How you can help provide education
The Starfish Asia Fund
32 Beck Lane
Beckenham
Kent BR3 4RE
UK
Telephone
+44 (0)20 8402 1914
Email
mike@starfishasia.com
Schools for the poor
"Pakistan offers worse conditions for children than any other country in South Asia... About 23 million children in Pakistan have never been to school..." UNESCO paints an equally grim picture. "Official statistics released by the Federal Education Ministry of Pakistan give a desperate picture of education for all, especially for girls... Independent sources and educational experts place the overall literacy rate at 26 per cent and the rate for girls and women at 12 per cent."
The UK Sunday Telegraph (7 May 2006) highlighted: "No power, no water, no lavatories and no teachers -- the disaster of Pakistan's schools."
Starfish Asia is committed to help children gain a Christian-based High School education. We fund some schools in full and provide subsidies for other private schools that struggle with resources. We believe that no child should be deprived of education -- the key to hope and personal dignity. Our greatest concern is for the children of Christian familes, but Muslim and Hindu children also attend some of the schools that we support -- we care for them too!
We cannot give details of all the schools we are supporting. This is a just a sample of the 18 schools to which we are currently (September 2008) providing some financial help. There are now almost 3,500 children studying in schools supported by Starfish Asia in Pakistan.
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According to the The Lahore Christian High School
The Miracle School
With help from the Starfish Asia fund, they hired staff and opened the Miracle School -- now housed in a large rented building and giving a future to 230 poor children from the community. Sadaye-Aman, Sargodha Tariq Ibal from Sargodha has a passion to help the poor in a huge slum in the centre of city, known as Noori Gate. In May 2006, with help from the Starfish Asia fund, Tariq opened a small Primary School with 40 students. He called it the Call of Peace (Sadaye-Aman) School. It is the beginning of a ray of light and hope for a community that has lived too long in the shadow of despair. CAP (Lahore) Professor Kaleem Dean directs the Community Advance Programme in Lahore -- one of whose projects is a Junior School for 200 children, set at the heart of Youhannabad, a large Christian community in the eastern suburbs of the city. The Starfish Asia fund makes a small grant to help towards the costs of the school . |
Ghauri Wisdom High School In 2003 the Starfish Asia Fund started to help 60
children from the Christian colony of
Youhannabad (Lahore) to attend school. One of
the schools chosen was the Ghauri Wisdom
High School, a private Christian school run by
a former Government teacher, Mr. Salamat
Ghauri. We have since helped Mr. Ghauri to
upgrade the standard of his school, enabling the
school to move to better premises, giving help
towards the purchase of Holy Shepherd Grammar School, Karachi In the north of Karachi is Mianwali Colony, where a community of poor Christians live and labour. The dusty alleys are the playground for hundreds of children. Opened by a Pakistani couple with a concern for the poor, the Holy Shepherd Grammar School is now led by Anser Javed and his wife Kashi and brings fresh hope to this needy community. The Starfish Asia fund is fully committed to the future of this school.
Living Stones Christian School,
Okara Waqas Moazzam and his wife Selina feelt a strong call from God to establish a school and church to meet the spiritual and physical needs of a poor Christian community in Okara, a small town of 240,000 people to the southwest of Lahore. About 100 chidlren attend the school, which is set to grow quickly as they have their own purpose-built school and church premises. A great provision for a very disadvantaged community.
"Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me." Matthew 18:5 |
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The Lahore
Christian High
School was the
first school to
which we
priovided full
running costs.
The school now
gives free
education to more than 400 children and has a
fine record of academic excellence. Many
graudates (including the girl in the picture
above) have gone on to careers in nursing or to
higher studies. The school is part of the
ministry of the 
Angela and Rubina
Ramzan opened a small
school in their own home
to cater for the very
poorest in their Christian
community in Lahore.
They provided not only schooling but also
some food and medical attention. 
school furniture and
subsidizing the
cost of running
the school, so
that children from
poor homes can
receive their
education free of
cost.
