Sitting shyly and quietly, it takes time for Tajmina to warm up and open up about her experience in the previous school she was studying in. For children like Tajmina, there are little opportunities in small rural villages in Pakistan to gain the experience of a formal schooling system.

In the capital of the Republic of Bangladesh, Dhaka, around 12.6% of the children are being deprived from education on a daily basis, having to work in forced labour. They don’t get any adequate education. They don’t have a warm and welcoming environment to grow up. They are being left to themselves.

In cooperation with the Bangalore Rural Educational and Development Society (BREADS), HOPE’87 has enabled a magnificent project with a special focus on the empowerment of girls and young women though skills training at the YES Centre India.

HOPE’87 along with the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and Elementary & Secondary Education Foundation (ESEF) are on the move yet again in Pakistan bringing education to out-of-school children.

Coming to Vienna, at first, I thought that I would only be here to study, travel, get plugged in to a church and nothing else. But when hearing about internship opportunities still available for students through IES Abroad Vienna, I had to take advantage of it. Thus, I landed a position with HOPE’87 as an Assistant of the Secretary General.