Fund raising with British Council for an educational cause

Just before a couple of weeks, I used to live selfishly: all my decisions were made putting my own needs and wants as the first consideration it seems rather corny to say that a few days in ACTIVE CITIZEN training changed my life, but I truthfully feel that it did have an enormous impact on me.

VISIONARY FOUNDATION PAKISTAN was the facilitator for this program. It was the fourth and last day of the training when they divided us into several groups and asked us to make a box from a chart paper. We thought that could be some sort of activity to check our prowess of creativity, so we gave our best and end up with a box with a slogan “EDUCATION FOR ALL” on 

it. 

We had no clue what were we doing until they told us that we were going to raise fund for ILMPOSSILE, a National social action project which believe that education is a right of every child in Pakistan. The facilitator by then finally told us to go down on the streets and raise fund for the cause. I don’t know about others but me and my whole group was surprised when we heard the word streets. Within a next hardly any seconds I sketched the entire picture of us walking on the streets asking people for money in my mind. 

At that moment, we were so reluctant to go for it and loathed the idea. But we had no other choice so we had to go down. It started with teasing each other as if we were the tramps pleading for cash. We were on one of the busiest streets of Karachi i-e TARIQ ROAD and it was scorching out there. We were wandering and stealing a look on the shops when one of us finally pointed towards a gold shop. We thought that would be a great start as we believed the one who own a gold shop could give us a handsome amount. By the next few minutes we were derailed when the security didn’t let us get in there. It was such grief when they dashed our hopes. At that moment one of us just wanted to give up however others managed to make him go with us. We were so sure it was a big waste of time. Nobody cares for the tramps, why would they give the money which they brought for shopping!! But the first experience which was the most horrible made us strong and by then we were certain that we had to do it. We all knew that the start would not be trouble-free.

 After that we were obsessed about raising fund and did it with great passion. We went to a small vendor who was selling toys. We were so touched when the old man gave us some bucks. Although the amount was not big but he appreciated our cause and wished us luck. Now that was a good start. We confronted by different people some made a contribution, some were ruthless, and some were making fun of us. What we observed that people who owned huge shops weren’t giving us anything whereas the people with small shops were actively donating. We went to a popular mall but unfortunately the security did not us let in there.          

We saw that the street was blocked so we took the benefit of it and started knocking on the windows of the cars. We could not believe that the people of our country are too good and are always prepared to lend a hand. There was not a single person who did not make a contribution. The most incredible was a Chinese couple who without asking any question gave us the biggest amount and wished us luck. Although there were a few people who didn’t give a positive respond yet

Nearly everyone gave their best. Moreover, what we observed that people were credulous and bestowing to a great extent without investigating at all. There could be some terrible people around us who would use this as an easy strategy to rip off the innocent citizens.