Numb Rohi Welfare Society

NRWS is a non-profit organization dedicated to uplifting underprivileged communities through education, healthcare, and vocational training initiatives. Operating at two locations in Pakistan, the trust aims to address the socio-economic challenges faced by rural populations in Murree and Bahawalpur districts. With a focus on empowerment and sustainable development, Numb-Rohi-Trust endeavors to create opportunities for youth and families, fostering a brighter future for generations to come. numbrohitrust.org is an under-registration Trust operating at two locations, i.e, in the village Numb Bhera Mall, Tehsil Ghora Gali, District Murree with a vocational training centre, and in Chak 390 HR, Tehsil Yazman, District Bahawalpur with a Basic Health Unit and a Non-formal Primary school.

Numb Bhera Vocational Center (NBVC)

The Stitching Center

• Inspiration: Numb Bhera Mall is a typical mountain village of Pakistan to which we were introduced by our Tailor, Master Rafiq. It has a mix of few clans, one out of which are ancestrally tailors. In spite of their expertise, which was amazing, we found out that their incomes and business opportunities are mostly restricted. Generally, households in this village are dependent on a single breadwinner whose income is meager, given the fact that there is no agriculture, industry or government jobs available in that area. Having an opportunity to interact with few such households, we thought these people can benefit from formal training in dressmaking that can help discover the heredity stitching talent in many of them. This is how we ended up making a Vocational Training Center there, and a family home adjacent to it, in order to oversee the Center’s operations. The female students training in this center belong to different age groups. It’s so pleasing to hear how their stitching skills have developed from the scratch to a level that their dresses are going to be displayed in our factory outlet garment shop in Panorama Shopping Center on the Stadium Road of Rawalpindi for sale, a better part of whose proceeds will go to them as a personal income.
• Introduction: NBVC is affiliated with National Vocational and Technical Training Commission (NAVTTC) and National University of Technology (NUTECH). It has approx. 6000 sq ft covered area on 1 kanal, involving excavation and retaining walls in a mountainous terrain. It is located in the rural/scenic setting of Murree. We have completed the training of our maiden batches of 15 female students in the NAVTTC and 19 in the NUTECH Dressmaking courses of six and three month duration respectively. NAVTTC has subsidized its course, while the NUTECH course was nominally self-financed.
• Vision: To create a business ecosystem for the youth of Murree District based on dressmaking and Information Technology (IT) skills imparted by competent teachers in a well-equipped, not-for-profit training center, duly accredited by NAVTTC.
• The Stitching Training Center: 20 computerised sewing machines, an interlock stitching machine and ironing tables are placed in a training lab on the ground floor. A backup generator is available for the whole centre. A dedicated teacher is teaching / training seamstresses in the stipulated curriculum of NAVTTC and NUTECH under our supervision. Two batches of 15-20 students each have passed successfully. The next NAVTTC course of six months duration is expected to begin in Dec 2025.
• The Incubation Center: A new room has been added to the Stitching Center on the Ground Floor which houses 20 computerised industrial stitching machines, a button hole stitching machine and an over lock stitching machine. The purpose of this centre is to provide livelihood by utilising the students trained in the centre, or even other women who are proficient in tailoring, under the supervision of an entrepreneur tailor specialising in bulk stitching to produce school uniforms. Its scope can be enhanced further as more experience is gained, more workforce is trained and other business opportunities appear.
• Background:   An interesting fact that led the trustees to develop this facility in this poor, rural area is its large number of tailors. In spite of their talent, they are restricted in their family earning due to four major factors: firstly, limited marketing opportunities; secondly, inaccessibility to industrial machines; thirdly, sub-optimal business model; and fourthly under utilization of the female members’ work potential. NBVC is aimed to alleviate these disadvantages by: firstly, providing a platform for formal training; secondly, providing work space; thirdly, providing business opportunity, and fourthly, capacity building of the talented females of the family. Owing to its location near the main Murree Road, NBVC would be utilized by the wider population of the district where this kind of training and business opportunity is hard to find.
• Mission of the Stitching Training Center:        The mission is to train and award dressmaking certification to at least 100 students/year, provide entrepreneurial workspace and few sewing machines for the top graduating students.

نمب بھرا ہنرمندی مرکز کا مقصد با صلاحیت بچے اور بچیوں کو لباس کا ڈیزائن اور سلائی کا ہنر سکھانا ہے- اس سکھلائی کے بعد اعلی صلاحیت یافتہ ہنرمندوں کو اسی مرکز میں سلائی کے کام کی کاروباری سہولیات مہیا کرنا ہیں- کورس کے دوران نمایاں پوزیشن حاصل کرنے والے ہنرمندوں کو اپنا کام شروی کرنے کے لئے سلائی مشینوں کا انعام دینا بھی اس سینٹر کا ایک مقصد ہے

• Organization:

The Incubation Centre: The students at NBVC, after six months of training, are now undergoing internship at our incubation centre. Girls are being trained in girls school uniform making. Before that, during their course, girl students were provided cloth and material for stitching practice where they made some nice dresses that are being sold through our shop in Rawalpindi; a share of its profits will be given to the students while the rest will be utilised to pay rent and other expenses of the shop.

The IT Centre

• IT is the other domain of NBVC for which two large classrooms are dedicated on the first floor, which is nearing completion. It will house 30 computer stations for basic/ advanced level IT courses that can fetch a job / business in today’s world. Barani Institute of Information Technology (BIIT) will provide the trainers and guidance for setting up the IT Center, while NAVTTC will be approached for seeking their accreditation. Three courses have been applied with NAVTTC; office management, graphic design & video editing, and digital marketing & Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
• Mission of the IT Center:       The mission is to train and award different categories of IT certifications to at least 60 students/year, provide entrepreneurial workspace and few laptops for the top graduating students.
• NAVTTC Courses – Digital Marketing & Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Graphic Design & Video Editing: A training course each in these two specialisations with 20 and 15 students respectively is completed in the Centre under the guidance of NAVTTC. As the students get trained, internships and work opportunities will be sought for them to convert their training into a sustainable livelihood. The IT Center is preparing to seek fresh applications for NAVTTC Batch 3 courses in first week of Nov 2025 to begin those courses in Dec.

Rohi Healthcare Center (RHC)

• Inspiration: Rohi is the local name of the Smaller Cholistan desert in the Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar Districts of Punjab, which falls between the cities of Marot in Bahawalnagar District and Yazman in Bahawalpur District, stretching linearly almost 100 km from Northeast to Southwest with a width of 50-60 km. In the vastness of Rohi, getting even the most basic of medical treatment means travelling by foot or on a motorcycle for tens of kilometers, which in adverse road and weather conditions is a nightmare, to say the least. A seven year old girl one day in the summer of 2022 had one of her fingers chopped in a fodder cutter on an adjacent farm. She was rushed 26 km to Marot on a motorbike where the medical facility was closed. She was rushed back to our farm and 60 km onwards to Yazman’s Tehsil Hospital where her finger was mended and appropriate medicines were given. All this happened in around 43-44 degrees Celsius temperature. One day in the spring of 2023 a full term pregnant wife of a muzera went into labor and had to be rushed to Marot on a motorbike, only to find out that her condition is beyond the medical facility there. She was brought back the same way to the farm where a local car was arranged by then and transported to Yazman who further referred her to the Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur where the baby was safely delivered.  A muzera at a nearby farm one day in the summer of 2023 felt heartburn and in that wilderness decided to wait till the morning to seek some help. He suffered cardiac arrest during his sleep. Anemia in pregnant women is also very common due to which numerous complications arise. Many other common ailments turn into chronic issues because of the inability to get the patients to an appropriate facility that can provide the required medicines. We began by seeking donations of common medicines from a friend in pharmaceuticals business and holding few free medical camps with the help of District Administration’s Health Officer Yazman. This arrangement did not work and we decided to build a proper BHU. Initially, 2 kanals of land was donated and mutated to the Punjab Health Department for the purpose, however we ended up constructing the BHU on 4 kanals. In spite of a year-long effort, no headway towards its construction could be made with the Government of Punjab’s Planning Department due to their incorrect assessment of the population and the nearest medical facility, both. A Trustee encouraged to begin the construction and gave a donation as seed money for the project along with an ambulance in the summer of 2023. Thereafter many other friends and family pitched in, while the bulk of construction cost was borne by the Pak Army and the construction was completed in February 2024. The ambulance and the Rohi Markaz Sehat, as the BHU is called, are now saviors in that remoteness, with many stories of saving health, limbs and lives during the past six months. The number of patients who seek RHC’s help is around 60-70 per day.
• Introduction:  RHC is located 5 km East of Kheersar and 6 km West of Chapu on Kheersar – Chapu metaled road. It is a philanthropic project in Smaller Cholistan where no worthwhile healthcare facility exists in a couple of hundred square km for both the farmhands (muzera) families and the settled population of numerous villages like Chak 337, Chapu, Kheersar, Thandi Khui, Kala Pahar, Januwala, Kundai, Chak 335, , Mochi Sanda, Mojgarh, etc. This area is generally called Wanga Dhar (flat, hard ground in desert) which also has about 300 squares of land being cultivated by muzeras with a rough estimate of around two to three hundred families of approximately 6 members each, i.e, 1500 persons. Apart from these, the populations of each Chak is around 500 to 1000, i.e, 4500 persons. Therefore, around 6000 undeserved persons will benefit from this center. Moreover, there is no ambulance facility in the area where, at times, full term pregnant women have to be rushed on motorcycle to the nearest facility in Yazman or Bahawalpur, in complications, which is 50 – 100 km away. A vast majority of these people are the poorest in Pakistan whose livelihood barely provides sustenance for existence. They cannot afford travel, medicines or consultation fees. Consequently deaths, disabilities, sickness and injuries are commonplace.
• Vision: To create a sustainable primary medical service in Smaller Cholistan with the help of Punjab Health Department and WHO.
• RHC:    RHC has been constructed as per standard Basic Health Unit design. It has a medical inspection room, a medicine dispensing counter, storeroom, 4-bed ward, labor room, scrub room, and waiting areas with spacious lawns outside. We are now in consultation with various NGOs / WHO / Punjab Health Department / Pak Army to manage its operations including posting of a MBBS doctor, which is essential. Free medical camps have been successfully organized on this farm with donated medicines and medical services of Tehsil Yazman’s District Administration Health Officer. The latest one being held on 27-28 September with the help of Dr Tariq Mehmood, an experienced public health and GP medical officer with special training in rural psychiatry. Since this facility is far from any town to allow daily commute of its staff, a set of staff quarters is also being constructed within its premises on the farm. A medical assistant is now permanently hired by MFRO / Pak Army who’s an ex Army Operation Theater Assistant proficient in treating minor injuries / stitching, while search for an LHV is also under way for hiring. In a related development, an Agriculture Research Center has been developed nearby by Pak Army, which houses agriculture researchers, laboratories, farm machinery workshops, animal sheds and drip irrigation manufacturing facilities. 
• Mission:          To provide basic healthcare facilities to the under-served population of Smaller Cholistan within the means provided by the Health Department, supplemented by private donations.

Non-formal Primary School

• Inspiration: Our interest in Rohi developed when, as part of a public policy for Cholistan’s development, we were allotted a piece of land there in 2018 for development as a farm. Contrary to the existing culture of further subletting this land, we decided to live up to the spirit of this policy by engaging ourselves into development of this land into a profitable farmland. Along this journey we discovered the plight of the local population here as most neglected. Collecting the children of our farm’s muzeras (farmhands) we commenced an informal school of about 15 children whose teacher was luckily found from amongst the muzera families; an FA passed spouse! Her salary was pledged by our 90 years old mother from her subsistence pension. These children, and most of those who followed them, were absolutely raw in education, also lacking the most basics of religious and national awareness. As the children admissions kept swelling, we constructed a barrack with a veranda and shifted the school there along with hiring a few teachers with the help of Punjab Literacy Department. The comparative progress of the students remained very encouraging. One day in the summer of 2020, the Deputy Education Officer, Mr Naseer Sial and his Deputy, Mr Muhammad Akram visited the school and brought some bags and books for the children. As they were interacting with the children to assess their progress and one four year old was parroting the A for Apple, B for Bat for them, the Deputy decided to jump to ‘O’. We waited with bated breath to see what the poor student says and much to our astonishment, without batting an eye, he replied, O for Ox, Ox meaning “byel” and pointed to a bull in our cattle shed! The officials embraced him and gave a personal donation for the school. Later on we donated and mutated in favor of Punjab Education Department 4 kanals of our farmland for an elementary school where foundation work is underway at the moment with the help of a couple of seed donations. More donations from Pak Army are expected soon and we hope to finish the project by 30 Jun 2025 inshaAllah. Punjab Education Department’s Bahawalpur Office has assured us to provide the staff, equipment and maintenance budget for this school once it is commissioned.
• Introduction: The non-formal primary school is functional for the past four years with an increased enrolment of about 200 students recently, 4-12 years of age. These are children of muzeras and also from the nearby villages whose schools are not functioning well. Books are provided by the Punjab Literacy Department and stationary is provided by donations. The learning modality is informal due to the varying age and education levels of the students.
• Vision: To create Rohi Government Secondary School for Girls and Boys, along with a vocational training center that could train boys and girls in skills with economic viability in Cholistan.
• The Under-construction Building:           The construction of a 4300 sq ft covered area Elementary School on 4 kanals of land donated to Punjab Education Department is underway. The estimated cost of this project is Rs 15 million. Subject to availability of funds, this project will be completed ASAP. The Punjab Department Department’s Bahawalpur Office has assured of providing the staff and maintenance facilities for this school once it is completed. The Government of Punjab will be formally approached for Schedule of New Expenditure (SNE) for this facility. While its building is waiting to be completed, the school has shifted here with five teachers provided by the Punjab Literacy Department. Presently the work of plastering, floor, toilets, front boundary wall and windows/doors is being completed.
• Mission: To impart primary education to the children enrolled in the Rohi Non-Formal Primary School.
• Donations: Family and friends have been instrumental in initiation of these welfare projects. Pak Army has patronized and donated significantly towards these projects.

Donations:     NRWS are all self-help projects of public good, developed by donations. Family, friends and Pak Army have been a great help in its furnishing and equipment. We are earnestly seeking donations for the remaining construction cost. Numb Bhera Vocational Center a/c Habib Bank Limited 58837000011055 or PK54 HABB 0058837000011055.

Trustees:

• Maj Gen (Retd) Syed Najeeb Ahmad, HI(M), PhD, Rawalpindi.
• Mrs Novaira Najeeb, MSc Economics, Diploma in Dressmaking and Industrial Stitching (NUTECH), Principal NBVC, Murree.
• Dr Rifat Nadeem Ahmad, MBBS, FCPS (Microbiology) Professor of Pathology, Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad.
• Mr Syed Asadullah Fatmi, General Manager Supply Chain, ACM Hi-Tech Engineering (Pvt) Ltd, Islamabad.
• Mr Taha Sawar, MSc IT, Rector Northern University, Nowshera.
• Mr Syed Oneeb Ahmad, Final Year Agriculture Engineering, Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi.
• Mr Syed Ibrahim Ahmad, 2nd Year Mechanical Engineering, NUST Islamabad.