MGYW Makes Successful Debut in Chicago
By Farhana Mohamed, PhD
Los Angeles, CA
Pictures above: Glimpses of the Pakistani American Forum’s Merit Grants for Young Women (MGYW) function in Chicago
Chicago, IL: The Pakistani American Forum’s Merit Grants for Young Women (MGYW) project has been successful in bringing positive changes to the lives of many impoverished girls raised in the poverty-stricken rural and urban families of Pakistan. Since the year 2000, MGYW has provided individual sustained monetary support to hundreds of meritorious young women from poor families. The MGYW also provides grants to sound non-profit schools in low-income neighborhoods that primarily enroll girls. Recently, it has been also making efforts to purchase handicrafts prepared by MGYW-partner cooperatives and sell them in the States.
Recently, MGYW held a focused PR event at the Sabri Restaurant in Chicago. Dr. Farhana Mohamed provided highlights on the MGYW project and its notable achievements to a select group of Chicagoans. She explained why MGYW has focused its efforts to empower young women - one of the most vulnerable segments in Pakistan. Overall, Pakistan’s 37% population makes only $1/day or less. The statistics are even starker in the rural areas where 65% of the population resides with 66% of that earning $1/day or less. In these dire circumstances, where inflation rate is hovering at 25%, educating young girls in a family is not a short-term priority.
The Chicago event was hosted by Irfan and Yasmeen Khan. The program was also attended by Anas Khan of Pakistan Times Weekly & Radio Program, and Dr. Mujahid Ghazi of Asian Broadcasting Network & English Section of Urdu Times Weekly. The volunteers who made the event successful included Azmatullah and Saulat Khan, and Bina Habibi.
This year, in addition to its annual fundraiser in the Los Angeles area, MGYW also held fundraisers in San Diego, California (hosted by Dr. Aliya Khan and Anjum Rizvi) and Kingston, Pennsylvania (hosted by Dr. Rubina Zaman).
For more information and online donations, the readers are invited to visit the MGYW website at www.mgyw.org.
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