A TCF Fund Raiser with Ethan Casey (Author and Journalist)

Dear Friends,


Last week, I attended the TCF (The Citizen's Foundation) Fund raiser that was held in Silicon Valley where "Urdu at Home" was one of the sponsors. The event was very well organized by TCF staff. They were very well supported by the volunteer's from PACC (Pakistani American Culture Center) led by Mr. Farrukh Shah Khan (President PACC). I was lucky enough to share the table with Mr. Ethan Casey who has covered different parts of the world as a journalist for leading publications and has also written two amazing books on Pakistan "Alive and well in Pakistan" and "A Pakistan Road Trip". I would recommend every one to to buy both copies - ideally via TCF USA website as 20% of the proceeds would go to TCF schools.

Before I elaborate, I would like to add that if there is one NGO who you can think of giving your donation , Zakat or any other means of support to, it should be TCF. They have over 650 schools in Pakistan, most in remote areas. They have 92000 students enrolled in their schools of which 50% are girls. Moreover, 100% of their staff are women. So this year instead of giving your hard earned money to other institutions consider donating it to an NGO that is actually changing people's lives, one student at a time.

Now, back to the event. The event started with a key note speech from Ethan Casey who passionately described his journey through several cities across Pakistan. He encouraged all of us Pakistanis living abroad to continue to believe in the spirit of Pakistan and work towards rebuilding its image.

The speech was followed by a short documentary on TCF's goal of improving education and literacy in Pakistan. The documentary touched everyone's heart and most people in the crowed donated generously. The documentary was followed by an introduction of the sponsors. Urdu at Home's message of "Spreading Literacy via Technology" was very well received and applauded. Our table was visited by a lot of people and they were greatly impressed by our program.

As mentioned earlier, I shared a table with Mr. Ethan Casey and we hit it off immediately. To my surprise, he is currently enrolled in an Urdu language learning class and was extremely happy to hear about our website. He was very impressed by our efforts to improve Literacy in Pakistan using technology without any government or private sector support.

There were several entertaining performances which were very refreshing. The event ended around midnight. I came back with a renewed commitment to the cause of improving literacy in Pakistan. In these times of doom and gloom when we feel the mere existence of Pakistan is at stake, TCF showed that there is still light at the end of the tunnel for hundred of thousands' of deserving students. If each one of us decide to help just ONE student, we can still make Pakistan a promised land for our next generation.

Respects
Syed H. Abbas