Dear HOPE Supporters,
I just wanted to thank you all for your interest in further helping the families that you saw pictured in HOPE USA's Ramadan biryani distributions! As you could see in the pictures of the residents of Kachra Kundi, these villagers live in an area on the outskirts of Karachi which is a literal dumping ground for the garbage that is collected in the city. Sadly, the villagers earn their livelihood by scrimmaging through the garbage to find metals which they can recycle and turn into a small income for their families. They live in extremely unsanitary conditions and struggle to eat.
HOPE Pakistan did an Needs Assessment survey for the poorest areas of Kachra Kundi, Thatta, and Gadap. They found that the "richest" family was getting by on $0.22 per person per day and the poorest family in the survey was surviving on a mere $0.07 per person per day.
Some of you reached out to me and asked how we could help these residents and alleviate some of their financial hardships. Together with your good intentions and hard work, we came up with the "Grocery Project for Kachra Kundi, Thatta, and Gadap." At a cost of $15 per month for a family of 6, we plan to provide rice, pulses, oil, salt, sugar, tea leaves, and flour to these needy families. In shaa Allah with these basic groceries they will be able to put together nutritious meals for their families and children. The long-term goal is to have them rise from the level of scrimmaging around for food and focus on education and vocational training so that they can free themselves from poverty.
At a cost of $15 per family and 21 families (using a figure of 6 people per family), we can provide all the people on the Needs Assessment Survey groceries for $315.00 per month.
We collected $1,665.50 during my presentation on July 11, 2019 and have an anonymous $1,000 check that has already reached our PO BOX for a grand total of $2,665.50 for the Grocery Project for Kachra Kundi, Thatta, and Gadap. Since that time, many of you very generously chipped in again or contacted your friends to help. We received a total of $1,110.00 during this second batch of donations. Our new total is $3,775.50. This is just just enough to sustain the Grocery Project for 12 months! Congratulations on making this project so promising!!
Meanwhile, due to the barakah of intentions in this project, HOPE USA has decided to allocate zakat money to serve 6 more families (in addition to the 15 original families you all sponsored) grocery rations for 1 full year. Here are the pictures of the first family receiving rations and a short video. This family lives in Mujahid Colony and the older boy pictured attends a HOPE school. His father is a painter but does not earn money on a day to day basis. They were so grateful for the rations, as you can see in the video.
Rukhsana's family:
Rukhsana and her family live in Bilal Colony. Rukhsana works as a maid and her husband is a laborer. They have two daughters. Because her husband does not have a steady job, their income is variable and they face many difficulties in providing basics for their family. Her family was very grateful to receive the ration bag by HOPE USA.
Below, please find pictures and a video of Rukhsana's family:
Here are a couple of video's of Rukhsana's family:
The next family is Mehmona's family:
Mehmona lives with her grandmother and her disabled father, along with her four siblings. Her mother does not live with them. They live in a house which they rent. Mehmona provides for her family by working as a cleaner in a school, but her income is not sufficient to provide for their basics.
Here are pictures/video of Mehmona's family:
I will add to this post as more ration deliveries are made. Best regards,
Ambereen Siddiqui
Director - HOPE USA 9/16/2019 Dear HOPE Supporters,
Below, please find pictures of five families living in Gadap who are receiving rations. These five families are part of the original Needs Assessment Survey.
Thank you for helping make this possible! I will post more pictures of the remaining distribution this week, God-willing.
Best regards,
Ambereen Siddiqui
9/19/2019
Finally, the pictures you all have been waiting for! Just a warning that some of the earlier pictures I will be posting are disturbing to see because of the unsanitary conditions people (children) in Kachra Kundi are living in. The pictures following show the five families in the Needs Assessment survey receiving groceries.
Pictures of unsanitary conditions:
Pictures of family 1 receiving rations:
Video of family 1:
Pictures of family 2 receiving rations:
Video of family 2:
Pictures of family 3 receiving rations:
Video of family 3 receiving rations:
Pictures of family 4 receiving rations:
Video of family 4 receiving rations:
And last but not least, pictures of family 5 receiving rations:
In shaa Allah the pictures of the last five families (in Thatta) will be posted next week. Thank you all for donating towards this cause. As you can see, the people live in such poverty but still have smiles. SubhanAllah. We are so blessed.
As always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions.
Best regards,
Ambereen
10/2/2019
Dear HOPE Friends,
Thank you once again for your patience while we completed the last round of ration distributions for the Kachra Kundi Grocery Project you have chosen so generously to support. Just to recap, by the grace of Allah SWT, this project was thought up by a HOPE donor who saw our heartbreaking biryani distribution pictures in Ramadan in Kachra Kundi...she decided to take action and asked me how we could help these families or a regular basis. This is how the Kachra Kundi Grocery Project was born. For $15 a month for a family of six, HOPE will purchase and distribute basic groceries (rice, oil, lentils, salt, sugar, flour, and tea leaves) to extremely needy families in the areas it operates. Initially our Needs Assessment Survey covered 15 families from Kachra Kundi, Thatta, and Gadap. Since then, we have added 6 more families to the distribution who live in Mujahid Colony, Bilal Colony, Badin, and Ghagger.
The original donor who thought of this project gathered the support of her friends and was able to collect $2,775.50 for this cause after a presentation I made to her group and her reaching out to more of her contacts afterwards. At the same time, another two donors who wish to remain anonymous chipped in $1,000. Since then we have gotten a donation of $200 from the original group along with a very generous donor who donated his zakat of $1,500 towards this cause. Initially we were going to fund the extra 6 families with rations for one year using HOPE USA zakat funds, but by the grace of Allah SWT we had a donor come forward wanting to use his personal zakat funds for this project. To date, we have collected $5,475.50 towards this project. This means that we will be able to provide 21 families with grocery rations for a total of 13.5 months. Please remember that some of the original families were quite large (11 and 13 people) so they will be getting two portions of rations so they have enough for all members of their families.
Due to the heavy rains and resulting blocked roads in Karachi and the surrounding areas, distribution of rations were delayed during the month of September. In the past three weeks we distributed rations to 13 families in Mujahid Colony, Bilal Colony, Gadap, and Kachra Kundi. You can see the pictures of these families by clicking on our "Latest News" post:
By the grace of Allah SWT, the last 8 families in Badin, Thatta, and Ghagger were finally given their rations. Please refer to the pictures and videos below:
Thatta families (5 total):
Family 1:
Video of family 1:
Family 2:
Video of family 2:
Family 3:
Family 4:
Family 5:
Badin families (2 total):
Family 1:
Family 2:
Ghagger:
Family 1 (a widow and her children):
Again, thank you all for your generous support of this project...we are hoping to see the health of all these families improve over the next year with better and regular nutrition. Thank you for supporting these families with your generosity and good intentions!
Best regards,
Ambereen Siddiqui
Director HOPE USA
10/15/2019
Dear HOPE Friends,
October rations have been distributed to all families! 1 in Mujahid Colony, 2 in Bilal Colony, 5 in Gadap, 5 in Kachra Kundi, 5 in Thatta, 2 in Badin, and 1 in Ghagger. Please see pictures below:
Kachra Kundi:
Mujahid Colony:
Gadap:
Ghagger:
Thatta:
Bilal Colony:
Badin:
We have also recently gotten a new donation of $250 from a generous anonymous donor. Thank you all for your support!
Best regards,
Ambereen Siddiqui
November 11, 2019
Dear HOPE Friends,
I hope this message finds you in the best of health! The HOPE Pakistan team just updated me with the pictures of the November rations distribution and I wanted to share them with you.
This month we received a total of $710 in donations towards the Kachra Kundi Grocery Project! Thank you sincerely to those people who are going above and beyond and encouraging their contacts and their friends to support this cause! Your efforts have so much barakah, mashaAllah!
As of today, we have collected a grand total of $6,655.50 towards this incredible cause. This will sustain the 21 families we have for 16.43 months total. My calculations were slightly off in the past couple of months because I had overlooked the fact that six of the initial 15 families were receiving two rations rather than one due to their family size. I apologize for the error!
As always, if anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out to me at anytime.
Best regards,
Ambereen Siddiqui
Director - HOPE USA
January 7, 2020
Dear HOPE Friends,
We wanted to wish all of you the best health and blessings as 2020 is underway. Our Kachra Kundi Grocery Project was successfully distributed this December, however I was not able to update you sooner because the HOPE Pakistan team had gone to Kashmir to monitor the home schools there and distribute warm clothes, food, and backpacks to the children there.
We also learned heartbreaking news that two children from the Hussain family in Kachra Kundi (they were receiving two rations due to family size) passed away of Hepatitis C. One child was 6 and the other was 17. We can only imagine the daily struggles of these families and to lose not one, but two children must be unimaginable. May Allah SWT grant the children jannat firdaus and the families sabr and peace of mind. Ameen. We have a picture of the older boy who passed away, his face is circled in the last picture (from an earlier distribution).
Below, please find the pictures for the December 2019 distribution:
Thank you all for your support of this project!
Best regards,
Ambereen Siddiqui
Director - HOPE USA
Lastly, picture of one of the children who passed away:
January 26, 2020
Dear HOPE Friends,
We wish you all the best of health as we continue our distributions of the Kachra Kundi Grocery project into 2020! As of January 7th, our new total is $7,055.50 - a generous donor has given $200 for the past three months. Below, please find the pictures of the January 2020 distribution:
As always, if anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out to me. Remember that Ramadan is around the corner and this project is 100 percent zakat-eligible!
Thank you for your support!
Ambereen Siddiqui
Director - HOPE USA
March 5, 2020
Dear HOPE Friends,
Below, please find pictures of the February 2020 ration distribution. I apologize for the delay in pictures as the HOPE Pakistan team was in Muzaffargarh for the inauguration of a new HOPE School building donated by the Japanese Embassy. As of March 5th, our Kachra Kundi collection is $7,205.50. We have had multiple donors contributing every month by the grace of Allah SWT. Thank you to all the donors who have generously helped support this project. This is all possible with the support of each and every one of you!
Ramadan is approaching and this project is 100 percent zakat-eligible. We look forward to your support this Ramadan - also, please spread the word amongst your family and friends. Your trust and spreading the word amongst your contacts is the best you can do for impoverished villagers in Pakistan and together we can make a tangible difference in their lives!
Best regards,
Ambereen Siddiqui
Director - HOPE USA
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