There is no bigger joy than helping others in distressed times. During testing times of COVID-19, there were people who came out to selflessly help those in need. These people were hailed as heroes, warriors and even saviours. Our English Works Alumnus Ehtsham ul Haq Raja belongs to the same league. Being altruistic by nature, Raja risked his life as well as those of his loved ones and joined South Asia’s one of the largest orphanages, Kashmir Orphans Relief Trust (KORT), as a volunteer.
Raja hails from an ancient village near Line of Control (LOC) named Kaini Sher-Abad (Charhoi). Since the lockdown brought all activities to a halt during the pandemic, there were people struggling to find even a morsel of food. It is then he worked from door to door and distributed food rations and other daily usage things among needy people. He also served in the areas near LOC and distributed food & medicine from the platform of KORT. He was also the member of that team who served in Afghanistan recently, they distributed food and winter clothes at the Afghan border. Through this organization, he did all that he could to help the poor sections of the population.
Raja has recently completed a project titled Environment Does Matter, supported by the U.S. Mission in Pakistan and PUAN under Alumni Small Grant (ASG). Currently, he is working with KORT as Administration Officer. Through this organization, he is working for different attainment of various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) like women empowerment, clean water, education, sustainable energy, food & poverty Alleviation.
Besides KORT, he also remained an active volunteer with other organizations. It was these selfless services for the community that earned him a Presidential Award and Muskorteers Award 2021, lately. Raja is immensely thankful to the U.S. Mission in Pakistan for granting him the opportunity to be a part of ‘English Works’ Program and various other creative initiatives of PUAN which enabled him to dream big and polished his skills to become the best version of himself.
