Raising Funds for Edhi Foundation
“You have to care for all beings created by God… my mission is to help any person in need.” – Abdul Sattar Edhi.
In a world where crime is rampant, justice undelivered, and decency becoming increasingly uncommon, the philanthropic work that Edhi Sahab established, reminds us that not all hope is lost. It is his legacy, and the many people who selflessly carry it forward, that is a ray of hope in the times of uncertainties.
Our fundraising project at Amal has come to an end, after two weeks of strategizing and reaching out to people. It was a wonderful experience, albeit with challenges, courtesy of the pandemic and the sweltering heat of Karachi. My circle had teamed up with another, to approach this project as a joint effort. We all pooled in our ideas to design two posters, which were then posted up on every social media each of us had. Each of us set out to collect donations in our personal capacity too, contacting friends and family, colleagues and acquaintances. It was overall a great experience, as expressed by my group members and I:
Bisma Faraz:
“It was a revolutionary experience, it provoked a sense of kindness and humanity. I was able to collect three thousand rupees. Due to this project, I was exposed to the harsh truth that people do not offer money for random acts of kindness, and this was the major obstacle I faced. The biggest challenge was to face people questioning the cause of doing such an act of kindness, and I answered their questions by quoting a famous quote, “Every act of kindness is an act of charity”. My target was to collect five thousand rupees, but it became very hard for me to collect this amount because of the society I’m living in. People were not ready to help, so only my family contributed.”
Asad Ali Bashir:
“The experience good because all the people were appreciating cause and giving encouraging notes. Some of them donated too. While being so motivating most of them not contribute in donation. I think this is because of the pandemic which has brought everyone in economically worse conditions. Total amount collected was Rs. 2500/-. It is disrespectful to say but it is somehow true that we don’t feel bad for our weaker segment of population which needs our help. During the activity we had some successes but also many failures too. At first few failures it was feeling bad and discouraging but too many failures remove the bad feeling and helped to take it positively to improve ourselves.”
Saifullah:
“It was a really good experience and it was the first time in my life that I did something for a social cause which gives me immense satisfaction and I felt really good after doing it. The main challenge was the restrictions of COVID-19. I didn’t go out to collect funds and it was the main reason I didn’t manage to collect much funds for this activity and the only way to collect funds was to ask family members and relatives. It was helpful because some people rejected to give funds and I just move to ask next people which help me understand that failure is part of life and we should not stop our efforts and should continue to work hard to achieve our goals.”
Swaiba Zaidi:
“It was a great experience because I have never done it before and for the first time, I tried to collect money from strangers it helped me to realize how important it is to help those people who are out there. I believe that only 10 rupees is enough to make thousands, if everyone is contributing and taking part in it. The major challenge was to convince people that we are actually giving it to EDHI. And the second challenge is to tell people that please donate us, but they were saying that they had already gave money to some other organization. I overcome this by saying that it’s okay if you already donate some money to some other organization but please donate us too. From day one till now, I have been accepting that it’s okay when nobody wants us to give donations. Some have reasons while others were not interested.”
Anousha Qureshi:
“It was the first time I was collecting donations, and the respect for welfare workers increased exponentially, as now I’m more aware of how donation drives work, how tough it can be, and how the reward is not something tangible, but is fulfilling nonetheless. The main challenge was convincing people to donate, as in our society, we’ve all heard of scams disguised as harmless fund collections. After explaining that it was a project that I was collaborating on with a few friends, many people did donate. Others were still not convinced, and declined. The takeaway from this is that if people did not contribute, it did not make them bad people, and that community service work and skills should be made an essential part of the curriculum. It teaches children the importance of empathy, and the strength to go to lengths to collect funds for the people who do not have the privileges as we do.”
Waqas Khwaja:
It was not my first experience collecting donations for a social cause. Previously, I have done it to sell the tickets of an event for charity purpose when I was part of a society in the university. I approached my friends and family members individually. When in a group you feel confident because you have people with you with the same purpose, but you feel a bit hesitant when you are alone. The challenge that I face was because of Covid my social interaction is not that much as it was before Covid. I am not meeting my friends on the daily basis. To overcome this challenge I approached my friends on social media, I asked for donations privately as well as in groups I approached a lot of friends for the donation but only a few donated, it taught me that we should always mentally prepare ourselves for failure because then it is bearable for us to accept it.
Despite all challenges, people did come forward to donate. Benefactions are not supposed to be grand, despite what many say. Any amount that is given from the heart towards a good cause is worthwhile, and we are all thankful to the ones who donated. We hope to continue this work, even after the holy month of Ramadan has passed, as the pandemic still continues to make life difficult for many people.