Dear Friends,
Have you ever heard a story that is so compelling you can’t wait to share it? During a recent trip to campus, I had the chance to not only hear such a story, but to experience it when I met a young student named Haroon. He is one of the students you have helped this year.
His story is so compelling.
Haroon lives in a remote rural village several hours north of Lahore. His home is down a narrow dirt alley with open sewage channels on either side.
Haroon’s father used to work in the nearby brick kilns until a motorcycle accident left him with a broken leg that never healed correctly. During the year when his father could not work, Haroon and his brothers worked in the nearby rice fields with their mother, simply trying to earn enough to feed the family.
Haroon’s dad never attended even one day of school. Haroon’s mother completed her education in third grade. Haroon, however, has excelled in school and is the only person from his village to ever go to a university.
The family ushered us inside their one-room home. They served us tea, and we talked together while the rest of the neighbors tried valiantly to get a glimpse inside through the crowded doorway.
Thanks to the scholarships you provide through Friends of Forman, Haroon’s prospects are infinitely better than they would have been otherwise. Not only are Haroon’s and his family’s prospects better, but he is a living symbol of hope and opportunity for his entire village. And there are thousands of villages like his in Pakistan, each with a Haroon.
After more fellowship and praying for Haroon and his family, we departed - humbled by the hospitality but compelled to share his story and do all we could to help more like him.
Enclosed is our Spring Newsletter celebrating last month’s dedication of the Jim Tebbe Campus Center and the renaming of Hope Tower to Cheryl Burke Hope Tower. These honors are well-deserved, as both Jim and Cheryl made multiple contributions to the life of Forman and its students.
Your generous gifts to Friends of Forman are helping students just like Haroon, offering hope and making God’s love visible in Pakistan.