Anam Laghari is a young change maker from Hyderabad, Pakistan. She runs a school for street kids in Hyderabad. Anum is an activist who works dedicatedly for education, she wants to educate the country in her capacity, because she believes only education can solve the problems of Pakistan. Instead of expecting from the government and other external sources to show up and help she stepped up on her own and started an education based organization called IHelp for those who have never been exposed to the world of education . The idea behind this name is that she believes every one depicts the "I" factor and this is how everyone is responsible to help each other to the best of their abilities.
In her school she pays her teachers and guard from her own pocket and few from volunteers. She focuses on teaching the street kids how to read and write along with few basic life skills. When the staff determines that kid is now capable of adjusting themselves in an actual school environment, they get them admitted in nearby school and sponsor their education. The school started in a park, Anum recalls a lot of weird stares and criticism, eventually people got used to the idea and started supporting Anum and her team. They tried really hard tofind a safe space for the volunteers and the children and eventually a local school donated a classroom so I Help could conduct their school in the evenings.
Anum started this project in 2013 back when she was only 19 years old and since then over 600 students have learned how to read and write from this project so far. Anum told me how difficult it was for her and her team to get started back in 2013, especially being a girl, she faced a lot of criticism. Back when Anum was 8 years old, she recalls having a backpack and a lunch box while she was going to school, but she would see children her age cleaning and picking up trash on the street. She has always held that memory and hoped to do something for her country.
Anum encourages other young people in Pakistan to donate their time tutor the students at her school, she has a paid teacher but mostly the organization is volunteer run.
We need more people around the country who can carry on this activity as education is important for everyone. We are so proud of the work Anum and her team are doing!
Anum with her students from "Street to School" project
I Help could use your donations to build more schools in the area, for school supplies and to pay salaries for their staff members (teacher and a guard). Please reach out for any questions or donations.
If you are in Pakistan you can donate directly to Anum's organization here:
Bank: Allied Bank Limited
Acc title: ihelp touching souls.
Account number: 0010029383000010
Branch Code:0853
If you are outside of Pakistan you can donate via Pay Pal here and the funds will be transferred to iHelp.
* To maintain full transparency the transactions from PayPal from donations to IHelp will be posted publicly. Change Makers is not an officially registered non-profit yet, once we have the EIN information, we will be able to set up a separate PayPal account *