Interning for an organisation as wondrous as the Behbud Association was a sensational opportunity I was honoured with as a sixteen year old. The few days that I spent at Behbud taught me a lot about the community that I live in.

On my first day at Behbud I was assigned the job to teach “English Speaking” to a group of ten children of ages ranging from Fourteen to Seventeen. I must admit that I was quite nervous. I knew that now it was my responsibility to teach them the correct way to speak, read and write English.

The students looked at me in awe as though they also wanted to speak as fluently as me, and I hoped I would be able to help them do so. Day by day the eagerness to learn kept increasing within these children as they grew more comfortable with us, the volunteers.

Not only this, but the drive to be successful seemed to be powered with passion within every single student. I noticed an immense increase in class participation, confidence and girls wanting to correct their mistakes, trying to do their best.

These girls have been extremely courteous, not only in the classroom but outside it too. Offering to wipe the board, accompanying me whilst I waited for my car to arrive and offering me food, showed how kind hearted these girls were.

I myself as a student have always wanted to keep away from studies and homework but the dedication I saw in these children, was bewildering. I can easily support this statement with an example; even though I gave them homework to write one sentence each for some particular words, a student of mine asked for my number because she wanted me to check her work in which she voluntarily made extra sentences for every word assigned. Nothing inspired me more than the hard work and dedication these students were willing to put in to improve their English skills.

Furthermore, I was lucky to have been given a chance to help out Indus Valley volunteers in helping the young Nine to Twelve year olds at Art. As I walked around the classroom I saw boys who would usually be seen running around their neighbourhood playing with each other paint with extreme passion, focus and drive.

They stared at their blank A-3 sheets thinking very hard and long to come up with something flawless and unique. They didn’t even try to talk to each other until they had drawn something presentable and something they were proud of on the sheets in front of them.

Every student here is filled with talent, if not in subjects like maths and science then arts or dramatics, which is also offered by Behbud Association.

Here they are also taught how to act and control their body language and expressions on stage. Many children are wonderful actors who are able to engage their audience, the teachers into the act they are presenting in the classroom which they treat as their stage.

Behbud has been serving as a stupendous institution for several years, bringing out the superlative potential from within these children and such institutes will soon serve to create a propitious future for our country.

Come one, Come All! Bring the whole family! The Behbud Spring Fiesta 2018 – By far the grandest annual fundraising event of Behbud Association, Karachi, took place on Saturday March 3rd 2018 at the DA Sunset Club from 12 noon to 10pm and had queues of shoppers and attendees. The event was the talk of the town. A week later there is online positive chatter about the fiesta and incoming calls requesting advance booking for next year.

The event was advertised not only through word of mouth, flyers and posters but on all platforms of social media, radio and television (Thank you FM91 and TV 1). Due to all the hype, and the support of the public we had a record breaking attendance. The Fiesta was the perfect platform to launch the exclusive unstitched hand embroidered ladies suits called ‘Behbud Breeze’, a new line introduced by Behbud Association, Karachi. It was a definite hit with our loyal customers. Also available for sale at the other Behbud stalls were our in-house handmade leather products, block printed goods, children’s clothes, stitched ladies wear, towels and table linen. The Behbud White Elephant Stall did a roaring business selling items donated by members and friends of Behbud.

In total we managed to accommodate 167 stalls and unfortunately had to turn away a long list of eager vendors. There was a huge array of quality stalls which included Pret Wear, handicrafts, towels, bedsheets, unstitched clothes, bridal wear, jewelry, condiments – you name it, it was there! A shopper’s paradise all under one marquis!

After hours of shopping, the hungry public headed to the Food Court. To cater to the taste of the discerning Karachiites, we had a variety of options available for them. There were established Karachi outlets such as OMG, Il Posto, New York Coffee, Berlin Doner & Gyro, White Biryani, Chai Shai, D’OH, Waffle Witch, Waffle Cart, Organigo, as well as upcoming home based stalls like Khow Chow, Dhokla on the Go, Popholic and, a personal favourite, Delina. Right in the center was the Behbud Bake Shop which had chaat from Mirchili, rolls from BBQ Tonight, the most amazing cakes from Shama, banana bread from Emaan and other goodies baked and cooked by members and friends of Behbud. Robin Hood Army was invited to collect all leftover food but most food stalls were sold out by early afternoon, while others were forced to take breaks to restock.

Our main attraction was the Kids’ Area. It was a hit with fun activities including an actual pool with boats, t-shirt block printing, face painting, clay painting, Easel Bay canvas painting, a trampoline, mehndi booth, and animal balloons. On-stage entertainment kept everyone constantly engaged - the kids, parents and even the stall holders were equally interested. There were hourly games with prizes, cooking competitions, storytelling sessions, as well as two magic shows by the renowned magician, Sabir Ali.

Last but not least, there was a beautiful selfie booth designed, gratis, by well-known artist, Anisa Rashid Khan who gave the booth a ‘Pride and Prejudice’ theme with flowered hats, parasols and other fun props. Ladies and kids were happy taking selfies as well as celebrities who came to the Fiesta to show solidarity with Behbud’s mission. Spotted taking pictures at the booth were HIna Bayat, Khushbakht Shujaat, Marina Khan, Nadia Hussain, Shahzad Sheikh and Yousuf Bashir Qureshi.

A big thank you to all who came out to support Behbud Association, Karachi, an NPO run by women volunteers to empower women and children. As always, the money generated from the Fiesta will go toward Behbud’s Education, Health and Livelihood projects

A heartfelt thank you to Helium Pvt Ltd who gave us invaluable support and help and all our sponsors namely Engro Vopak, Hubco, Engro Elengy, Engro Fertilizer, Unilever and TCS for their timely financial help.

Thank you all for coming and see you next year!