ChildLife Foundation Fundraiser in Sacramento a Success

By Ras H. Siddiqui

That Pakistan needs efforts like the ChildLife Foundation would be quite an understatement. It has one of the highest infant mortality rates, if not in the world, then certainly in South Asia. Only Afghanistan is reported to have a higher rate of deaths of children under the age of five in the region. While one can certainly call the prevailing situation unacceptable, Pakistani Americans should, and are, asking what can we do about it. This is where ChildLife comes in.

And when we hear that it costs just $7.00 to treat a child and provide lifesaving care to them in our country of origin it gets our  attention. And who else can provide free Treatment to about two million Children in Emergency Rooms and at over three hundred hospitals in Pakistan but ChildLife?

But even those $7.00 must come from somewhere. It is for this reason and more that ChildLife Foundation’s CEO has been travelling to Sacramento and other cities in the US to tap into the generosity of our community. In our case the effort has been locally spearheaded by a small team led by Dr Mutahir Khan and Dr Rana Mahfooz Ali Khan and their Elk Grove area squad. We believe that this is their third event for ChildLife in and around Sacramento and this year the event venue was changed rather late to the Downtown Event Center at 1011 10th Street which did create some logistical problems.

But the diehards attended and the evening started off with a social hour, appetizers and dinner prepared by Chef Amir. The formalities began after Maghrib prayers with a fine Qirat by Hafiz Usman Khalid who also added some words of inspiration. This was followed by the playing of the national anthems of the United States and Pakistan. Khalid said that Pakistan has contributed a great deal to where we are today and this effort is our way of giving back. Dr Mutahir Khan next took the opportunity to welcome everyone and thanked them for attending. He shared his thoughts about donor fatigue setting in but remained optimistic. Dr Mutahir also introduced keynote speaker Dr Ahson Rabbani, the CEO of ChildLife Foundation and invited him to deliver the evening’s keynote address.

Dr Rabbani once again brought quite a professional presentation to Sacramento. He thanked everyone for coming to the event and jumped right into the subject of Pakistan with some lines of Urdu poetry, “Na haara hai Isqh, Na Dunya thaki hai. Dia jal raha hai, Hawa chal rahi hai.” Nothing beats Urdu symbolism so the reader can try and decipher what was said on their own! He also shared why he has embarked on this ChildLife journey. It is better to die in Pakistan than to be born poor (strong words even in translation), he said. He added that quality medical attention is available to Pakistan’s affluent minority. The challenges faced by the majority are where ChildLife comes in.

On what ChildLife does, he informed that “Every year we treat two million children in emergency rooms for free.” And the treatment’s emphasis is on quality care not just on quantity, as a journal or two published outside of Pakistan have pointed out. Rabbani also shared some of the motivating factors for doing this work, leading to increased survival rates at the hospitals that ChildLife is active in. He also shared a video on how emergency rooms work in Pakistan to back up his claim. International standards are maintained in emergency rooms at public hospitals by ChildLife, he said. The curse of being born poor, especially in a rural area, is being addressed by the organization.

Why focus on children? Too many children below the age of five die in Pakistan each year, he explained. This is the number one issue of mortality in the country (far exceeding cancer and heart disease) and much of this is preventable. When people are treated for various diseases late in life, medicine can add just a few years at best, but when a child’s life is saved, we may be adding almost 70 years to their lives, so the return on investment is remarkably high. He also added that cancer treatment in Pakistan can cost up to $4,000, heart disease treatment $2,000 and treatment to save a child in an emergency room can be as low as $7.00.

Ahson shared that ChildLife believes in low overhead and female empowerment through employment and this year the organization was awarded the best place to work for women. He also detailed ChildLife’s wide reach through telemedicine in remote areas like certain districts in Baluchistan where it has made significant inroads. He shared an example through a video of how a dog bite case was initially treated by a doctor sitting in a central telemedicine control room by instructing a person who is with the child at the remote location in a step-by-step manner. ChildLife’s reach has now increased to include areas which were previously inaccessible, he said.

Thanking Sacramento, CEO Rabbani said that this area has so far funded the treatment of thousands of children in Pakistan, and he hoped that this generosity would continue with contributions tonight because the overcrowding problem in emergency rooms needs to be urgently addressed there. And finally, he asked, why are we all (ChildLife and its donors) really doing all this? We are treating kids and helping to wipe the tears of many  mothers and earning their prayers! That in itself is quite a reward.

The proceedings ended with a short Q&A session and fundraising led by Dr Rana Mahfooz Ali Khan during which local artist Sobia Faisal’s paintings were also auctioned. And to close the evening was an extremely high energy performance by Shiraz Uppal and his son Haadi. This duo closed the night with Qawwali, Bhangra and a lot more. Some of the young people present knew the words of their songs and shared their enthusiasm by singing along.