Kids are excited, hoping for a field trip

kids enjoying Rana ParkWhere will the annual school field trip’s destination be this year? Amin wants to take the children to the Rana Resort and Safari Park near Lahore, near the Head Balloki Reservoir. It’s an interesting  combination of a wildlife refuge and amusement park.

beautiful trail in Rana Park

Lions at Rana Safari Park

The kids are excited, especially because the date has been set for next week, Tuesday November 27th.

However, it may need to be rescheduled for another date if the needed funds have not come in yet. This trip involves traveling nearly 2 hours each way, plus the low admission cost, and other costs such as feeding everyone. It comes to $300 needed in total.  Bus fare has already been covered now, praise God! Now only $150 remains to be donated.

route map to Rana Park

I’m sure we all can agree that field trips are an important part of a child’s education, especially when the children come from poor families who cannot provide some of these experiences for their children.

This is a popular destination for school trips, as the children can be exposed to a wide variety of mind-expanding experiences all in one place. school kids riding on a wagon

There are various kinds of birds and animals to observe.birds at Rana Park

There is a little “train” (without tracks) that can carry people along some of the roads in this beautiful natural setting. There are also many other attractions.swans and boats

I found a couple of YouTube videos (narrated in the Urdu language) that take you on tours through the park. Apparently, these are professionally done episodes of a local TV show.

Even though it’s not narrated in English, you can get a very good feel for what this place is all about and how Amin’s school kids can be enriched by going there.  (All the images in this blog post are extracted from these two videos.)  I enjoyed watching the videos and feeling like I was experiencing this place for myself.

video image

Click on the video image to watch it in YouTube.
Here’s the other one. Watch and enjoy! Get excited along with the kids!

video image 2

Upcoming Hopes and Dreams

Grocery shopping by motorcycle.
Grocery Shopping

Jackets Day was a success, but in order to have enough funds to provide jackets, Principal Amin sold his motorcycle. In Pakistan, that’s your main (only) vehicle… or you might use a donkey cart, etc.  This motorcycle was what he used for transporting school supplies and food for the children the long distance home from the markets.

Now Christmas is coming, and the annual Gifts Day is scheduled for 22 December. The children have told Amin that they don’t need any traditional Christmas presents this year, they just want to receive new books, notebooks or school diaries along with a school bag.

boy with school books

The children are telling Amin “This is our Christmas gift. If we study hard, one day we will be good Christian and preacher of Jesus Christ. Hope after gotten education, we shall too supports many other children like us in the world.”

These kids understand the value of an education! Amin is inviting people to join them in purchasing books for the children because books are “their bright future”.

They need to purchase 250 sets of books, notebooks or daily homework diaries and school bags. It is only around $10 per child for all these supplies (very reasonable compared to in the U.S.).

Other needs are also projected for the remainder of the school year, including a much-hoped-for educational field trip (described in a separate post). Here is Amin’s detailed breakdown of the projected funds required:

projected budget for Christ Public School

As always, you can click the Paypal button on this site to give any amount, either a one-time donation or a recurring amount that will be charged automatically every month.

And whether you can give or not, Amin and the kids always appreciate your prayers.  Thanks, and God bless!

Arline