Thirteen years later

October 2005 and director of an NGO in Nagar north of Gilgit and an ordinary Saturday morning. Not. Lying in bed half asleep and with the cat on my chest and the BBC World Service mumbling away in the background it was a bit of a surprise to be suddenly suspended in mid-air. Earthquakes were not unusual in that neck of the woods but this was a biggie. Dived out clutching cat and laptop to see the Hilux double-top dancing a fandango and the upper reaches of Rakaposhi wreathed in avalanches some of which seemed to end up a bit closer than was strictly comfortable.

Though I did not know it at the time that was the point at which my connection with the Abaseen Foundation began. Abaseen had been working in Pakistan since the turn of the century and by a remarkable set of coincidences that involved my wife and the University of Central Lancashire in the UK, I found myself a week later in Battagram, meeting the Abaseen team that were providing quake relief. My work with Naunehal Development Organisation was mostly stalled through lack of funding and Abaseen quickly absorbed me into its cohort of unpaid do-gooders and yes, a great deal of good has been done ever since.

Thirteen years and many projects later the organisation is at something of a crux. Much of last week was spent in K-P with an Abaseen team who had been trekking in Chitral as a fundraiser for two schools. One, with an attached health centre, is for the children of the families that work on the brick kilns outside Peshawar; the other is on the edge of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas — Fata — and both have matured to be considerable success stories. Separately Abaseen is working on a long-term programme aimed at reducing stunting in children by developing a strain of wheat that is bio-fortified with zinc. Early signs are that this is successful and if the model is proved could have profound implications for the fight against stunting in Pakistan as a whole. And perhaps globally as well.

But it was health and education that the team was casting a critical eye over this time around — the visit is one of an annual cycle — and the consensus was that the year since our last visit much had been accomplished. For one thing the children in the brick-kiln school looked considerably healthier. In large part this is down to a local businessman and philanthropist who provide a hot meal over school day — which adds up to a very considerable donation. Comparing the photos I took a year ago to those I took last week there is a real weight-gain in some previously very thin children. Box ticked.

Over in Fata there were new buses to pick and drop children, locally built, plus there were over a hundred new enrolments over the year, five new classrooms had been built and were ceremonially opened and plans are afoot for the development of locally based vocational training. Over half of the student cohort is female. Quite an achievement in a very conservative area.

The above is a considerable compression of a vast body of work over almost 20 years done by men and women in the UK and Pakistan who are largely unsung and unknown. Hundreds of thousands of pounds have been raised and effectively and transparently spent, thousands have benefited and thousands — maybe millions — more are going to benefit in the future. And all this by one of those organisations that many in Pakistan love to hate — an NGO.

Under the radar Abaseen may be but it is not entirely unnoticed. Somebody in the UK noticed it. The Queen. Yes…that Queen. The Abaseen Foundation has been granted the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, a very considerable honour and a lasting recognition for a bunch of gritty do-gooders who really have made a difference to the lives of thousands of Pakistani men, women and children. Back in my early years as a social worker the soubriquet “do-gooder” was almost contemptuous. Those that stood and sang to a roomful of agog kids were all do-gooders — and dammit proud to be so. Tootle-pip!

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2018.

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