Desi ghee = organic clarified butter. It’s used in cooking and is considered very healthy, especially when made at home. The machines to make it are easily available in the market, but they’re also pretty expensive. Today we’re in a small community called Ishpitas, where a total of 85 kids are studying in our non-formal school. They’re mainly a community of people who are migrated from other parts of the country, and because of that, they’re more at risk – they’re sometimes looked down upon by other people in the area. They’re primarily dependent on milk and vegetables for food. Even the poorest families will try to have at least one cow, so that they can use it to produce buttermilk and make ghee from it. It’s so good for your health, and many people like to use it in the morning and give to their kids for breakfast. When we were chatting with the community here, they told us that desi ghee making machines would make their lives a whole lot easier – faster production for a … [Read more...] about Churning Up Change

Hello! It’s Waleed again, back in Shirote Thingi. As you can probably tell from the photos, the terrain here is beautiful – but it can also be a bit treacherous. In order to get things like wood for cooking and keeping warm, people travel long distances over and through the mountains. It’s also a heavy load and incredibly time consuming, putting a big burden on all – women, children, and men – who venture out to do it. We asked everyone what could help lessen the burden. And there was lots of excitement about one idea in particular….cooking stoves! Cooking stoves are easy to use – you can switch it on and off and cooks quickly. What used to take 30 minutes to cook now takes only 10-15 minutes. The impact of the new cooking stoves was felt by all, but especially by one woman in particular. Her name is Bibi Daana, she was the most in need. I can’t even tell you how much of an impact this had on her life! “It was hard labor to go out and collect wood,” she said. “We would … [Read more...] about An Easier Way

Hello everyone! My name is Waleed, I’m a Literary Mobilizer for Alight in Pakistan. I’ll be with you for the next few days as we do the doable in the community of Shirote Thingee in Giglit, a very beautiful and mountainous part of the country. Here, we have rich soil. So rich that there is incredible abundance, literally right below the surface. The problem is, most people in Shirote Thingee only have access to poor quality seeds that don’t yield much growth at all. People here love growing their own vegetables – even when they don’t have much space to do it. They know the nutritional worth, and are grateful for that rich soil that allows them to grow many types of things. They wish they could afford more. This was a very doable fix! We provided high quality seeds so that they can grow more, better, and stronger plants. From Spinach, okra, onions, and more, bountiful vegetables will soon be sprouting. The types of vegetable seeds we provided were desirable before – but … [Read more...] about A Bountiful Harvest

Walking around Shah Allah Ditta, there’s something you might notice – the kids are very small. Sometimes a five year old will look like a three year old, sometimes a nine year old will look seven or six. Why? They just aren’t getting enough nutrition. At the new school we opened up in the community, one of the teachers, Rabia, has experience raising cattle and livestock. And she wanted to make an investment – in time and in energy – to raise some additional livestock at the school so that kids can get access to their milk. If Rabia was willing to invest her time, we wanted to invest in her! We gave her a set of goats – which are easy to milk and less wieldy than cattle - with the idea that she’d keep them at the school, providing milk to the kids while at school. Already, Rabia has become a beloved and trusted member of this small community – she looks out for them, is willing to go the extra mile. Families were hesitant at first to send their kids to school, but … [Read more...] about Dairy Queen

Today we’re in Shah Allah Ditta, a community near Islamabad that feels a like the countryside. There are green hills, open spaces, and small houses dotted throughout. There are only 60 households in the community! We recently opened up a new informal school in Shah Allah Ditta, and we wanted to find ways to encourage more kids and families to come. One of the teachers at the school owned some land, and she told us that she was willing to provide that space to grow trees, fruits, and flowers for the kids. I was so amazed by her generosity. We all had an idea…what if we turned her gift into a lesson, inviting the kids to work a bit on the garden when they come to school? We decided that each child would be responsible for one tree, and we assigned groups of kids to tend different types of flowers….daisies, lilies, tulips, jasmine, and more. Then we brought in nametags so that the children could label their trees and flowers. And together, the teachers and the children … [Read more...] about New School, New Growth

I often work with Afghan refugee families in Islamabad. Many of them live together in a settlement that’s not officially recognized by the city, so that means they go without some of the basic services that everyone else has access to – including schools. We run a non-formal school inside this settlement to help ensure that kids are not falling completely behind in their education. I actually began my career here. When we started no girls were going to school at all! Now many of them are learning at our school, and I’ve seen them grow right before my eyes. Our closeness is special - many of these families have also been traumatized in the past, and they’re not always trusting of outsiders. I now feel privileged to call them my friends! One of our special traditions is having an Iftar dinner all together every year. We invite people from the Afghan community and all of our Alight Pakistan staff. The idea is that we get to serve them – they become the guest and we become the … [Read more...] about Friends & Neighbors

Welcome to Ispalal, a community not very far from Islamabad. But although it’s so close to the capital, it can feel very rural – plenty of open spaces and room to grow. Ispalal is where one of our non-formal schools (schools that help kids who have dropped out of school get learning again) is located. It’s a low-income community, and many of the families struggle with ways to support their kids. When I visited Ispalal with my team, we realized that what many of the families really wanted was something that would take advantage of all that open space… …what about some chickens? I’ve visited so many communities, but I can tell you that Ispalal is one of the most marginalized. There are not a lot of opportunities. There are even less opportunities for young girls. So I knew that a few chickens – that could provide income, nutrition from the eggs, and new skills – would go a long way. I have to tell you, the women who are now tending to these chickens are so proud! They … [Read more...] about A Little Chicken Goes a Long Way…

Hello everyone! My name is Fatima. I’ve been a Community Mobilizer with Alight in Pakistan, and I absolutely love what I do. A big part of my job is to spend time with communities – getting to know them, building relationships, learning what’s needed and how we can get more kids back to school. I’m so excited to take you with me for the next five days as we work with them to implement projects that, I believe, will really make a difference in their lives! Let’s get started with Day One – in Muslim Colony, a neighborhood of Islamabad! When we were sitting as a team, thinking about the different things we could do to help, one thing came to mind right away. Much of the time the families we work with just don’t have enough food. So many of the children come to school without food, without having eaten. As you can imagine, this is a huge problem for the kids – nutritionally and otherwise. How can you concentrate with a growling stomach? But more than just providing a hot meal, … [Read more...] about Growing Up Gardening

Before leaving Islamabad, we wanted to have one last get together with a group of parents and students from one of the communities we had been working with called Ispalal. This group had welcomed us quickly and fully into their community, and we felt easily at home whenever we visited and were greeted by hugs and warm words. Not only that, but the mothers were particularly invested in ensuring that their children excelled in school and grew up in a supportive and clean community... These were the same mothers who championed the waste disposal project by suggesting getting new garbage bins that they would be able to take care of, and the same mothers who were supporting their children in starting kitchen gardens at home and planting fruit trees that would grow up as the students did the same. Since it was the month of Ramadan, we realized quickly that an easy solution to our idea of getting together would be to host an iftar, where we’d be able to break the fast of the day … [Read more...] about Come Together

A few weeks ago, one of our staff members had the idea of planting one tree for each student in our non-formal school program in Pakistan. We started to make this dream a reality with a couple of our schools in Lahore — Natt Kalan and Attoki Awan. Today, we’re bringing this idea to some of our schools in Islamabad. We're so excited to say that there will be at least one tree for every student in Muslim Colony, Shah Allah Ditta, and Ispalal! “I want to take this field and plan everything out," said Rabia, the teacher of the Shah Allah Ditta school, "making sure that everything has its place. Different plants on the inside, surrounded by fruit trees.” Rabia and her students decided to plant their trees so that they would grow along the edge of the school and her farm, eventually surrounding them all with bursting fruit trees. Now, Rabia’s students water the trees first thing every morning — an easy way for Rabia to use the trees to teach her students a bit about biology, a … [Read more...] about Tree-ting the Students