Adult Literacy

This will be in association with the Literacy Support Centre. It includes courses for parents and older siblings of the students of Garage School. There will be a three month Urdu course, followed by a 4 to 6 month English course. Children who are older than 12 will complete Grade 10 schooling in a period of 4 years on a private basis. The class strength at present is 31 (12 men and 18 women. Classes will be held five times a week from 4 to 10pm.

Clean Neighbourhood and Recycling

Dustbins being developed in the arts and crafts class of the school will be provided for each house. Personal visits will be made to homes to distribute stitched cloth bags for the collection and proper disposal of papers, glass and tin. These items will then be sold for recycling. The money from the sale of these items will be saved by each family in containers that are provided.

Savings Project

Each child will save their pocket money and collect in a gullak (mud container). This will teach them the habit of saving and fulfilling their desire at the end of the year. This is the first step towards opening a Garage School bank.

First Aid and Recycling Awareness

A first aid awareness program was conducted on the 20th of January, 2008, courtesy Dr. Nighat. First Aid kits were prepared and provided to each participant. Dr. Nighat will also conduct weekly counselling for the women of the locality.

Medical Checkups

Dr. Farah Ahmed of the department of Community Health Sciences will be conducting quarterly medical checkups for the children and their parents. We shall try our best to improve and upgrade the living conditions of everyone.

WHAT WE NEED

We need our own premises for the Garage School, a place where we are able to conduct all classes from Nursery to Class X. The children require a proper space for sports and extra curricular activities.

Sponsorship Programs

Sponsor a Child (PK Rs. 10,200, USD 170)

Sponsor School Rent (PK Rs. 30,000 per month, USD 500)

Sponsor a Classroom (PK Rs. 6,000 per month, USD 100)

Sponsor a Teacher (PK Rs. 5,000 to 10,000 a month, USD 82 to 164)

Funds for school based consultancy and support programs

In collaboration with the Educational Resource Development Center, TGS aims to launch a one year extensive teachers’ training program for capacity building. A sum of Rs. 663,000 is required for this project.

Please help us with our objectives. Any manner of assistance will be highly appreciated. Thanks.

Please make cheques in the name of “The Garage School”

Standard Chartered Bank, Clifton, Karachi

Account Number: 01-4544048-01

Swift Code: SCBL PKK XXX

Tax Approval No. CIT/COS.V//2006/464

250 Blankets

Cost: Rupees 200 each (USD 3.50)

As winter is settling in, most parents are coming up to me for blankets. As you are aware, I am running a family oriented community school for the less privileged. Your blankets will give them warmth during winter. So help keep them warm. 

Sweaters and Socks

I am also requesting families to give sweaters and socks and any other thing to keep the children warm.

Teacher Training Programmes

Cost: Rupees 14,500 each (USD 238)

The school requires sponsorship for professional Teacher Training Programmes. Two teachers will attend this 6 month course (twice a week, 150 hours total) at the Educational Research Development Center in Nazimabad, Karachi. With this course, a lot of girls and teachers from our school will benefit from the training, and especially once we open a similar one in Clifton in the near future.

Short Courses for Teachers

Cost: Rupees 600 each (USD 10)

Six to eight teachers have opted for these short courses.

School Van

Cost Rupees 400,000 (USD 6,558)

SOGO Van is made in China and is a 10 seater Hi-roof. It will be used as an ambulance and for school field trips.

Van Driver Salary

Cost: Rupees 6,000 (USD 100)

Medicines

Looking for donations of the following medicines for about 150 children of two slum areas:

Multivitamins or Vidalyn

Iron, Calcium

Calpol – Cough Syrup

Panadol, Polyfax

Shampoo for Lice

Dettol or Safeguard soap

Washing powder or soap

Most of the children are quite malnourished.

Oil

Looking for an oil company to provide tins of oil.

This is a very important theme as nearly 10% of the population of Pakistan lives with some form of disability, yet we do not provide any special facilities for them. We hope through these activities students will become sensitive to the needs and problems of the disabled persons around them and participate in making our societies better equipped for disabled persons.

Their slogan was “We have the power” to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by persons with disabilities.

The convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted in 2006 at the United Nations and was opened for signature on March 30, 2007. So far 118 countries have signed the convention, including Bangladesh. But, unfortunately, Pakistan is not one of them. They are encouraging all students to collect as many signatures as they can on a petition addressed to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, urging the government to sign the convention.

On the 3^rd of December all the petitions will be handed over to Barrister Mrs. Nasreen Jamil.

This course will go on till April 2008.

On Saturday afternoon from 2:30 to 5:30pm a Professional Teachers Training course at the Educational Research Development Center in Nazimabad was attended by two of our teachers, including myself. This course takes place twice a week for a total of 150 hours.

It costs Rupees 14,500 per teacher (USD 238).

The objective of the course is to:

• Inculcate true values and vision of education in teachers.
• To equip teachers with the latest and effective approaches to teaching.
• To prepare teachers for the modern challenges in the field of school education.

I feel my doing this course will help benefit many girls and teachers whom we can in turn help motivate to become good teachers. In the future we can open a similar center in Clifton, so that teachers and girls can avail the advantage of these long and short courses which will eventually raise the standard of education in this slum area of Clifton. It will benefit many in Neelum and Shah Rasool and adjoining areas.

They explained to them that all items in the garbage are recycled, except polythene bags. Therefore, most of the bags keep flying and lying on the streets and eventually clog up the sewerage pipes.

They were told how beautiful God created the world, and how we as humans are destroying and spoiling the environment and as a result create health hazards. To avoid or reduce this, they distributed cloth bags to use instead of polythene bags. They further advised why the shopkeepers put bread in a polythene bag when the bread is already wrapped in plastic.

I further suggested to all the families by showing them the baskets made from palm leaves. They could line the inside with plastic and carry it for all their groceries as it is easy to carry and will give more accommodation for other stuffs.

Many parents turned up for the presentation. It was a great response!

The children ran with full speed, running wild on seeing such an open space for them to play. These children are starved for recreation. Besides the open space to run around in, there were no swings or slides. There were, however, the machine-run merry-go-rounds. But, how many of these children can afford these rides which cost R. 15 to 50 per ride. Also, there were no special grounds for them to play cricket or football. But the children had a good day and really enjoyed themselves.

16 schools participated in the programme including ABSA school for the deaf. It was a great experience for the garage school children who had never been to a theatre or watched a play.

They gained a lot of awareness too, as the programme showed how to preserve our trees, and about global warming, that temperatures on Earth will rise by 6 degrees by the end of the century. Quite scary!

It is our collective responsibility to look after our environment, to deal with difficult times, and most of all to spread love, peace and happiness.

The show ended with a message of hope involving all the participants lighting candles to the background of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poem sung by Nayyara Noor. Thanks to Naheed for inviting us today.

We ended the evening by having Tipu’s Bun Kebabs and the happy school family came home after a very enjoyable evening.

I was astonished and shocked by the way they administered the injections. It was as if they were dealing with a herd of animals. The poor kids cried and some who looked anxiously at the bananas got pacified. They were pricking the needles into the children at a great speed!

Their packet of cotton wool was open and not well covered. It wasn’t a hygienic procedure at all. I wondered if they even washed their hands or wiped the kids’ arms with a swab.

Maybe they were in a hurry to cover a lot of schools in a limited time and were going to the low status areas first.

I really expected more from the UNICEF but was disappointed.

Anyway, good, bad, or indifferent, UNICEF was caring for the health of the underprivileged, and I hope and pray that they continue to do so for all other immunizations, e.g hepatitis, typhoid, etc.

I hope someone can come and spray these areas to get rid of the flies and mosquitoes as well. Wishful thinking!