On Saturday 12 March 2016, Quest for Education (now Quest for Education Foundation) hosted a ghazal evening in London to raise funds for the schools we support in rural Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Guests enjoyed an evening of poetry, music, food and good company.
Ghazals and qawwali
A ghazal is a form of sung poetry with roots in Arabic verse, much loved in Urdu and Hindi. It is made up of a series of couplets held together by rhyme and refrain, and each couplet can stand on its own.
The ghazals were accompanied by qawwali, a form of devotional music that emerged in the Indian subcontinent in the 13th century. Both are widely celebrated in Pakistan, which made them a fitting way to bring supporters together.
In the spirit of learning, our hosts also offered guests a lesson in bhangra, and many took to the floor.
Why we gathered
The evening was about more than music. The briefing notes we prepared for the evening’s hosts focused on three things.
Girls’ education. Our partner, the Kashmir Education Foundation (KEF), aspires for girls to take at least 51% of the places in its schools, and places do not depend on a family’s ability to pay.
Teacher training. KEF’s college at Bassali trains women as primary teachers. One well-trained teacher reaches generations of pupils, so support for the college goes a long way.
Regular giving. The plan for the night included cash pledges, direct debit sign-ups, an auction and a raffle. Regular gifts are especially valuable, because they help the schools and the college plan ahead with confidence.
Thank you
Thank you to everyone who took part and donated, and to all who gave their time and talent to make the evening possible.
Editor’s note: we do not hold photographs of the evening. The photograph above shows the teacher education building at Bassali, now the Joan Atkinson College of Teacher Education.
If you were inspired by the evening’s message, a monthly gift is one of the most useful ways to support girls’ education and teacher training.