The Day That Changed Everything

It was one of those scorching hot days in the year of 2023 in the district of Jamshoro in Sindh—the kind where the sun feels like it’s sitting right on your shoulders. I remember sitting under the shade of a neem tree, talking with two of my closest friends. We were there to conduct a Social Mobilization Session with the local community and a few were steuck in the city for their own professional tasks and we weren’t just passing time. We were talking about something that kept us awake at night: the broken education system of Pakistan.

One of my friends, a quiet but passionate man, had spent his almost entire career working on education. That day, he told us he was about to retire. But his voice didn’t sound like someone ready to rest. It sounded like someone ready to begin again.

“I can’t walk away,” he said. “Not when there’s still so much to ponder upon to met the gigantic goals of education”

That moment stayed with us. It sparked something. A question.  purpose. A promise.

And that’s how Momentum was born.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

From Numbers to Names to faces

In 2012, we started as a small research group. No big office. No fancy title. Just a belief: that people matter more than numbers. “The endeavor was not merely observational, but an intentional descent into the depths of poverty—seeking to understand its structural roots and illuminate pathways toward enduring, humane solutions.”.

We asked ourselves a simple but powerful question:
“What would it take to not just study poverty—but to end it, with dignity?”

We became advisors, researchers, policy writers in an attempt to identify the real issue of poverty. We worked with governments and global organizations. But something still felt missing.

By 2014, we realized the answer wasn’t in reports or charts. It was in the eyes of the people we met. In their stories. In their silence.

Every time we finished a diagnostic report, we felt a quiet uneasy and lingering ache. We had measured the problems—but we hadn’t touched the lives behind them.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

The Ache That Became a Calling

In 2021, we stopped waiting for the requisite change to happen; instead we decided to become the change agent ourselves. 

“We envision a world where poverty is not merely measured by income, but understood through the deeper lens of opportunity. In our journey, we discovered that the most crippling form of poverty is not material, but the absence of literacy and numeracy. We believe that without overcoming this educational deprivation, no sustainable escape from economic poverty is possible. 

We launched our first Literacy Program in Jamshoro and Dadu—two districts often forgotten by the world.

What we found there wasn’t just illiteracy of words. It was something deeper.

It was invisibility of human beings, as if they did not exist, and so they did not matter.

Women who were scared to touch a book. Mothers who had never been asked what they thought. Girls who believed education was for someone else—someone more important.

Then one day, a young woman stood up in class. Her hands trembled as she held a pen.

“I won’t use my thumb anymore,” she said. “I can write my name.”

Our eyes moistened.

Another day, a little boy tugged at his mother’s dupatta and whispered:

“Ammi, mujhe bhi school jana hai.”
(Mom, I want to go to school too.)

And in a quiet corner, a girl with a hearing disability traced her first letter with her finger. She smiled. She glowed.

For the first time, she felt seen.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

From a Spark to a Movement

That was our turning point.

We knew this work couldn’t stay informal. It had to be bigger than us – individuals. It had to move beyond individuals to become sustainable.

So, we created the Momentum Development Foundation (MDF)—a home for our mission, a voice for the unheard, a promise to never look away again.

From the sunbaked villages of Sindh to the green hills of Pinhot near Islamabad, our journey grew. But our purpose stayed the same:

• To build safe spaces where dreams could thrive.
• “To place books into the hands of those who had never held one before—witnessing them embrace these texts as priceless gateways to knowledge, imagination, and a world far beyond the confines of their village.”

Because to them, it wasn’t just paper.

It was proof that they will be mattered; they will be seen, their existence felt, their rights acknowledged, their contribution appreciated.

—————————————————————————————————————————–

So Now, We Need You

What started with three friends and a conversation under a tree has now become a team of 15 passionate professionals.

But the need is far greater than our numbers.

We need more hands. More hearts. More voices.
We need partners, volunteers, and supporters.
We need financial resources to reach more villages, more children, more dreams.

Because every child deserves a name as their right, and be able to share their name with the world.
Every mother deserves to be heard.
And every forgotten corner of Pakistan deserves to shine.