Equipping Exceptional Young Christians

Name of Partnership: Equipping Exceptional Christian Young People from Poorer Families to Become Self-Sustaining

Name of Ministry: Evangelistic Gospel Ministries

Type of partnership: Helping the Poor

Country/Region: Pakistan/Asia

Project Overview: The vision for this project is to see the establishment of a fund to assist high performing students get other forms of post-secondary school training. Many Christian young people finish school with good grades but because of poverty at home or not knowing the right people they struggle to get jobs. This program is to bridge that gap, to get them into good learning institutions.  

Project Description:

Lahore is called a city of colleges and schools. Before the separation of India and Pakistan the British constructed many schools and colleges for Christians. After the separation, the government of Pakistan then controlled all education and returned only a few to Missions, namely the United Presbyterian Church, the Church of Pakistan and the Roman Catholics. There are now a few Mission schools and colleges, but not for poor Christian students.

Young people who cannot afford further education and training will be the direct beneficiaries in the short term but their families will also benefit in the long term, as they will become income earners. Many of them would be forced into early marriage without education and employment.

 The community will also benefit by having these young people gaining employment and being able to contribute to their communities. They will escape the poverty trap and many of the evils associated with that.  For a relatively small amount of money a young person can be given a real boost towards becoming a self-sustaining adult. For most young people, however, education is a dream, not a reality.

The strategy for this project is to give scholarships to male and female students for a two-year intermediate study program in government schools. This will be in four subjects:  Office administration and clerks, Science, pre-medical and pre-engineering, doctors, nurse and other related medical studies, Commerce and business management, and Information Technology.

There are also five scholarships to five private colleges for women for similar courses. These scholarships are for female students who cannot afford transportation to attend local colleges. All the Government colleges are far from Yohannabad where these people live. A few private colleges are available very near to Yohannabad.

These scholarships are for Christian young people who have achieved merit marks in their studies. The opportunity will be announced in churches and schools. 15 scholarships will be for science students, five scholarships for art students, five scholarships for commerce students and five scholarships for computer students.

Testimony:

Arooj Asher belongs to a Christian family and her father was paralyzed in 2007. Her mother works in various homes as a sweeper and struggles to earn enough for the four children and their studies. They are living in a rented house and many times they go without regular meals. The church is helping them with some funds for education. Arooj is very bright and gains the highest results in all her exams.

She easily passed her Matric exam (the final examinations of 9th and 10th graders, taken by students between the ages of 15 and 17) but she now requires finances for further study. Without this she will only ever get menial jobs and will be married to save the family money. She wants to become a nurse.  “I want Arooj to study science and become a nurse and serve our nation” says her father, Asher John.

Leader Bio:

The key person in this partnership is Edward Qasar. He was a schoolteacher before going into full time Christian ministry. He continues to see the need for young people to get good training. He understands that unless the Christians are better trained and equipped—more than other people, it will be difficult for them to get a good job. 

Edward is married to Shakila and they have a small family. He spends a lot of time with young people, encouraging them, advocating for them and helping them reach their potential. Edward and Shakila live in the area of Yohannabad with their extended family. They lead a church there and he preaches around the country. 

Annual Budget: $18,000

Sponsoring Organization: Bright Hope World