It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the first official newsletter of the Hashoo Foundation! This newsletter offers us an opportunity to share with you, our friends and supporters, how Hashoo Foundation is promoting economic, social and human development, with emphasis on Pakistan.

Hashoo Foundation is a progressive and dynamic NGO, leading the way in human development and poverty alleviation by implementing viable economic development, educational and capacity building programs.

Hashoo Foundation is also focused on the needs of children with disabilities and provides care and support services to under privileged and vulnerable members of society.

Moving ahead from our recent win in the BBC World Challenge 08 competition, we are now expanding our “Women Empowerment through Honey Bee Farming” project - Plan Bee - to other remote areas of Pakistan, and continuing efforts to develop a strong brand for our honey product, for both local and international markets.

All our programs have tremendous potential, and as we continue to step forward in faith, we would love to share this journey with you.

The recent turmoil in Pakistan has resulted in one of the largest internal migration of this century, where over 1.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) face desperate living conditions in makeshift camps that lack basic living facilities.

In this hour of need, we encourage you to help the IDPs by contributing generously to this noble cause. Please visit ( www.hashoofoundation.org ) and make a difference.

With prayers for a better tommorow.


Sarah Hashwani
Chairperson

	The students of Hashoo Foundation (HF) schools are the shining stars, evident from various prize distribution ceremonies held in April 2009. 100% of the students from Numbromal and Ryonti schools passed the Board Exams for Grade 5, compared to a less than 20% pass rate achieved by Government schools situated in the same areas. Hashoo Foundation is currently running 13 schools across Pakistan, including 4 sponsored by OPII/BP in Sindh. These schools are situated in the remotest parts of the country where access to education is limited. They enroll more than 1,400 children from the Nursery to Grade 5, and education is provided for free to orphans and children from poor backgrounds.       During the prize distribution ceremony, local Nazims pledged their support for HF schools in cash and in kind and the possibility of using the school building for vocational evening trainings was also discussed.

Hashoo Foundation USA and Medical Bridges collectively shipped a forty-foot ocean-freight container filled with life-saving medical supplies and rehabilitation equipment destined for Pakistan. The Houston-based organizations recognize the need to challenge healthcare inequities in the developing world by devising solutions that leveraged the city’s reputation as a hub for premier healthcare. "Building bridges and understanding between Pakistan and Houston is exemplified by the blossoming new Houston-Karachi Sister City relationship," said Houston Mayor Bill White. "Providing humanitarian aid through the Hashoo Foundation USA and Medical Bridges program is a good way to strengthen those ties."

The container is fully loaded with pallets of medical supplies, beds, exam tables, gurneys, wheel chairs, and rehabilitation equipment from Medical Bridges network of donor hospitals in the Houston area. The inventory is valued at more than US $150,000 and is expected to reach Pakistani shores soon.

The rehabilitation equipment will enable Hashoo Foundation’s Umeed-e-Noor Center of Excellence for Care and Rehabilitation of Children with Special Needs to provide therapy to 300 children with multiple disabilities, many of whom have been abandoned by their families. Umeed-e-Noor is dedicated to bringing positive changes among special children and helping them in their journey to lead a normal adult life.

groups, increase the outreach and productivity and provide training in bee farming ensuring quality honey through improved processing facilities. The CED will also facilitate market linkages for the sale of honey at higher competitive prices. OMF committed to make loans to 24 women entrepreneurs in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. The program will also impact the lives of 192 of their immediate dependants. UST MCP will allocate loans to 100 women for honey bee farming in the Northern Areas and Chitral through a revolving micro credit fund. Each $500 loan will provide five (5) beehives, training in beekeeping and the basic equipment required by a new beekeeper to initiate her own enterprise.  The program will benefit and impact the lives of an estimated 800 dependents. Hashoo Foundation’s Plan Bee is the winner of the BBC World Challenge 08 competition sponsored by BBC World News, Newsweek, and Shell. The project empowers women in Northern Pakistan by expanding employment opportunities and generating a stable source of income.  Additionally, the project addresses the inequities between male and female beekeepers by educating women beekeepers and linking them to profitable markets.