About UK Friends of Khwendo Kor (FROK)
T
he UK Friends of Khwendo Kor (FROK) was established in September 2002 to help Khwendo Kor's fundraising efforts. Its aim is to raise sufficient money to give Khwendo Kor long-term funding and sustainability. FROK receives donations to support Khwendo Kor and actively seeks funds from Trusts, other organisations and individuals on an ongoing basis.
Since its establishment, FROK has:
- provided funds to help KK purchase a new administrative and training centre which also provides accommodation for female teachers and health workers from distant rural viillages
- provided new 4 x 4 wheel drive vehicles for KK's work in inaccessible desert and mountaineous areas
- funded KK's response to the meet the immediate needs of victims of the October 2005 earthquake
- provided funds to help KK establish a new district office in the earthquake area to enable them to carry out sustained rehablitation and development work
- raised funds for the relief of people displaced first by war and then by the 2010 floods
- supported establishment of links between the University of York and KK leading to students visiting Pakistan for social work placements and social work academics visiting KK. Maryam Bibi was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the University of York in 2011.
See our Membership Leaflet here:
FROK is a membership organisation and, through its constitution, is accountable to its membership. The day-to-day running of FROK is undertaken by its Executive Committee which reports annually to the membership at large.
The FROK Committee
Simon Gillett (President) was born in 1938 and is married with two grown-up daughters. After graduating in history and law, he worked as a civil servant from 1960-81 in the U.K., Nigeria, Botswana, the South Pacific, and St Helena. He subsequently became a rural development project manager/adviser, working first in Nigeria and then for U.N. agencies in Tanzania, Sudan and, from 1996 until his retirement in 2001, in the NWFP of Pakistan.
Dr Marilyn Crawshaw (Chair) is a graduate of the Universities of London, Sheffield, Bradford and York. She has extensive experience as a social worker and university lecturer and has travelled widely. Marilyn visited Khwendo Kor in 2006 and 2008 in connection with placing social work students with them.
Professor Ian Sinclair OBE (Vice Chair) is married to Elma (see below) with two adult sons and a daughter. After graduating in philosophy and ancient history he worked in teaching, probation, counselling, social work and research. He was formerly Professor of Social Work at the University of York and joint director of the Social Work Research and Development Unit also at York. He is now retired and visited KK in Peshawar in 2009 while attending a conference of their donors in Islamabad.
Jonathan French (Treasurer) is married to Adrienne, an artist, and they have three daughters. Jonathan is an economist and town planner, recently retired from working for Local Government in the field of European Union and Government funding for economic development and regeneration. He visited Pakistan in 2000 and took the opportunity to visit a village based NGO in the Northern Territories and was impressed by the dedication to education and development and subsequently learnt of the work of Khwendor Kor when Maryam Bibi, the Chief Executive, came to York in 2001.
Polly Griffith (Secretary) was born in the
United States, but has lived in
England since 1989. She lived and worked for many years in
Asia , especially
India ,
Bangladesh and
Laos , where her husband, Jon, was with Unicef. She has 2 adult children. Her interest and training is in Public Health, particularly family planning and training community workers in family health. She came to know about KK through friendship with Maryam Bibi when she was at the
University of
York , and visited KK in
Peshawar in 2006.
Penny Bainbridge (Membership Secretary) has had a long involvement in York with campaigns and initiatives to improve women's health. Through her job with the Cardigan Centre in Leeds she liaises with Khwendo Kor to co-host placements for social work students from the University of York.
Shehzad Ali (committee member) was born and raised in Karachi, where he studied Medicine before moving to the UK to study for Masters in Public Health at the University of Leeds and then PhD at the University of York. Shehzad currently works as a Research Fellow in Health Economics at University of York. He has also worked in Pakistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan in the area of public health. Besides his current interest in health economics and statistics, Shehzad is passionate about improving access to health care for the poor in the developing countries, which was also the subject of his PhD thesis.
Del Hussain (committee member) was born in December 1946, a few months before Partition of India. At Partition his father, being in the government, was given safe passage to Karachi, where Del grew up, with sojourns to various countries following his father's postings. Del came to England in 1969 where he studied Hotel Management. Del has one son and a grandson to whom he is devoted. He is now retired after working in a local psychiatric unit. Del and his wife visit Pakistan once a year to see family and on one of these visits they met Maryam Bibi, who was known to Del's sister. They hope to see much more of KKs work on future visits.
Noman Paracha (Committee Member) was born and raised in Karachi and moved to England after completing his Masters in International Health Care Management, Economics and Policy from SDA Bocconi University, Italy. While living in Karachi, Noman was a hospital manager for a community hospital and managed several camps that offer free prevention screening for diabetes and high cholesterol. Noman currently works as a health economist for a research based consultancy based in Oxford. Noman has an immense interest in uplifting the status and education standards of women in developing countries, especially Pakistan.
Elma Sinclair (Committee Member) is married to Ian. She took an English degree and worked in publishing for several years before gaining a social work qualification and becoming warden of a probation hostel. Since her marriage she has worked part-time in publishing and social work. She visited KK headquarters in Peshawar in 2009.