“It is an inspiration to see that so many young people come together for the betterment of the society and are able to earn for their families simultaneously. And the credit for such a positive social change in the society is owed to USAID and YES Network Pakistan”, expressed Shamoon.
USAID Small Grants and Ambassador’s Fund Program enabled students like Shamoon Masih to make money while also making a difference.
With an aim to institutionalize the concept of Social Entrepreneurship in the educational institutions of Baluchistan and Gilgit-Baltistan, USAID-supported initiative has trained 40 Master Trainers selected from educational institutes; oriented 2,700 students and 100 faculty members of the institutes to the concept; and involved 500 of the oriented students in Social Enterprise Competition.
After Shamoon sister’s death, he took it as a personal challenge to create awareness about Hepatitis in his community. He lost his sister a year earlier after she was diagnosed of Hepatitis. “It is not every day that you lose someone close to you. When my sister died, I made a commitment to myself to do whatever is possible in my capacity to ensure no one else dies of such a disease”, said Shamoon in a sad tone.
It was at such a point that Shamoon found out about the Advancing Youth Social Entrepreneurship in Higher Education (YES Network Pakistan), an initiative funded by USAID Small Grants and Ambassador’s Fund Program designed to institutionalize the concept of Social Entrepreneurship.
Along with four other team members, Shamoon accessed the project team and participated in Show Your Creativity, a social enterprise competition conducted by USAID funded project. Under the project, each of the team members has been given a loan of PKR. 1000. With access to funds, Shamoon and his team bought basic medical instruments from the investment and got pamphlets printed and circulated which stated the causes, symptoms and possible remedies of Hepatitis.
“In Balochistan, It is heart breaking to see so many young and old people from the community suffer from the disease”, said Shamoon Masih who happens to be a final year MBA student in Quetta.
After this, the team conducted tests for Hepatitis. Students in large numbers started taking the test as the team was offering it for PKR 300 whereas the same test in the market costs PKR 900 per person. The team collected total revenue of PKR 30,000 and is still working on their enterprise. They wish to continue for as long as everyone in the community is aware of the disease.
Shamoon shared that he is thankful to USAID beyond words can express as they not only helped them earning money but also helped them saving lives. He shared that while they were conducting the awareness drives in various schools, they diagnosed two young children who turned out to be positive for Hepatitis. Upon sharing the news, the children and their families were terribly shocked. However, the team did not stop there. They helped them to get in touch with the public t hospital where Hepatitis patients are entitled to free treatment.
