramadan, the holiest month in the year that teaches us to focus on giving to the poor and needy. I have never done a birthday fundraiser before, but I feel compelled to do what I can for the children in pakistan after seeing what I saw. Driving through villages and underserved towns in those two weeks made it very clear that we need to invest more in education in this region and the littlest bit of money goes a long way there. Please donate what you can towards my fundraiser. $10, $20 it doesn’t matter the amount. Together, let’s help change lives and keep kids in school.

With love and gratitude,

Seema ❤️