Le carnival: Community service-inspired event a big hit

Students, parents enjoy festivities, as organisers promise to funnel proceeds to charity.

KARACHI: The timing seemed to have been perfect. In a few weeks, all the youngsters observed at the school’s grounds would be busy cramming for their mock examinations. So why not spend these last few days of freedom they have in a worthwhile manner, they might ask.

Students of Bay View High School, along with their friends and families, seemed to have a ball of a time, at a carnival organised by the school’s community service organisation, The Everlasting Spirit, on Sunday.

The vice principal of the school, Nadeem Islam, said that Bay View was targeting to raise one million rupees from this event, while it had raised nearly Rs1.5 million last year. All the proceeds would be forwarded to the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre.

“Ruth Pfau is no less than Mother Teresa,” he said, while referring to the founder of the leprosy centre. “Our school and students act as volunteers for leprosy patients and contribute to the centre.”

Islam said that over the last five years, the community service organization, formed in the wake of the devastating earthquake of 2005, has raised Rs7.5 million for leprosy patients, flood and earthquake victims and for people displaced from Swat and the country’s tribal areas in the aftermath of the military operation in 2009. “The Everlasting Spirit is one tremendous effort on behalf of our students and faculty,” he said.

Students seemed aware of their civic duty to help the less privileged class of the city. Zulekha Sakrani, an alumni who had come to enjoy the festivities, said: “Everyone here is a part of this organisation. Volunteering and donating is the language we learnt from here.” One of the organisers of the event, Fizzah Allahwala, quipped, “As a privileged human being, I want to make a difference for the underprivileged in our society.”

The carnival seemed to have something to please everyone in attendance. Parents were thrilled about the variety of stalls that were set up and glad that their wards were having a nice time. “It’s absolutely amazing,” said Madiha Noman, who has three children enrolled at the school. “My children have played all the games available here.”

Most of the stalls seemed to be devoted to different kinds of games, which were a huge hit with students. Other popular attractions included the numerous food stalls, as well as a fortune teller, among others. But the most sought-after stall seemed to be the so-called ‘jail’, where students could turn in their friends for half an hour. “I just put in 15 of my friends into it,” exclaimed a student, Saman Khan. The younger children, meanwhile, thronged to stalls devoted designing tattoos and face painting.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2012.