Gul Bahao

Into the 21st century with new ideas from Gul Bahao

Scientific research “need of the hour”

Yesterday, Gul Bahao’s Nargis Latif delivered a lecture on the need for scientific research at an assembly of 500 (five hundred) “A” level students at the City School PAF chapter. Amidst burst of applause Nargis recalled how James Watt (the inventor of the steam engine) and the Wright brothers who invented the airplane who were teenagers like themselves were harbingers of the industrial revolution.

Nargis said that research is not a status symbol and should not be considered synonymous with impressive degrees, sophisticated laboratories and plenty of money. On the contrary giving the example of Gul Bahao she said that its innovations  have been conducted in slum areas using waste and therefore inexpensive. However, she quickly recalled that she herself having  a masters degree from Karachi university has been using her academic knowledge while working for Gul Bahao.

Exhorting the students to go into research in Environmental work Nargis said, Waste management is a very exciting field as it encompasses the entire industrial and metropolitan life. There is so much to pick and choose from. She revealed that Nadir Choudhry an ex student of the City school holding a masters in Computer Science and presently working in Sweden is running Gul Bahao’s website. According to her hundreds of people are regularly visiting this website. Many college and university students and research workers are taking help from it for their projects and theses etc.

The founder of Gul Bahao said that Gul Bahao has a long standing relationship with Karachi’s educational institutions. Many schools and universities are source of Gul Bahaos funding through providing recyclable waste free of cost. Some of the schools have even asked their students to bring their waste material from their homes.

Nargis listed the following immediate goals of Gul Bahao:

  1. Putting up Pakistan’s first Research Centre on Waste Management
  2. Providing cheap housing through its innovation of  Chandi Ghar.

Concluding, Nargis said that after spending more than 80 million rupees and seventeen years on its research work , Gul Bahao is poised to help the country get out of its socioeconomic morass. Comparing the work of Gul Bahao with that of the innovator James Watt, the innovator, she said that Gul Bahao has laid the foundation for a technological  revolution in Pakistan.

“Rozgar Lahmehdood” concept introduced at NED, FUUAST and Beacon House Gulshan campus

Since the last few days Nargis latif CEO of Gul Bahao trust has been delivering lectures to hundreds of students on the invitation of some of the premier educational institutions of the metropolis viz NED university, Urdu Arts University and Beacon House Gulshan campus.

Taking up her favorite subject of research, Nargis lamented that most students consider their studies as boring and holidays a release from “prison”. She said that she has worked closely for years with hundreds of youth, using the knowledge she obtained right from school, college upto university. According to her the youth she worked with were mostly illiterate or semi illiterate but who had knowledge of certain crafts like tailoring and house building. She said nothing could equal the joy she felt whenever a discovery was made. Nargis said that at the end of 18 years solid work and an input of 8 crore rupees, the result has been amazing – more than 5 discoveries which are slowly making a world impact. She said her organization’s work has been acknowledged by diverse organizations like the Clinton Foundation, Courier international(French newspaper) personnel from the German embassy, World Bank, UNDP, UNESCO etc.

At both the Universities the CEO of Gul Bahao revealed the organizations impending movement called “Rozgar la mehdood” or Employment unlimited for all kinds of youth especially the highly educated youth of the city. Nargis said that in the initial stages her organization plans to give paid internships to students in the summer months. Giving an example of the usefulness of the Chandi Ghar, the most famous of Gul Bahaos innovations she said that in the highly populated metropolis of Karachi it can be put up instantly and dismantled quickly which makes it extremely useful in areas where land is highly costly. She said the Chandi Ghar (a mobile home) can be compared with the mobile phone which has changed the face of the 21st century.

With the help of multimedia Nargis Latif explained each and every innovation of Gul Bahao and said they were backed by strong scientific principles. In all the three institutions the response was positive. While more than 600 students from NED, sat glued to their seats for more than an hour, 800 students of Beacon House came in batches to hear Nargis Latif in the school hall. In both the institutions she was bombarded with questions and resounding applause.

Urdu Arts University was the last institution where Nargis latif revealed her passion for Islam. Exhorting the students to read the scriptures in their own languages, she said this is precisely the reason why Islam is spreading like wild fire in the West. “Islam is the fastest growing religion in America” has been claimed by Hillary Clinton, she reminded the audience. According to Nargis it has been several years since Gul Bahao started its “God is great” (Allah o Akber) movement. Authentic translations of the holy Quran are regularly disseminated in 3 languages viz Urdu, English and Sindhi, in large bold letters through the medium of exhibitions and cards. She said that the Quran, the Hadith and the Seerat un nabi make highly interesting reading besides being useful in worldly matters like health, business management etc. She praised the role of the current Urdu newspapers and electronic media of India and Pakistan for bringing Islam to the non-Arabs.

Prefabricated modular housing for flood affectees

Gul Bahao has discovered a novel way of providing houses for flood affectees. For the last several months it has been collecting recyclable waste from schools, universities and factories. The waste has two components, one that is sold to fetch hard cash and the other used in making Chandi Ghar for as little as Rupees 25,000. Tons of aluminum foils are coming out from factories in the form of clean waste which are being used to make Wastic blocks (size 6 x 17 x 21) a major component of the Chandi Ghar.

After putting up these pre-fabs in Razzakabad and Thatta for the flood affectees, Gul Bahao is now set to put up a small village in an area close to Mandi Bahauddin, Bhakkar in district Muzaffargarh. The Chandi Ghars are being financed by a CBO of the area called Faizan while the transportation costs will be borne by Gul Bahao. In the beginning, 10 houses are being put up on a trial basis.

The CBO has promised to give a befitting welcome to the world’s first Chandi Ghar. Here it may be remembered that the Chandi Ghar is an innovation “made in Pakistan” and having several advantages over the conventional housing materials like portability, cost effectiveness, strong against the elements. Being modular, the blocks can be made alternatively into beds, sofas. Gul Bahao plans to put up its model village before the end of this year.

Gul Bahao CEO briefs City Government officials on Chandi Ghar

A meeting presided by Special Assistant to Chief Minister  Mr. Zia-ul-Islam was held at the Chief Minister Secretariat where Gul Bahao’s Nargis Latif was invited to brief Officials belonging to the City Government and the Sindh Secretariat. The agenda of the meeting was to discuss Gul Bahao’s innovation “Chandi Ghar”.

Nargis Latif said that Gul Bahao’s Chandi Ghar should not be devalued because of its low cost and neither should  it be limited to a mere project of an NGO. On the contrary, Nargis claimed that it is a unique innovation –the first one of its kind in the world. Its good looks makes it exotic looking she said fit to be used by the Head of State. In a sharp rebuttal to one of the participant’s questions, Nargis explained that contrary to some misconceptions the Chandi Ghar is extremely hygienic and can be put to a variety of purposes like:

  1. During Haj where temporary housing is required
  2. For relief work in earthquakes, tsunami and other natural disasters and wars etc.
  3. For military purposes, in war games or in real life battles
  4. For oil riggings
  5. Mining exploration
  6. Tourist industries on the coast as well as in mountainous areas
  7. Research work in inhospitable terrain
  8. For law enforcing agencies such as guards 80 for mobile schools hospitals
  9. Camps on prime land in big cities to be used temporarily. In other words wherever a structure is required immediately in a maters of hours and dismantled quickly they are the answer. Unlike other conventional prefabricated structures Nargis said these are insulated as well as fire resistant.

To a question from the participants about what Gul Bahao expects from the government Nargis replied that the government should immediately call an exhibition cum conference  to discuss the importance of the Chandi Ghar its potential in business, export and linking business with research work, she said that stakeholders to be invited to this conference should be businessmen, exporters, builders, engineers architects, faculty and students of different universities and as well as the informal sector comprising junk dealers.

To the question why it has not caught on as yet, Nargis replied that is the case with all new innovations that they are always rejected in the beginning. Giving the example of the CNG gas she said six years ago, right from the rickshaw drivers, Suzuki owners, truck drivers, everybody said it would spoil the engines but after years of painstaking marketing things have changed, she said.

Summing up the meeting, Mr Zia-ul-Islam said that the government would give serious consideration to Gul Bahao’s proposals.

Chandi Ghar at Sujawal Bund

People travelling along the Sujawal Bund of Thatta during the Eid holidays were pleasantly surprised to see two glittering “Chandi Ghars” built overnight. This was part of an exercise to provide low cost prefab houses for the flood affectees a joint venture of two Karachi based NGO’s – Gul Bahao and Umeed. Gul Bahao has been claiming for years that the Chandi Ghar being prefabricated is ideal for disaster management and especially wherever ownership of land is not certain

The Chandi Ghar it may be recalled is a totally new concept using aluminum foil and panaflex materials along with bamboo sticks. Though the manufacture of the blocks requires the latest raw materials assembling them is extremely simple consisting of blocks and panels it was manufactured at the Gul Bahao complex in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and then transported to Shujawal

A seven member team of Gul Bahao erected the two houses 10×15 feet along with the male members of the flood affected housed in tents along the Sujawal Bund . They spent two days and nights right in the open till the putting up of the prefabs. This way much of the new technology was handed down to the villagers some of whom were acquainted with house building. The workers of Gul Bahao were however saddened to see that their hosts ate barely a single meal a day. On their part they tried not to be a burden on their hosts.

Addressing the villagers who had gathered to watch the spectacle, Nargis Latif, the managing trustee of Gul Bahao said that this new innovation is a source of hope for the teeming millions of Pakistan that not only can it provide housing for them but  can also provide avenues for employment and income generation. Nargis declared that the innovation is unique, that we have beaten the Americans, the Chinese, Japanese and the rest of the world in this respect.