A student's desire to make a difference

Dubai: A staggering 80 per cent of Afghanistan's population drinks contaminated water, according to the United Nations website.

In the hope of turning the situation around, 14-year-old Gulf News reader Aqil Rashid decided to raise funds to build wells in the country.

The concept of giving gifts or even money to children on the day of Eid changed the way the St Mary's Catholic High School pupil thought about life.

The Dubai resident said: "Two years ago, I received a good sum of money on Eid and my father suggested that instead of buying something, I could put the money towards a better use."

He then started his research and discovered Roshan, a telecommunications company in Afghanistan. Roshan is involved in organising social programmes.

One of their many projects involved building wells.

Suffering

Rashid said: "Sadly, these people have suffered from lack of clean water and many times, women or children have to walk for hours to get clean water. A water well solves the problem and the cost of building one was just $2,000 (Dh7,346)."

With a strong willingness to help out, Rashid started a project to collect enough funds to build one well.

He approached his relatives and friends and without realising it, his project started to grow.

He said: "Each well can easily impact the lives of at least 700 people. So by donating around Dh10 you are able to provide clean drinking water to one person for the rest of his or her life!"

Over the past two years, Rashid has managed to collect over Dh50,000 — enough to build eight wells in Afghanistan. His aim is to raise another $14,000 to take the noble figure up to 15 wells.

He said: "According to the World Bank, more than 20 per cent of all Afghan children die before the age of five, of which a third die soon after birth. [An] unclean water supply is a significant contributor to this reality."

Another project

This is not the first project that Rashid has set his mind on.

Prior to this, he has helped support the construction of a sports complex for students at a university in Karachi, Pakistan.

He also participates in the annual Terry Fox Run.

He said: "In my previous school, we had raised money and organised performances to entertain workers in one of the construction workers' accommodation in Dubai."

Rashid now hopes to get others involved in his cause.

Humanitarian: Roshan mission

Roshan is a cellular service provider in Afghanistan that has initiated Roshan Social Programmes, which engages in a variety of social activities to further humanitarian efforts in the country.

Their mission is to reconstruct Afghanistan by investing in the community, reducing distress, providing opportunities and education for a better future. They are one of the largest employers in Afghanistan and 20 per cent of their work force is women.

The group started a ‘Building Wells' project in 2006. Two wells were built in the outskirts of Kabul — to support 400 families. Each well costs $2,000 (Dh7,346).

If anyone wishes to support this project, they can write to socialprograms@roshan.af.

Information: To make contact

Those who are interested can get in touch with Aqil Rashid at aaadub@eim.ae.