Campaign launched for education facilities in undeveloped rural areas: Shahid Afridi

FAISALABAD: Former cricket Shahid Afridi has launched a social campaign to expand education facilities in the far-flung and undeveloped rural areas of the country through Shahid Afridi Foundation (SAF).

Addressing a function at the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday, Shahid Afridi said that he had earned international fame only because of Pakistan and cricket. “Now it was my moral duty to pay back Pakistan”, he said. He told that he had established a foundation with a mandate to focus on health, education and clean drinking water projects for poor and deprived segments of the society.

About the activities of the foundation, he told that a 250-bed hospital had been established in Thar with the collaboration of a fertiliser company, which would become operational very soon. Regarding availability of clean drinking water, he said that it was very pathetic that in rural Sindh, human beings as well as animals drink water from the same pond. He said that he had built water tanks from where ladies could get clean drinking water nearest to their houses. He told that this job was started from a Goth where 59 non-Muslim families were also living.

He said that he had launched his welfare oriented programme alone but with its expansion, he had to seek help from the philanthropist so that maximum people could be provided facilities of health, education and clean water across the country. He said that no person could become a celebrity without serving the others and hence he had devoted his rest of life for the poor and deprived segment of the society. He assured that he would also consider a proposal to set up a school under his foundation in slum area of Faisalabad.

Zeeshan Afzal, global chief executive of the foundation, said that the foundation had established a hospital in ancestral village of Shahid Khan Afridi ‘Tungi’. During the last three years, free medical facilities were provided to more than 135,000 people while 25,000 lab tests were also conducted, he added. He said that currently Shahid Afridi Foundation was running 14 schools while more schools would be added very soon. FCCI president Rana Sikandar-e-Azam said that the FCCI was one of the leading chambers of Pakistan. He assured that the business community of Faisalabad would certainly contribute to the campaign launched by Shahid Afridi Foundation.