Recognising efforts of volunteers

Speakers stress the need to encourage volunteers so others may follow their footsteps.

HARIPUR: Speakers lauded the services of volunteers and encouraged people to serve humanity at a ceremony held to celebrate International Volunteer Day’ on Sunday. The ceremony was organised by the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) Haripur at Government High School No 2’s conference hall. Certificates were awarded to 75 best volunteers of the district for recognition of their services.

Speakers said that volunteers sacrifice their time and resources in serving humanity, “but unfortunately they are not given their due place in the society.” They said that volunteers need to be encouraged and given importance so that other people may follow in their footsteps.

District General Manager NCHD Mohammad Zaman said there are around 4,000 registered volunteers in district Haripur and the day is being celebrated “to recognise their efforts for serving humanity in hours of need”. He said that volunteers across the country played a vital role in providing relief to flood affected people of Swat and Bajaur. They also helped in assisting internally displaced people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) after the 2005 earthquake, he added.

The chief guest on the occasion, Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Dr Faiza Rashid said, “We should not assume that the efforts of volunteers are driven by religion, caste or creed.” Their sacrifices and contributions should be recognized on every forum and they should be treated with respect, he added.

District Officer Finance Haji Abdur Rashid, District Coordinator Red Crescent Haripur Ejaz Ahmed, MD Human Development Organization Haripur Sadaqat Ali also addressed the gathering. NCHD volunteers, officials of various NGOs and government representatives attended the conference.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2010.