14 children benefit from PWA’s heart surgeries support – Board member

Fourteen children have benefited from the open heart surgeries, organized by the Pakistani Women Association (PWA).

A member, PWA Board of Trustees, Ms Mona Anjum, gave this indication at the PWA annual fundraising Bazaar, held at the Pakistani High Commission’s ground on Saturday in Abuja, to support mainly the less privilege in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the PWA is a non-profitable organisation that started operation in 2016 in Abuja to assist children with holes in their hearts get surgeries at the National Hospital.

Also, it is a functional ladies group, relentlessly working for humanitarian purposes in the FCT.

Anjum said the association was formed to assist children living with holes in their hearts and it collaborated with Healing Little Hearts, UK, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the surgeries had to stop.

“We are a non-profitable organisation that have been around for four years and the organisation was registered in 2016.

”We hold charity bazaar every year and this is the third one because we could not hold last year due to the pandemic.

“When we started, we were helping children with holes in their hearts by helping to pay for their local surgery expenses,” she said.

Anjum said it was collaborating with Healing Little Hearts, a UK-based charity foundation.

She said they performed the surgeries for free at the national hospital, while the Association would help to raise money for local expenses.

Anjum said that each child would require N2 million to N2.5 million for local expenses.

“We have helped 14 children and sent two to India on a separate arrangement.

”Because of the pandemic, the open heart surgeries had to come to an end due to travel restrictions, our UK team could not come.

“So, we decided to go to a new project. We started a Micro Finance scheme, through which we’ve helped out 20 women from the Karima Jiji village.

“We give out interest free loans to women whose businesses were affected by COVID-19 pandemic.

”They pay back gradually over 10 months and most of them are widows,” she said.

Speaking earlier, Mr Muhammad Azam, the Pakistani High Commissioner to Nigeria, told NAN that the bazaar organised was mainly for the less privileged families in the FCT who are dependent on the association.

Azam added that the commission is providing the association with the necessary support to conduct the event.

According to him, apart from the charity bazaar, the event doubles as another avenue for the Pakistani community here in Abuja to mingle and interact with Pakistanis and non-Pakistanis.

Azam said the Embassy had a stand at the bazaar, adding that whatever it made from the day’s sales would be donated to the PWA to support their agenda to assist the less privileged communities in Nigeria. (NAN)