April 2013

Volume 2, Issue 1

Six New Classrooms

at Kachra Kundi School

Opening Soon Our nine-classroom school in

Kachra Kundi has been

undergoing an exciting

expansion for the past few

months and will soon open

six additional classrooms!

Classroom enrollment has

increased substantially as

more and more families want

to send their children to

school. And children wanting

to live their dreams of rising

above through education. The

final touches to these brand

new rooms are currently

being made and the school

will be ready to host a new

set of fresh, young minds in

the coming weeks!

The school's principal,

Mohammad Mazahir, makes

frequent trips to visit the poor

families living in and around

Kachra Kundi. The purpose

of these trips is simply to

convince parents that

education will be their

children's greatest ticket out

of poverty. Children in

Kachra Kundi who are not

enrolled in school are instead

employed to collect scraps of

garbage in high hopes of

selling it to recyclers. Daily,

they are exposed to harmful

fumes from burning garbage

and poisonous toxins from its

decay. These children are also

exposed to local gangs who

convince them into joining a

life of crime, ultimately

creating a continuous cycle of

destruction and poverty. The

only alleviation to this

destructive cycle is to educate.

Mr. Mazahir's efforts to visit

families and convince them to

enroll in our school have

brought much positive light

into the otherwise dark lives of

Kachra Kundi's growing

population. Word spread

among town that Thaakat's

school is expanding with six

additional classrooms and

families have eagerly

registered their children.

The six new classrooms will

host 150 new students- that's

about 25 students per

classroom. New teachers are

currently being interviewed

who will teach English,

Math, Science, Social Science,

Art, Urdu, and Sindhi (the

commonly spoken Urdu

dialect of the region).

Global Project Updates

Inside this issue:

1

Global Project Updates

1

The L.O.V.E

Campaign

2

Recognizing

Exceptional Women

2

Where Your Funds Go

2

Thaakat Chapters Around

the Nation

3

An Interview

With Kelly Jo

4

What to Expect

in 2013

4

Double Your Donation

4

[The Thaakat Insider]

Check out these

websites:

Stay up-to-date with Thaakat on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ Thaakat.Foundation

Thaakat on Tumblr: www.thaakat.tumblr.com

Thaakat on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thaakat

Thaakat’s current global projects on Crowdrise: www.crowdrise.com/ thaakatfoundation

Follow #lethedreambe’ www.facebook.com/ #lethedreambe

Thaakat would like to thank

all of its generous donors for

believing in the dreams of

Kachra Kundi's children!

We hope to continue our

school's expansion with

more classrooms that can

continue to educate the ever-

rising youth of poverty-

striken Kachra Kundi.

Maternity & Health

Center in Sierra Leone

Almost Ready Thaakat is helping build a

maternity and health center

in an impoverished village of

Sierra Leone, West Africa

called Blama Perri. Expectant

mothers of Blama Perri and

several other surrounding

villages currently do not

have access to a place where

they can properly deliver

and be cared for- leading to a

series of health problems and

birth defects. Thaakat

decided to help this

community and build a

proper facility for these

women. We previously built

five child-rescue centers in

Blama Perri where several

orphans are cared for.

Construction of the

maternity and health center

is near completion and we

expect to officially open it in

the coming weeks!

By: Ammara Bokhari, Director of Global Projects, Thaakat Foundation

Earlier this year, Thaakat

launched the L.O.V.E

Campaign to bring

awareness to the increasing

instances of violence against

women worldwide. On

Valentine’s Day, Thaakat

distributed numerous e-cards

and mailed cards along with

‘Break the Silence’ shirts on

behalf of individuals that

donated to raise funds for the

cause.

Through this campaign,

The L.O.V.E Campaign

Thaakat

was able

to raise

$1000 in

just 3

weeks.

The pro-

ceeds of

the

fundraise-

ing initiative went to benefit

Wafa House, an organization

founded by Dorria Fahmy

and Nawal Kahf, dedicated

to strengthening the family

unit. A majority of their work

is dedicated towards

assisting women and

children victims of domestic

violence.

International Women’s Day

is annually held on March 8

to celebrate women’s

achievements throughout

history and across nations. In

honor of this day we

launched a contest for folks

to nominate a woman who

works hard to give back to

our communities.

The top 3 nominees, chosen

by our guest panel, received

$100 to donate to their

charity of choice and a Break

the Silence shirt.

Celebrating International Women’s Day by Recognizing Exceptional Women

Where Your Funds with Break the Silence Go

2

$1000 – The Emergency Fund

A proposed charity designed

to issue financial aid to men

and women who suffer abuse

and chose to leave.

Thaakat SPEAKS UP Against Domestic Violence

“Living in this country, this

is the least we can do. It is

not the lack of response from

the men that bothers me so

much but it is when the

women refuse to

acknowledge there is a

problem. As youth we need

to address the issue. You

will find women of your

own decent and you need to

support these women so that

they can become financially

independent.” – Dr. Zafar

Wafa House found that the

numbers of domestic abuse

are higher in South Asian

and Middle Eastern

communities because of any

number of factors – such as

the language barriers and

cultural restraints that

prevent victims from

knowing where to turn to for

help.

$1000 – Wafa House – An

organization dedicated to

strengthening the family unit;

especially children and

women of domestic violence.

$500 – Unchained at Last – An

organization dedicated to helping women

leave arranged and forced marriages.

Congratulations to all the

women that were nominated!

We are so proud and of all

the women out there, giving

back in their communities,

and being role models for so

many other women!

1. Dr. Aisha Zafar,

nominated by Dr. Shahid

Yousuf of APPNA. Her

charity of choice is Thaakat

Foundation.

2. Nabiha Shaikh is a pilot in

the Air Force, nominated by

Sabeena Shaikh. Her charity

of choice is ASHA for

Education.

3. Sumaira Khalid is a

teacher, nominated by Hajera

Azam. Her charity of choice

is the Leukemia &

Lymphoma Society (LLS).

Check out the Thaakat

Foundation blog to read the

full interviews of these

exceptional women!

Thaakat Illini- Through the

month of March they were

able to register 73 individuals

in bone marrow drives. They

are also planning a

Volleyball Tournament to

raise funds for Break the

Silence.

Thaakat Rutgers New

Brunswick- Held an event at

Maya Lounge and held the

‘We Clean up Nice’ fashion

show to raise funds for Wafa

House. Both events were

huge hits for NB!

Thaakat Rutgers Newark -

held a Candygram sale and

raised over $70 for the LOVE

Campaign. They also held an

event at Nujoom Lounge to

raise funds for Wafa House.

Thaakat TCNJ- Held a bone

marrow drive and

successfully registered 30

people! They are also plann-

ing a Silent

Auction to raise

funds for our

school in

Kachra Kundi.

Illini Chapter Gets Recognition from University of Illinois

With the school year halfway

complete, our chapters are

still actively fundraising for

some big causes this year,

including the Break the

Silence and Bone Marrow

Registry drives!

Thaakat Atlanta – Held a

valentine card making event

for women’s shelters called

“Will you be my Thaakat?”

ATL Thaakat members also

volunteered at Medshare

packaging medical supplies.

Thaakat UIC- Held bone

marrow drives and

registered 77 new people to

be on the bone marrow

registry.

Earlier this semester, the

Illini Thaakat Foundation

received a huge honor from

the Illini Union Office of

Volunteer Programs from

UofI. They were nominated

for the Outstanding

Volunteer Service Award.

CONGRATS, ITF!!

Illini wrote on their site

“…thank you to all the

volunteers who help out with

ITF. We really appreciate all

your help!”

Nilofer Kazmi from Illini

says “ITF is an opportunity to

for college students to get

together as one and give back to

our community in ways that are

both fun and engaging. It gets

students involved in activities

around campus that they may

not have been familiar with

before. This is what inspires and

motivates us to keep up our

volunteerism, seeing new faces.”

3

What’s New With Thaakat Around The Nation

Thaakat ATL Thanks Kelsey Smith have begun in our former

member’s honor. Smith’s

fight was an impressive,

challenging bout that roused

the entire audience, and

inspired those that have been

following her journey

towards victory. Thank you

for choosing us as your cause

Kelsey!

A huge congratulations from

Thaakat Atlanta to Atlanta

Corporate Fight Night 6’s

competitor Kelsey Smith for

winning her bout on January

24th, 2013. Due to Smith’s

choice to represent Thaakat

on this show, we were given

an amazing opportunity to

network with other local

charities in our community,

to share our mission with the

attendees of this event, and

also raise money for our new

initiative “Pritam’s Power”.

Smith’s victory secured a

sizeable donation that will go

towards the initiative we

Psst... check out this

video produced by

Thaakat Illini on the

importance of joining

the Bone Marrow

Registry!

tomorrow. I

was open and

honest about my

relationship on

my blog, the

“Verbal Abuse

Journals”. I

realized that

night that if I go

back and write

on my blog, I

did NOTHING,

I am responsible

for these other

women in these

relationships who are

watching me to see what I

do. That sparked me to

continue the advocacy. It

was tough to leave and if it

wasn’t for a few little

magical events that

happened I might have

had to go back to him.

Q: When did you realize

you were being abused?

A: Even though I talked to

my sister about these things

Kellie Jo Holly is the creator

of the site “Verbal Abuse

Journals” and author of My

Abusive Marriage…and what

i’m doing in it. Thaakat was

able to donate $1000 to help

Kellie launch the

“Emergency Fund”.

Q: How do you speak up?

A: I fell into advocating

against domestic violence.

The police had threatened

my husband with a taser but

they had nothing to arrest

him on. I had to leave; I had

to make that decision to go.

When I left and was

thinking about things, I

realized that there is no way

I can write on my blog

and my mom

during my

marriage, I

didn’t

understand I

was being

abused until

about 15

months

before I left. I

thought we

had marriage

problems,

that it was his

alcohol, or

anger management. I didn’t

comprehend that I was

being abused. When that

realization hit me,

everything started taking

sense. There is an education

that people are missing

there. People say things like

“it takes two” and we don’t

understand that being hit

means the same thing as

being “abused”.

Q: What is the best

An Interview with Kellie Jo Holly

In 2012, we adopted two

communities. In 2013, we’ll

be expanding our nine

classroom school in

Kachra Kundi, Pakistan to

15 classrooms and will be

opening our doors to

mothers-to-be at our

maternity center in Sierra

Leone.

At least $10 billion in

workplace matching funds

go unclaimed each year;

often, corporate employees

simply don’t know about

the opportunity for their

employer to match their

charitable contribution.

Why do we need your

help? Corporate matching

accounted for approx. 20%

of our donations in 2012.

Without them we cannot

continue to assist projects

and people around the

What to Expect in 2013 with THAAKAT

world in the capacity that

we do. Our entire board

works on a 100% voluntary

basis so that your

donations go to those who

need it most; please help

us put our GOOD to work.

Please contact us at

thaakat@gmail.com, title

your email Corporate

Matching, to request more

information on how you

can help us match

donations from our events.

We are going full force with

our ‘Break the Silence’

movement in 2013, hoping it

helps our society become

more comfortable in

addressing the issue of

violence against women.

Two-thirds of the world’s

working hours are worked

on by women. Let’s

empower them.

You Can Double Your Donation!

4

advice you have for those

that want to leave?

A: There is one statement

that helps me 100% — Make

a plan and get out. After I

figured out it was abuse that

I was dealing with and I

made my appointment at

the department of social

services I was sitting and

talking to the counselor. She

was validating that my

experience was abusive and

panic set in. The counselor

told me to slow down. She

said to think about what I

wanted to do and to make a

plan. My husband was more

verbally violent than

anything and I was dealing

with him for 17 years , I felt

like I could make it another

6 months, I just needed to

figure out what I needed to

do to stand on my own. I

don’t advise women to stay

but I do advise them to

think about what the next

step will be.

“When I left my abuse-

ridden marriage, I had no

money, no job, and no

insurance. By the grace of

God, I found people to help

me solve all three

problems… eventually.”

-COMING SOON-

Be on the lookout for our

new website launch!