ISLAMABAD, Feb 22 (APP): British-Pakistani philanthropist and social worker, Lord Aamer Sarfraz has established a foundation for socio-economic development of youth and children from remote areas of the country.
The ‘Lord Sarfraz Foundation’ has been established to develop and support innovative projects for remote areas including issues of youth, healthcare, clean water infrastructure, wildlife conservation, agriculture workers health, emergency response and human rights education, Sarfraz told APP here on Monday.
Sarfraz said that the foundation has already been conducting social programs in Pakistan for several years in different areas of Punjab and other parts of the country.
He said that his organization has also conducted over 110 free health camps in South Punjab and rural Sindh, targeted to the needs of Agri-workers women and children.
Additionally, entrepreneurial skills development programs have been established to diversify sources of income for rural agricultural communities, he said.
Aamer said that capacity building courses were also offered to the women and men belonging to the remote areas, including tailoring, embroidery and computer operations.
He said that another program is working with children incarcerated in prisons across Pakistan together with their mothers.
While replying to a question on his social work and philanthropy, he said “We established the first ‘Therapeutic Horsemanship Program’ in Pakistan through Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapy designed to serve special needs children in order to enhance the quality and productivity of their lives.”
He said the goal is to help these children in social, emotional, cognitive, or behavioral ways.
The majority of children participating in ‘Equine Therapy’ are between the ages of 3 to 20 years old and unfortunately, there are not many extra-curricular facilities or activities in Pakistan for special children, he said.
Replying to another question, he said that “We trained our specialized team for this program from a British Equine specialist, and includes horse experts, side-walkers, Equine-assisted therapy instructors and a Clinical Psychologist, he added.
While Fozia Saeed, whose child participated in the horse therapy programme, said “I have observed a quick improvement in Ahmad’s behavior after having equine therapy.
“I think outdoor exposures bring more improvements in these children than indoor activities and our family is so happy and satisfied to see Ahmad physical revival in normal life,” she said.
Speaking on the occasion Lord Sarfraz said “Pakistan is blessed with an incredibly talented young population, when provided the right opportunities; the sky’s the limit for them.”
