Rozan holds annual fundraiser

Islamabad :This year the annual fundraiser by Rozan was a well attended affair titled, ‘Shaam-e-Sukhan’ featuring a poetry reading by poet, essayist, columnist and civil society leader, Haris Khalique who writes in Urdu and English - and a concert by Ali Sethi, the vocalist, who is making a name for himself because of his style of vocalising different genres of song. A young man was the MC of the evening – I did not catch his name and he did not respond when I beckoned to him – but he was enthusiastic about what he was doing.

Maria Rashid of Rozan then came and gave a brief overview of the work being done by the NGO; appealed for people to volunteer their time and hoped everyone would enjoy the evening. 

The programme began with Haris reading out a couple of poems in Urdu and finishing off with one in English. Ali Sethi followed and was entertaining in as much as he told anecdotes about his childhood; about interacting with his grandparents; his experience with Coke Studio; his fascination of listening to old masters as a child and so on. It was talk that filled the gap nicely between songs, as well as gave an insight into the man behind the pop star who is popular with the younger generation, while the older lot is just beginning to know him as he not quite their ‘cup of tea,’ as they say. So there were two kinds of reaction to his performance – whistles; catcalls and exuberant whoops when he sang what appealed to the young ones and appreciative applause when he sang his version of some traditional and folk numbers. What was surprising was that he did not wait to meet anyone after the concert ended but hurried out followed by his musicians. “I ran as fast as I could” a young fan said, “but I could not catch him!”

While all the effort that goes into organising a fund raising event like this is much appreciated, a couple of no-no’s must be pointed out that put a damper on the show Concerts in a hotel hall are not the same as those held out in the open or in bigger spaces, so the sound should be adjusted accordingly and no strobe lights should be used. They were very disturbing and spoiled the enjoyment of the evening for a lot of people.

Rozan is an Islamabad based non-government and non-profit organisation working on issues of emotional and mental health. The organisation was officially registered in December 1998, under the Societies Act of 1860. Rozan’s mission is ‘to have worked with all people, especially women, youth and children to collectively strive for a society that is violence free, self-aware and accepting of itself and others.’

Rozan has been widely appreciated and supported by the community for the last 19 years. It offers a variety of services through its various programs to the community. These include, among others, working with police in building their capacity and enhancing their sensitivity to effectively respond to women and children survivors of abuse; working on the emotional health of children and youth, particularly child sexual abuse and offering a youth help line, counselling and self-help groups for women, youth, and children.