Born in a low-income, conservative community, Humaira Bachal dared to dream of a better life for herself and other girls like her. She now runs a multi-storey school for 1,200 students, an industrial home for women and a microfinance facility for 500 women in Moach Goth, a semi-urban settlement on the periphery of Pakistan’s largest metropolis, Karachi.
Azhar Rizvi:
I met young Humaira Bachal about twelve years ago. She was an angry young teenager infuriated by society’s negligent attitude towards her community. My first meeting with her was at the PACC (Pakistan American Cultural Center) which Humaira attended for learning English. She burst out in the very beginning of our conversation, “How would you feel if people exploit you and take undue advantage of you, not paying you according to your services?” She was enraged about how shop owners of Karachi were underpaying women from her community. She had visited fashionable boutiques and seen the clothes marked up to 10 times the price that the home based workers in her village were getting for stitching them.
My reply had surprised her. I had said, “They have every right to do so.” For a moment, she was stunned into silence. Then I explained to her that people who do not stand up for their rights, are always exploited. In the following year, I coached and mentored her and another young man, Sohail Rahi – two social workers who were working to set up the Dream Foundation. To be honest, though I never doubted this young girl’s abilities or her mettle, her achievements in establishing a school, a microfinance initiative and others are truly beyond my expectations and put her in a class of her own. If the law and order situation in Karachi had been favorable, Humaira’s initiatives would have grown exponentially.
Humaira Bachal’s Story
In a world where she was expected to limit her role to serving the home and family, Humaira Bachal dared to dream for more. She created a stir in her small conservative community at Moach Goth when she challenged social norms and urged people to send their daughters to school.
Humaira began the process of change in her community in 2001 while just 12 years old. She started a quality school in one of the poorest areas around Karachi and became a social entrepreneur. In 15 years, she has moved from a makeshift afternoon school operating out of her home into a three-storey, 1,500 sq. ft. purpose-built building with trained teachers and state-of-the-art facilities. Today, alongside the Dream School Foundation, Humaira runs a micro-financing scheme called Asan Rozgar and a clinic for the community.
Over 1,200 students study at the Dream Model Street School in four shifts.
Humaira has received numerous international awards and accolades, including the Impact Award 2013, Coca Cola’s Savvy and Success Award, the 2016 Trailblazer Award, the Chime for Change award, and the Asia Foundation’s Asia 21 Young Leader award.
Humaira has been profiled in The Economist and Forbes.
Read how Humaira turned around a community dynamics to make her work a testament for Women’s Education and Empowerment in Entrepreneuring Pakistan.
