Pakistani American Forum/ Merit Grants for Young Women
MGYW Annual Banquet 2015
The Pakistani American Forum - Merit Grants for Young Women (MGYW) recently held its annual fundraising banquet in Southern California. The program was emceed by young lawyer Madiha Shahabuddin. The program started with acknowledgement of event sponsors (Pakistan Link, Safeer-e-Pakistan, Infinity Care, and Islamic Relief USA), generous donors, Board Members, and volunteers for their support. The Quranic recitation was conducted by Mohammad Rafay. This was followed by introduction of Councilman Ali Sajjad Taj, City of Artesia, by MGYW Board President Zille Huma Zaman. Councilman Taj delivered inspiring address about importance of educating underprivileged young women of Pakistan. He also urged guests to donate generously. Prominent community activist Mahomed Akbar Khan was introduced by Emcee who read Certificate of Recognition presented to MGYW on behalf of the U.S. Congressman Ed Royce (CA-39). Keynote Speaker, Dr. Sana U. Khan, an accomplished Radiologist and a philanthropist, was introduced by Board Member Tasneem Afzal. Dr. Khan, who had returned from performing Umra a day ago, elaborated how image of book on MGYW logo connected to importance of education. Dr. Sana Khan mentioned that the first word that was revealed on Prophet Mohammad (Peace be Upon Him) was “Iqra” (read). While importance of education is not gender specific in Islam, he correlated the crucial role educated mothers play in upbringing and providing education to their children.
These succinct speeches were followed by Dr. Farhana Mohamed’s presentation highlighting MGYW’s accomplishments and new projects undertaken during the preceding year. Some of the significant projects included Karachi Grants, Haripur Transportation, Pindi/Sagri District Graduation Incentive, Karachi Gift Pack, Hamida Shaukat Girls School, Kot Shera, Punjab, and collaboration with PFOWA. In addition, she mentioned MGYW partnership with distinguished NGOs, which benefited girls belonging to low-income families throughout Pakistan.
The fundraising segment was conducted by Shaista Khan, assisted by Board Members. She motivated the guests to make generous donations toward various MGYW projects.
The musical entertainment was lead by Ashraf Ali who emceed the segment as well as presented a popular national song on stage accompanied by Dr. Sana Khan and MGYW Board. Throughout the event, talented Arshad & Shazia Ali enchanted the audience with popular songs & oldies. The program was memorable in all aspects and the MGYW Board Members who put tremendous effort included Tasneem Afzal, Sufia Altaf, Iram Iqbal, Bina Kamdar (Vice President), Shaista Khan, Farhana Mohamed, and Zille Huma Zaman (President).
Report prepared by: Farhana Mohamed Photography Courtesy: Shazia Ali & Ashraf Ali
PFOWA Annual Awards Ceremony
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A memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Pakistan Foreign Office Women’s Association (PFOWA), Islamabad and Pakistani American Forum/Merit Grants for Young Women (MGYW) in Los Angeles on 5th September 2014. Since one of the main activities of PFOWA is to promote education by supporting the deserving students of the low-income Foreign Office families, the idea to establish an institutional link between the two organizations was proposed by Mrs Iffat Tasawar Khan in 2013. The MOU was signed after approval by the MGYW Board of Directors and Mrs. Najia Ahmed, President PFOWA. Under the MOU, MGYW now provides 21 annual scholarships to PFOWA.
Recently, PFOWA held an elegant prize and awards distribution ceremony at the Foreign Office, Islamabad, where the deserving qualified female students belonging to the low-income employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were handed out scholarship awards (including MGYW) by the Minister of State for Education Mr.Baleegh-ur-Rehman, in the presence of Foreign Secretary Mr.Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary. The ceremony also included performances by various students and national songs. Parents of the students and officers of the Foreign Office attended the event. The officebearers of PFOWA deserve commendation, especially Najia Ahmed & Lyla Gardezi, for holding a successful dignified event. The Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (former Consul General of Pakistan in Los Angeles) Tasawar Khan & Iffat Tasawar Khan (architect of MGYW/PFOWA MOU) also graced the occasion. It is hoped that the arrangements agreed between MGYW and PFOWA will go a long way in realizing their cherished objective of supporting and promoting education amongst the underprivileged young women of Pakistan.
Karachi Gift Pack Ceremony Held at Second Partner School
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The Karachi Gift Pack Project was initiated in 2011 and is one such project geared to encourage low-income families to provide education to their young daughters. Each gift pack is meticulously prepared and customized to fulfill girls’ basic needs such as school uniform, school bag, note books, stationery, toiletries, water bottle, and lunch box. All girls are required to complete annual renewal form and academic progress report for becoming eligible to receive the gift packs. There are now two partner schools in this project located in the low-income Federal Capital Area and Liaquatabad Town of Karachi, respectively. Recently, the Karachi Gift Pack Ceremony of 2015 was held at both schools. This photo album illustrates the ceremony held at the Government Boys & Girls Primary School Peoples Program, Liaquatabad Town. Hefty gift packs containing annual school supplies and items of personal use were distributed to about 50 young girls and boys belonging to impoverished families. The program was organized by the School Principal Mrs.Abida Begum and her team. The event was attended by MGYW Pakistan office bearers, parents and other respectable guests from different walks of life. The attendees enjoyed the interesting but meaningful tableaus presented by students.
MGYW’s Partner School is a High Performer - 2015
For almost ten years, MGYW has been providing support to Hamida Shaukat Ali Foundation Girls High School (HSAF) located in the Kot Shera village of Punjab’s Gujranwala District. Almost 450 students are enrolled in the school and it is doing very well due to excellent teaching staff and sound administration. In 2014, passing rate of girls in the matriculation examination was almost 87% - with 100% graduating in the Science Group and one girl on top of the list among the local schools. The girls also participate in the extracurricular activities like plays and debates.
As an aftermath of tragic terror attack of December 16, 2014, on Army Public School in Peshawar, schools all over the country were asked to close down and they were required to put in security measures using their own meager resources such as raising the outer walls to eight feet, putting on top another two feet of barbed wire, engaging armed guards, and installing close circuit cameras. This has resulted additional burden on, especially non-profit schools which are providing much-needed quality education in the rural areas such as the HSAF High School. Hopefully, government will provide financial assistance to such schools since this is a national security issue.
With great pleasure, the MGYW Board announces
the nomination and approval of the following office bearers for 2015-16:
President:
Vice President:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Director of Marketing:
Director of Sales:
Chairperson Global Operations:
Zille Huma (Past President: Iram Iqbal)
Bina Kamdar (Past Vice President: Zille Huma)
Tasneem Afzal
Farhana Mohamed & Zille Huma
Sufia Altaf
Tasneem Afzal
Farhana Mohamed
Impressive Karachi Gift Pack Ceremony - 2015
For almost 15 years, MGYW (Pakistani American Forum - Merit Grants for Young Women) is successfully providing educational opportunities to young Pakistani women belonging to impoverished families using innovative ideas in coordination with the local community educators. The Karachi Gift Pack Project is one such project geared to encourage low-income families to provide education to their young daughters. Each gift pack is meticulously prepared and customized to fulfill girls’ basic needs such as school uniform, school bag, note books, stationery, toiletries, water bottle, and lunch box. All girls are required to complete annual renewal form and academic progress report for becoming eligible to receive the gift packs. Each year an impressive MGYW-sponsored gift pack distribution ceremony is held in Karachi, usually toward the end of the school year, where generous gift packs are distributed among young girls and boys belonging to impoverished families. There are now two schools in this project; in addition, 20 students from HOPE School of Korangi are also presented the Gift Packs. The project is sponsored by MGYW as well as Memon Organization of North America (MONA) – with MONA sponsoring Gift Packs for boys.
The Karachi Gift Pack Ceremony of 2015 was held at Government Primary School in F-C area Karachi. It was organized by School Principal Mrs. Fozia Majeed Butt and her team. The guests of honor included a Representative of the Chief Minister of Sindh and a Coordinator from the Punjab Government. The event was attended by parents and other respectable guests from different walks of life. The attendees enjoyed the interesting but meaningful tableaus presented by students. Suggestion for educational reform were also submitted to the attending government officials who assured us that will put up the matter before higher ups and take necessary action to improve on educational hurdles in Karachi.
MGYW's Marketing Booth During Pak Day Mela
 MGYW Board Members |  Grand Prize Winner |  |
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To celebrate 75th Resolution Day, recently a Grand Mela Festival was held at Phoenix Club, Anaheim, California. MGYW set up a marketing booth at the festive event for distribution of promotional materials including “Save the Date” Flyer for MGYW’s Banquet to be held on Saturday, November 14 at Knott’s Berry Farm Resort Hotel (more details at www.mgyw.org and Facebook). A free raffle drawing was held where lucky participants had the opportunity to win fabulous prizes comprising of elegant gift baskets (donated by Drs. Ashraf & Bina Kamdar) and a 32-inch LED TV. There was also arrangement to decorate hands with Henna. The MGYW Booth was visited by a large number of community members, and officebearers of all major Pakistani-American organizations, Consul General of Pakistan, U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) accompanied by famous community activist Mohammmad Khan, and Artesia City’s first Pakistani-American Artesia Councilman Ali Sajjad Taj. While visiting the MGYW Booth, Congressman Royce praised accomplishments of MGYW towards education of under-privileged young women of Pakistan and even made a cash donation. The MGYW Board Members who volunteered at the event included Bina Kamdar, Tasneem Afzal, Zille Huma, and Farhana Mohamed as well as several volunteers.
Another Accolade for Malala Yousafzai!
On February 8, 2015, the 57th Grammy Award Ceremony was held at the Staples Center, Los Angeles. It brought yet another honor to young Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai when the audio version of her memoir, “I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World,” won the Grammy’s in the category of Best Children’s Album. The audio version of the book was narrated by Neela Vaswani who is a professor of creative writing in the Masters of Fine Arts Program at Spalding University. In December 2014, Malala and the Indian child labor advocate, Kailash Satyarthi, shared the Nobel Peace Prize as well as exchanged compliments; in February 2015, the Grammy Award was received by Neela Vaswani, an Indian American, who lavishly praised Malala for her achievements. Thus Malala’s mission is not only empowering underprivileged children, especially girls across the globe, it is also inculcating mutual respect and understanding amongst all people in this world - even those belonging to the two archrival nations.
2015 Events & Highlights