PHILANTHROPY

Lend me your hand

I was rushing with my preparation for semester exams when one of our distant relatives called me asking if I could go as a writer with her daughter whose eyesight had failed her and she was unable to write lengthy answers in her B.A exams. She somehow managed to pass her matriculation and intermediate exams, but this time invigilators said a writer would have to go with her if she wanted to qualify.

It was a dead week for me but I couldn’t refuse her; she was worried and needed help. As my exams were in the morning, I could manage to go with her in the evening. All I had to do was listen to her and write. On the last of the exams we found out that we had become friends; she was glad that I helped her and whenever she expressed her feelings, I felt extremely rewarded.

This experience taught me a lesson: money doesn’t always help! Whenever we talk about charity, we place too much value on sharing material wealth with others and don’t realize that our time, energy and skills are also worth a million dollars. That’s why today the majority of charities rely more on volunteers than monetary donations they receive from organizations and individuals.

If you are listing plans for your summer break and are genuinely interested in spending it more productively, then consider adding volunteering to your list. If you are an art enthusiast, go make graffiti on their walls; if you are a tech geek, help the charity reach out to maximum people through social media. Remember, volunteering is a gift of your time and effort, so make it special.

There are several welfare and charity organizations in Pakistan that encourage youth to participate in charity work. With offering youth-friendly volunteering options, they are expanding their army of volunteers.

Dar-ul-Sukun

For ensuring maximum involvement of youth, the volunteering programme at Dar-ul-Sukun has got volunteering roles to suit different skill sets, time commitments and interests. People can join sports trainings, or work as a caregiver support volunteer, or simply help us raise funds.

“We visit universities where we talk about making our education system and infrastructure disability friendly; when we engage with young people, we are actually looking for ideas and suggestions,” Samina Sadiq, Events and Training Coordinator at Dar-ul-Sukun talks about youth engagement.

She also shared that all the photography at their events and campaigns is handled by volunteers. The organization doesn’t have to pay them; this is also charity!

Another interesting aspect of this organization is inclusive volunteering. The idea is to encourage differently-abled individuals to participate in the volunteer work. Samina says, “After all, nobody is perfect; instead of cursing ourselves all the time, we should focus on our strengths.

“We rely on our volunteers to run this organization, so we try making it easy for them to join. They just have to fill up forms and mention their areas of interest and the time they could give to the organization. Minimum time is 20 hours and maximum is 120 hours. We can’t imagine working without our volunteers!”

Robin Hood Army

If you are the one in family who protest against the wastage of food in family weddings, then you are part of Robin Hood Army (RHA). Their idea is pretty simple: collect surplus food items from high-end eateries and give them to homeless families, slum dwellers, night shelters, orphanages and patients. For RHA, volunteers are pillars; every week, they distribute food to 800 people in Karachi. RHA has chapters in Lahore and Islamabad as well, but they are on a smaller scale and are being further developed.

“The main thing we get from our volunteers is their time! Above that, since our organization does not accept monetary donations and sustains itself on the efforts of its volunteers, many of our volunteers use their own homes, bikes and cars to help pick up, store and reheat food,” Asad Soorty, a volunteer,  talks about volunteering at RHA.

Not just food distribution, volunteers also interact with the local communities; they conduct fun activities for kids and educate them about hygiene, education and basic human rights.

So, spending a day with them distributing packets of biryani is not a bad idea!

Imkaan

At Imkaan, people believe volunteering helps build trust between the citizens and organization. Through volunteerism, people get the sense of how charity organizations work. Imkaan provides equal opportunities to every individual, irrespective of their race, colour and religion.

Imkaan Welfare Organization has made serious efforts to address the issue of infanticide and child abandonment.

They move across Pakistan and visit rural areas where this issue is never given its due importance.

Sadly, organizations that work against social evils and try to question set traditions don’t have enough volunteers to help them; people hesitate to volunteer at such places because it can be dangerous.

 #AmanVolunteers

“Aman Volunteers” is developed by the Aman Foundation that provides volunteer and service opportunities to students and professionals. Focusing on growing a culture of community service throughout Karachi, Aman Volunteers intend to bring Karachiites on a platform where they could work together to improve the city. One such successful initiative was Shajar-e-Aman, whereby Aman members, celebrities, and leading activists planted thousands of trees across Karachi. The purpose was to create awareness among the people that in order to beat the heat waves in the city, tree plantation was crucial.

To join volunteer programmes at these organizations is easy. It doesn’t require tiresome filling of forms and applications, elaborate interviews or references/recommendations from seniors. You just have to fill a brief form online to become a part of their mission.

 

In Pakistan, around 70 billion rupees of charity is made through volunteer work.