If only...
If only the funds were available. In a world where ...
4 121 million children (28 million in Pakistan) have no opportunity to attend primary school
(UNICEF)
4 Two-thirds of the world's 799 million illiterate adults aged 15 and over are women
4 More than 20,000 people die every day as a result of extreme poverty (THE END OF POVERTY -
Jeffrey Sachs)
4 Half the world — nearly three billion people — live on less than two dollars a day (Anup Shah)
4 Sales of pet food and pet care products in UK were £2,357 million in 2004 (Euromonitor)
... surely funds are available to bring hope to the poor!
Korangi 2½
We have been moved by the needs of this run-down
industrial area of eastern Karachi for some time. Korangi
has been a dream. George Thomas is a pastor of the Full
Gospel Assemblies in this area. His wife, Fehmida, was a
teacher. Could they together run a small primary school
and give hope to at least some of the Christian children in
this very poor slum?
We hope to start this school in January 2008. Please
dream the dream of faith with us.
 
Tariq Iqbal, who has opened a Junior School in the Noori Gate colony in
Sargodha, which is supported by the Starfish Asia fund, also visits
Sargodha Jail every day to take a class with the prisoners. He has
already placed a library in the Jail for use by the prisoners, and has now
been asked by the jail authorities to build a classroom and start a regular
school for the prisoners. Tariq has asked the Starfish Asia fund to help.
We continue to dream...
However... these dreams came true in 2007
Twenty miles east of Lahore, close to the India border, there is a small
community of Christians, working in a bamboo plantation. A family has
taken the responsibility to start a small Primary School for the children of
the community -- few of whom would otherwise receive an education. As
the school grows beyond two classes, they will need to provide extra
classrooms, hire teachers, invest in some equipment. The Government is
not giving help. They have approached the Starfish Asia fund.
[In February 2007 we gave the school a grant sufficient to build new classrooms -- a dream
come true]

The family that runs the Miracle School have a passion to help a colony
of very poor Christians working on a brick kiln at the eastern edge of
Lahore. The community has no church, no pastor, no school and the
children play in the dirt with no future beyond a life of making bricks in the
hot sun. Angela and Rubina go there each week to take a Sunday
School class, but their desire is to open a Primary School to give the next
generation hope for a better future. They have asked the Starfish Asia
fund for help.
[The School opened in January 2007 and now serves 150 children of brick kiln workers -- a
dream coming true for 150 children!]

Ashraf and Wilma live in a Christian colony in Lahore. Out of a personal
concern for orphans and the poor in their community, they launched the
Orphans Care Organization -- collecting money, clothing and food from
their community and providing practical and spiritual help to children and
widows in need. They have approached the Starfish Asia fund for
contributions, as the needs far outstrip their resources.
[In March 2007 we started to support Ashraf and Wilma. They rented a new house and by
August had 15 needy children in their care -- their dream coming true!]
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