Youth for Pakistan

I am about to write this post, when I really should be getting some readings done for my classes. However, I think it's such a fitting time to be blogging about this. If you scroll down a few articles, I wrote one during the summer about the flooding in Pakistan, and how I have begun working with a partner in putting together a project to build a school in one of the flood-affected areas. It's funny to reflect back to the summer, when it was all just ideas, but nothing concrete. It's time for an update.

I would like to start by saying how excited and proud I am to be the co-founder and co-director of Youth for Pakistan. We have been doing some big things this semester, and really getting everything laid out for this project. We are about to become an official Ryerson Student's Union Affiliate Student Group, which is great because we'll be getting more support within the university community, and we are working on our very first fundraising and awareness event which will be happening at Ryerson University on March 24th, 2011.

The event will start off with an educational panel discussion about Pakistan today, including discussion on why education is important and the current political and social situations in the country. We will have guest speakers Dr. Tariq Amin-Khan, a politics professor at Ryerson of Pakistani origin, and Dr. Ian MacBurnie, an architecture professor at Ryerson as well, who led a group of architecture students to Pakistan a few years ago to help re-build a community that had been affected by an earthquake. Following the panel discussion, we will be hosting a social event, with food and music. This will be a great chance for everyone to network and enjoy the evening. All funds raised at this event will be put towards our school building fund.

We also have an official website up! It's still under construction, but it's getting there! Please check it out, and feel free to give any suggestions: www.youthforpakistan.com. We still post updates on Facebook as well, so join the group! Just search 'Youth for Pakistan'.

I really want to thank everyone who has donated thus far to the project, and everyone who has supported this initiative. Without these people, this project would be nothing. Ahsan and I can do as much marketing and admin work as humanly possible, but without donations we cannot fulfill this project. Please do not hesitate to e-mail us at: contactyfp@gmail.com for more information about the project or to donate.