I have twice advanced an application to the Overseas Development Aid within the Foreign Ministry, Malta, for funds for our school. I came to Pakistan after serving for 30 years as rector of St Paul’s Missionary College, Rabat. This is my vocation in life and I am very happy to be serving God in the persons of poor students in this troubled Muslim country.
At present, I am responsible for Joseph De Piro Middle School for Girls, in Asif Town 2, Lahore, Pakistan. Asif Town is really a misnomer. It is just a conglomeration of dirt streets and houses with open drains and sewers, and where sewage often overflows into the streets.
The first ODA grant amounted to €15,936. As mandatory, I first forwarded my project and then the original receipts of all items of expenditure and over 100 photos detailing the different phases of this project.
In spending this money, priority was given to a back-up power supply for the whole school. Thus, during the daily frequent electricity outages, our students can have lessons in enough light and enjoy the benefit of fans in temperatures which are 40° (and plus) in the shade for most of the year.
We put in ceramic tiles in all the toilets which before had only bare concrete floors – last summer, we faced a dengue fever epidemic which killed over 400 people in Lahore alone.
Other beneficiaries have been a number of adolescent girls who have never been to school. Apart from a basic literacy programme, we offer them courses in various crafts for free. The ODA money has helped to acquire all the necessary materials for these craft courses. Oħloq Tbissima provides us with staff salaries.
The second ODA grant amounts to €14,000, whose purpose has been made public very recently by the ministry. Together with my application, I forwarded all relevant architectural plans and costings, drawn by a professional engineer. The estimate for the whole project stands at € 33,632.
No staff has been employed to run these projects. I am responsible for all the work involved, while keeping within the stringent parameters demanded by the ODA. In this way, we MSSP ensure that each single euro received reaches the people directly. (On my part, the ODA may feel free to share all correspondence with any interested party.)
A warm thank you to the ODA and through them to the Maltese people at large; also to the contributors of Oħloq Tbissima. Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said recently that the ODA never covers the full cost of any project; our shortfall is covered by Oħloq Tbissima.
The girls of Asif “Town” 2 are benefitting from the generosity of the Maltese people. Joseph De Piro Middle School for Girls is a living testimony to this generosity.