A significant partnership bringing together a Lancaster-based charity and a Garstang community group is being celebrated for the transformative difference it will make for vulnerable mothers and babies in one of the world’s toughest environments.
Soroptimist International Garstang, part of a global volunteer movement whose mission is to transform the lives and status of women and girls through education, empowerment and enabling opportunities, have voted to make Abaseen Foundation their next fundraising beneficiary.
Founded in 2002 by former High Sheriff of Lancashire Helen Bingley OBE and her late husband William, the Abaseen Foundation provides healthcare, education, welfare services and facilities in the Peshawar District of North West Pakistan, close to the Afghanistan border. Across two decades, their projects have focussed on lifting people out of poverty in one of the harshest rural environments, included providing sanitation, water, nutrition, education and healthcare.
Recipients of The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (the MBE for voluntary groups) their current project is creating a Mother and Child emergency unit as part of their new Community Hospital, which will benefit around 100,000 people who have little or no access to quality healthcare.
Pakistan ranks third globally for the highest infant mortality rates, with both mother and baby mortality rates much higher in the country’s rural areas than urban, putting them among the highest in the world. Providing 24/7 mother and child emergency care with 12 beds, a delivery suite and procedure rooms, it is estimated the new unit will benefit 24,000 patients annually, including check-ups, routine care, deliveries, emergency treatment and aftercare.
Garstang Soroptimists voted “overwhelmingly” to make the project the focus of their fundraising for the next two years. President Paula Day said: “We are committed to a world where women and girls can achieve their potential, realise aspirations, and have an equal voice in creating strong and peaceful communities worldwide, so this lifesaving project resonated strongly with our members.”
Abaseen founder and Chief Executive Helen, who lives in Lancaster, said: “Being chosen by Garstang Soroptimists is wonderful news, and having their commitment for two years give us the stability and confidence to bring our plans to fruition, saving the lives of mothers and children in North West Pakistan.
“I would also like to thank all our supporters whose significant contributions have made a lot of work possible, and without whom all our transformative projects, from providing clean water to building schools, could not go ahead. We know times are tough for many, but every donation, however small it may appear to Western eyes, helps transform lives, and we are grateful for every penny.”
To support or find out more about the Abaseen Foundation’s work, see: www.abaseenfoundation.org.uk
