Fund-raising: 500 students to dance to Harlem Shake today

Event to be organised to raise awareness about education.

LAHORE:

More than 500 students will take part today in the making of a 40 to 45-second video dancing to the tune of Harlem Shake not just for fun but also to raise awareness about education.

Called Harlem Shake for a Change, the event is being organised by Trivium a student facilitation organisation   to raise awareness about education while pledging funds which will be donated to the Care Foundation to help them sponsor students and schools.

“It’s not just about raising funds but also about creating awareness that all children deserve equal opportunities,” said Awais Khalid, senior associate at Trivium. The idea to hold the event came from the viral Harlem Shake videos on the internet. The videos, which have been widely replicated, usually consist of a single individual dancing to the song. The shot is then cut to show a crowd doing a random dance routine. According to a BBC News Magazine article, the upload rate of Harlem Shake videos had reached 4,000 a day by early February.

But the video being made today in Lahore would have a “desi touch”, said Khalid. A remix of the song including dhols would be used as well as white and green of the national flag. “We are making it more relatable by incorporating local colours and music themes,” he said.

Khalid said while the event was not a ‘flashy’ fund-raiser, it aimed at involving the community.”All it takes to make a difference is one person,” he said, “that is what we want to show in the video.”

“Initially we wanted to do a flash mob but the Harlem Shake video seemed more fun and engaging to us,” said Rabiya Masud, another senior associate at Trivium. But, Masud said, the focus was on the idea not the execution. “Yes, we do want students to have fun during this video but we also want a strong message going out that the Pakistani youth are concerned about education and working for it,” she said.

Each participant is expected to donate at least Rs100 for the event, which will be directly handed over to the Care Foundation on the spot. The event organisers are expecting to raise Rs150,000. According to the Care Foundation, Rs100,000 are sufficient to sponsor a government school for one month.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Care Foundation Marketing Executive Hina Sajid said their a Care team would also be present at the event. She said she hoped for a chance to interact with students and raise awareness about their work. The Care Foundation, she said, was sponsoring nearly 160,000 students in 231 low-functioning government schools, mostly spread across Punjab. (A few are in Karachi). Sajid said the event would appeal to students because of its “fun” element but at the same time would help people understand how they could contribute. “For instance, it just takes Rs700 to sponsor a child at a government school for a month,” she said.

The event is expected to take place at G-Block Sports Complex in Phase 5 of the Defence Housing Authority. It will include students from the Aitchison College, the Lahore School of Economics, the Lahore University of Management Sciences, the Beaconhouse National University, the Lahore College of Arts and Sciences and the Lahore Grammar School. The event has a Facebook page according to which more than 500 people have already signed up for the event and pledged donations. The organisers have said they would contribute to the fund-raising. The video is expected to be shot between 3pm and 4pm and to be uploaded in a week.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2013.