Each bag of ration contained the following items:

• 10 kg wheat flour
• 5 kg rice
• 5 kg sugar
• 2 kg white chickpeas
• 1 kg milk powder
• 2 kg yellow pulses
• 2 kg chana pulses
• 2.5 kg ghee
• 2 kg gram flour
• 1 kg dates
• 2 liters oil
• 1 packet vermicelli
• 1 bottle red sharbat (drink)
• 0.4 kg dry tea

This event is co-sponsored by Shelter (www.shelter.ae)

The Citizens Archive of Pakistan has been associated with The Garage School for the past several months. They have their School Outreach Program running at TGS every Thursday.

The summer camp was filled with fun filled activities for the students, who learnt about different cultures of the world, artwork, etc. during this 20 day program. The students also went to the Robotics lab which gave them a much needed exposure to technological advances in the world.

As a thank you to TCAP, the students arranged a small party for them on the last day of this program. The students were given certificates and goody bags. There was music, dance, refreshments tossed in with a lot of fun.

The enthusiasm shown by our students have made us proud! Given their background, yet looking at their output, it is very vivid that these children can do wonders in any field if given a chance.

I stumbled on this saying while searching through the internet. This rightly portrays a mother’s love for her child. Mothers are the ultimate creation of God and those people who have their mothers with them are extremely lucky.

One such person in the TGS family is Mrs. Shabina Mustafa. Although, she is not the students’ mother by birth, she does much more for them than a birth mother would. We are all extremely lucky to have her amongst us.

The Garage School students had prepared lots of handmade cards for her and sent balloons to her as well. It was very unfortunate that she was extremely sick then, hence no celebrations took place at The Garage School.

The school arranged a set of bangles for each child’s mother. The mothers were overjoyed at the special treatment given to them by their kids.

We make sure to celebrate such occasions so as to instill in them the love for their family and for their country and also to teach them the importance of all these relationships in our lives.

All the credit goes to Dr. Khalid Bhamba who has been the medical angel for The Garage School since 2001. The students get free ENT checkups, eye checkups and blood grouping at his hospital.

Mariam, a new student, who just turned 5 was the bravest of the first batch of students that went for their checkups. She was not only extremely patient in the extreme heat at the hospital but also let the doctor take her blood for the grouping without a murmur. When even the older children were crying, she maintained her calm!

Medical checkups will continue through the second and the third weeks of May.

The school came alive again with the usual warnings for coming late, the teachers teaching the class and the students asking questions, the chatter during recess and activities for TGS open day, scheduled for the first week of June.

School for Nursery students started on 2nd May and like any other school, the kids were vary of letting their mothers go. Some students cried for hours till their parents came to get them. And today, their third day at school, they still bawl for an hour before they settle down.

Unlike the others, there are two cousins in Nursey who come to the school alone from the colony. Their parents work long hours and hence these kids are on their own! For this reason. we cannot move out of Neelum Colony and the building that we plan on purchasing, borders this colony. We must get children like these off the streets and into the school in order to bring about a revolutionary change in these colonies by the light of education.

Outstanding students for academic performance, cleanliness, regularity and punctuality were awarded certificates and small tokens of appreciation by The Garage School.

Parents of these students, who had come along with their children for their results, were given a lecture by Mrs. Mustafa on health, hygiene and the importance of education. They were explained in detail as to how they could play their part in polishing their child’s future.

Emphasizing on the importance of education, these parents were urged to come to The Garage School in the evening to study at least the basic English. Urdu and Mathematics courses in our eight month Jugnoo (basic Adult Literacy) course. Most parents, especially mothers were enthusiastic to join these classes which will be beginning from May.

We’d like to wish these students and also those parents who’d be starting their classes from next week, all the very best for the coming year.

The students have been preparing for these final exams for the past one month at least! All geared up and hopeful to be promoted to the next grade, these students are trying to give in their very best for the paper.

These exams end on7th April 2012 and the reports will be given on the 12th. The new academic year will start from 23rd April 2012.

In the end, Mrs. Mustafa spoke to the students emphasizing the need for education in a developing country like Pakistan and how education can drastically change the lives of these students.

The littlest ones – singing the National Anthem