On Saturday, May 15th 2004, the students of Imperial College of Business Studies arranged a function as part of their Leadership and Community Development course. The Minister for Education, Punjab Mr. Imran Masood was the Chief Guest on the occasion. Guests from the corporate sector, NGOs, Principals of Schools, parents and elite of the city graced the occasion.

As part of their coursework, the students had undertaken projects which were aimed at helping the underprivileged members of the society. Most of the projects this time were related to health and disadvantaged children.

The evening started with the recitation of the Holy Quran followed by an introduction to LCD by the Associate Dean and Program Coordinator Mrs. Badia Raza. She explained that Leadership and Community Development Program is an effort to bridge the gap between the students and the community. The students identify, develop and implement projects for social uplift of the underprivileged sections of society. The purpose of this exercise is to make them more humane, responsible, and willing to help and share some of their privileges with the disadvantaged people.

The rest of the event was marked with brief introductions of each project followed by a display of the unique talents by the children of different trusts and NGOs. Ms. Sadia Malik introduced her group’s project ‘Challenged Geniuses’ which involved working for the welfare of the mentally handicapped children of Dar-ul-Mussarat. The children then presented a dance sequence.

Vision of Life was an another project undertaken to provide financial assistance and emotional support to the visually impaired children of Aziz Jehan Begum Trust. The introduction to the project was followed by a skit and a song by these special children. These children played the welcome band for the Chief Guest.

The pioneering project of LCD is ComAid (www.comaid.org.pk), a student run organization that identifies schools in need of financial help. This website acts as an intermediary between underprivileged schools that need help and donors willing to provide help.

Students of ‘Saaya’, a welfare hone for young male orphans, performed an interesting adaptation of Iqbal’s poem ‘makra aur makhee’, followed by a dance sequence by the children from The Thalassemia Society of Pakistan.

One of the most creative projects, conceived and conducted by the students themselves was ‘Threads of Potential’. The students taught the art of stitching to 8 females from underprivileged backgrounds in order to provide them with respectable means to earn a livelihood. They employed and paid an instructor to teach the young girls. At the grand finale function the clothes stitched by these women were displayed and certificates declaring successful completion of the stitching course were distributed among the women by the honorable Chief Guest.

Mrs. Hina Omer Baig also gave a brief description of the previous LCD projects, of which Project Hope, that resulted in successful surgical treatment of several hemophilia patients, was the most well funded and successful project. The well organized event truly reflected the dedication, commitment and sincere efforts of the young students. The audience also applauded and encouraged the participants of the event to a great degree.

Mr. Imran Masood, the education Minister lauded the efforts of the college in social responsibility and appreciated the work of the students. He offered the college to join hands with the Government and work for uplifting underprivileged schools and colleges as part of the “Adopt a School” and ”Adopt a college” program of the Government of the Punjab.

The Rector of ICBS, presented a souvenir to the Chief Guest as a token of appreciation for his kind patronage. Mrs. Badia Raza ended the evening with a vote of thanks which was followed by some refreshments. The event was covered by all leading Newspapers.