“Love thy neighbor” is how the saying goes, but words don’t always reflect reality. While the intense rivalry between India and Pakistan is not new, the World Trade Center event in September 2001 and its aftermath have left Pakistan in an unfamiliar and delicate relationship with its neighbor Afghanistan. The ongoing war and recent surge in NATO troops in Afghanistan, several suicide bombings in Pakistan, and the Bombay attacks in India last year have all but alienated not only the three countries of South Asia but also the United States.
Dreamfly hopes to bridge this gap by connecting children in the schools and community centers it funds and operates in the region.
“Kids in these countries grow up hating people from other countries in the region”, said Umaimah
Mendhro, a recent graduate of Harvard Business School and one of the co-founders of Dreamfly. Umaimah has roots in Akri – a small village in Sindh, Pakistan – where Dreamfly built its first school. “Kids of Akri can’t even spell Harvard”, continued Umaimah, “and I want to make sure that the opportunities that enabled me to pursue higher education in the US are available to these kids as well”. Mona Akmal, the other co-founder of Dreamfly, believes she enjoys the life she has because of the opportunities provided to her by the education she received. Referring to the opportunities available to her, she said: “If you level the playing field, amazing things can happen”.
Mona and Umaimah joined hands two years ago to start Dreamfly with the bold aim of providing first-class education to children, in areas such as Akri where there are either no schools or no substantial resources for schools that might exist. Dreamfly chooses the location of a school (or a community center), raises funds, and designs its program (curriculum, summer camp etc.), and partners with local organizations (such as The Citizens Foundation in Pakistan, and Rubia in Afghanistan) to run day to day operations.
Dreamfly aspires to create an environment where kids dare to dream. While educating children remains at the core of its ambitions, what’s really striking about Dreamfly’s approach is its aim to bridge the gap between countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and the US.
Here are some of the elements of Dreamfly’s projects.
Providing role models to the children. Dreamfly aims at building a strong bond between sponsors (most of whom are in the United States) and kids. The idea is to provide role models to students and to keep the community and sponsors involved in the growth of the children. For example, half way across the world in the United States, at events aptly called Dreamwall Pakistan and Dreamwall Afghanistan, attendees shared pictures of personal significance and wrote messages directly addressed to the children. In return, each student shared his or her name, age, and a dream. Students also shared their pictures taken using digital cameras provided to them by Dreamfly.
Connecting with sister schools. Dreamfly is working on establishing a sister relationship between its first school in Akri and a school in Seattle. Also, the curriculum in Dreamfly schools in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India is designed to keep students in touch with students in the neighboring countries. This, in the long term, will play a part in reducing tension between these countries – one school at a time.
Providing computers and technology. Most of the schools in rural Pakistan do not have any computers. But the school in Akri has a computer lab and is aimed at addressing three problems at once.
- Computer programs and videos such as Sesame Street are used to educate children and help them learn things in a more intuitive and fun way.
- Computers provide a means to help children learn about technology itself, by learning how to program or how to use Office software and other tools.
- Computers serve a big part of Dreamfly’s mission: bridging the gap. Students learn how to use email to stay in touch with their peers and sponsors. Moreover, Mona and Umaimah are designing curriculum in a way such that students can use social networking tools (such as Facebook) to stay in touch. This is still work in progress, as they want to ensure that social networking tools are used in a way that does not hinder their education.
While kids pursue their dreams in Dreamfly schools, their sponsors will stay updated with the impact of their donations. Similarly, the children will get to know more about their peers and role models in the US and other countries. It’s hard not to see why this will help bring these kids together and pave the way for strong relationships between these, sometimes very alienated, countries.
Saad Fazil does freelance writing for VentureBeat, where he focuses on deep analysis of emerging trends in the industry. He is the founder of Whizner Consulting, a technology strategy consulting firm. Prior to consulting, he held business analyst, product management, and sales consultant positions at Kayak.com, Oracle, and Alcatel. He received his MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. He blogs at IT Valley and tweets at @sfrocks.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of STEP.
Beautiful.