Highlights
- Abaseen Foundation raises over £200,000 at fundraising event attended by 400 guests in Stockport.
- Funds will support new community hospital serving 200,000 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region.
- Lord lieutenant of Greater Manchester and Pakistani consul general among distinguished attendees.
The Lancaster-based Abaseen Foundation has raised more than £200,000 to support orphans, children and families in North Pakistan's most deprived regions, with donations continuing to arrive following a fundraising gala attended by over 400 people in Greater Manchester.
The event, held at Royal Nawaab in Stockport on December (7), attracted distinguished guests including the lord lieutenant of Greater Manchester Diane Hawkins, University of Manchester chancellor Nazir Afzal, and Pakistani consul general Imtiaz Feroz Gondal, alongside judges, lawyers, entrepreneurs and media personalities.
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The funds will enable the charity to expand education and health services in Peshawar, including construction of a new community hospital serving more than 200,000 residents in one of the world's most deprived regions, according to WHO. The hospital will provide free or reduced-cost care to local communities.
Helen Bingley OBE, former high sheriff of Lancashire and founder of the Abaseen Foundation, said "It is an absolute privilege to serve the poor people of Pakistan particularly by connecting the UK Pakistan diaspora to their heritage. In 28 years this is the biggest event we've had."
The charity currently operates four schools for boys and girls, a vocational college, the first degree college for girls in the region, and two health clinics. Funds will also relocate and expand one of these schools.
Professor Mukthiar Zaman, chief executive of Abaseen Foundation Pakistan, stated "Our work will receive great momentum from these donations. It will go a long way in changing lives of people, helping children to go to school and to get out of bonded labour and the poverty trap."
The region has the world's highest infant and maternal mortality rates. The Foundation previously funded a cable car after flooding damaged a major bridge in 2024, enabling 90 pregnant women requiring emergency caesarean sections to reach hospital safely.
The charity is also supporting the "From Tears to Smiles" project, established by the family of Fawziyah Javed, a Yorkshire woman murdered while pregnant in Edinburgh in 2021
