Bay View High School students try to make an academic career out of charity work

The students regularly organise fund raising events throughout the entire academic year.

KARACHI: The students of Bay View High School may have small budgets, but they have not allowed this fact to stop them generating large funds for charity.

Over the years, the educational institution’s community service club, Everlasting Spirits, has raised a staggering Rs10 million for charitable organisations. One of the largest recipients of the funds is the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (Malc). Since Everlasting Spirits was formed shortly after the devastating earthquake in 2005, the community service club has donated no less than Rs7 million to Malc in the form of cash and special instruments needed to treat eye diseases.

Dr Mutahir Zia, a leprosy specialist working with Malc, was extremely grateful and touched by the students’ spirit of generosity. “Among educational institutions, Bay View High School has become the biggest contributors to Malc and organises annual events to generate funds exclusively for the organisation.”

When the earthquake hit, the school decided to donate Rs650,000 to help rebuild two leprosy centres which had been detroyed. While talking to The Express Tribune, the school’s vice principal, Nadeem Islam said, “Through our experience, we came to the conclusion that we can give Malc the money and then not worry about it.” The students then decided that they should take ownership of these projects and continue supporting them in the long run. They decided to run the Kashmir-based medical units and also adopted a ward at the leprosy centre in Saddar.

Behind the scenes

To help generate funds for these causes, the school organised a music concert where three of the top bands of that time - Fuzon, Meekal Hasan Band and Noori - played to a packed venue.



“I had never done a music concert in my life and had no idea what it takes to organise one,” said Islam. “It was an unusual experience to have meetings with the bands and sound-system people at coffee shops in Zamzama - sometimes, even during the middle of the night.”

On gearing up the bands for charity, which otherwise work commercially, Islam said he could never forget the role of one person Louis J Pinto (aka ‘Gumby’) who was then a drummer common to all three bands. He recalled that the student body went all out to acquire sponsors. A student’s parent was associated with an airline company and literally ten minutes into Islam’s conversation with its representatives, the organisation agreed to provide 14 free tickets to fly in all band members from Lahore. “That was like saving of around Rs175,000 and we consider it as a major contribution by the airline.”

Since then, the school commits around one million rupees to Malc each year and their primary source of fund-raising includes a carnival where more than 3,000 children and parents participate. They also organise other events all year round, including bake sales.

Three years ago, the school’s music club also joined forces with Everlasting Spirit and now organises an annual inter-school battle of the bands, titled ‘Rockistan’. The event not only generates more than Rs175,000 annually, but is thoroughly enjoyed by students.

Other efforts

In the summer of 2010, when massive floods ravaged Pakistan, the students of Bay View High School were quick to act. Rations, tents and medicines were quickly dispatched to a village near Rahim Yar Khan and an eager bus full of students went to Aliabad village in Jamshoro district and Talhar in Badin, where the Navy had set up relief camps.

The collaboration with the Navy took a new dimension when Bay View High decided to sponsor a five-room school in Aliabad. The students eagerly signed up to paint the building once it was constructed. “It was freezing in December and these students had never done anything like that before,” recalled Islam. “Despite covered with ‘choona’ from top to bottom it was fun for them.”

The students’ association with Everlasting Spirit so phenomenal that they now consider it a part of their academic career, Mahnoor Maqsood, an A’ level student at the school, told The Express Tribune “This is our medium to reach out to the community and help them where there it is needed.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2013.