Women are generally the deprived segment of the society as Pakistan is men dominated society. In the past projects titled

and created a great impact on the communities where these were carried out. We are now looking for a long-term programme that can ameliorate the lot of the less privileged women.

Bonded labour is one of the major problems of Pakistan. Many families have been in this state for generations. Bonded labourers are mostly Brick Kilns and as farm workers and sadly are ethnic and religious minorities. The following links on the web supply plenty of information about this dilemma. We have been in contact with these communities for many years. A five-pronged strategy, devised by us, can, we believe, make a big dent into the problem. No exact figures on the number of brick kilns and the bonded labour are available and we are in the process of collecting this information.

The literacy rate of the Christians in Pakistan is shamefully low. Some critics don’t believe it to be even 5%. We keep goading the Church leadership about the seriousness of the issue and urge them to pay attention to this problem. Through this programme the Churches are visited and awareness about this problem created. A survey form has been designed that is given to Church leaders. Through this exercise the level of literacy will be found. Socioeconomic status and the family size will also be obtained. The Diocese of Sialkot of the Church of Pakistan has agreed to carry out a thorough survey of the entire diocese. Pattoki, a district of the Diocese of Lahore of the Church of Pakistan is also carrying out this exercise.

Most of the Churches do not have financial resources. We would like a poor Church to be adopted by an economically well off, while Nirali Kitaben will play the role of facilitator between the two i.e. the donor and the local Church and in this way help the donor get regular updates on the progress made thus far.

Until 2004 we published material in the national language of Pakistan viz. Urdu. We now believe that literacy material should now be produced in the regional and local languages of Pakistan. One reason for this endeavour is that the local languages should also be kept alive. By the turn of the millennium we had taken up the vision formally and in 2004 we were able to produce material in Sindhi language the major language spoken in the province of Sindh. In the beginning of 2006 five books on Gojri language were published. Gojri is spoken in the northern areas of Pakistan mostly Azad Kashmir. Pashto, Siraiki, Hindko and another language, may be Punjabi, are in the pipeline.

There are 75 languages and dialects spoken in Pakistan. The link that follows http://222.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PK lists 72 of these.

Languages in which material is now available:

We believe that literacy with some skill can play a vital role in, if not eliminating, at least reducing poverty. We have taken up the following skill so far

Book Binding
This was started four years ago and is now a very well established unit of the Institution. The distinctive feature of this work is that women, who now are in majority, have been trained into this skill. They have acquired about 85% of the expertise and remaining hopefully they will attain soon.

Many people, for various reasons, are not able to continue in their studies. Also because of poverty a large majority of the people do not have access to easy material that match their reading abilities. A need thus for a magazine has been strongly felt that would provide them with various pieces of information. This magazine will also serve as a catalyst for the rest of the community to acquire education. We are waiting for funds to launch this magazine.

Because of remoteness many people even after doing the adult literacy course, are unable to join an educational institution and continue from there onwards. A distance-learning programme, envisaged on the lines as is done in the developed countries, is the answer. The programme will educate the people at their doorsteps.

This is an innovative approach and will enable many people to transform their lives and live respectable and informed lives.