Operation Eid Child spreads love and happiness by distributing hand-packed Eid gift boxes to children. PHOTOS: COURTESY OPERATION EID CHILD
Operation Eid Child, a project launched in March this year by Sharmine Aziz, works towards packaging Eid gift boxes for Pakistani children between two and 14 years of age.
What made Aziz launch this project?
Aziz says she got the idea in Canada upon seeing a friend's post about packing children's gift boxes for Christmas. "I thought it was the most incredible idea ever and I was suddenly so impatient to pack my own box for an unknown child somewhere in the world," shared Aziz. "I remember feeling so elated and all I could think about was how happy the child will be when they receive this Christmas gift." She added that she knew then and there that she had to replicate the model in Pakistan.
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With an eight-member team spread across the country to help spread the message, more than 6,000 boxes have been given out to children since the project started.
The thought of spreading love among young children is what motivates Aziz in making the gift boxes. "The title [Operation Eid Child] makes you feel responsible for a child."
Referring to the message she is giving to a child, Aziz said that the message is simple. "It spreads love and happiness," she said. "It brings a smile." She considers such a message an important one at a time when fear, anger and resentment engulf our society. "It also says that you are not alone," she added. "There is someone out there to care. The proof is in your hands."
In her mission to spread the message of love and care, Aziz is not targeting a specific region or locality of Pakistan. "We go as far and wide as we can," she asserts. "A child is a child no matter where he is in Pakistan."
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Talking about if Pakistani people are generous and willing to participate in funding a gift box, Aziz says that the response has been overwhelming from all across the country. "People have personally taken out the time to pack the most adorable and heartfelt boxes," she says, adding that they got their children and families involved as well.
"We don't accept donations because we want you as an individual to go through the experience of making something special for someone you have never even met!" she said.
Take a peak: What’s inside a box?
According to Sharmine Aziz, who has launched the Operation Eid Child, there is a variety of items offered in her Eid boxes. These are:
1. Toiletries - soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb and brush
2. Water bottle and juice box
3. Biscuits
4. Colouring book
5. Colouring pencils and crayons
6. Chocolate and candy
7. For boys: tennis ball, toy car, action figure
8. For girls: doll, bracelets, necklace, hair accessories
9. T-shirt (medium-sized)
10. Anything educational (stationery, picture storybooks)
11. Socks
12. Cap or scarf
Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2016.
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