Diwa is a small organization, based in the Netherlands and entirely based on volunteers of Dutch and Pakistani Christian backgrounds. Our strategy is to work in close coordination with local organizations in the Punjab region of Pakistan.
Diwa has a mission to support vulnerable people in Pakistan in order to improve their livelihood as a sign of Christian compassion and justice. The vision of Diwa is a literate society where everyone has equal opportunities in every sphere of life.
Diwa is a Pujabi word and means little lamp. The philosophy behind Diwa as a name of the organization is to spread light by providing education in the lives of the deprived part of Pakistani society and give them a brighter future perspective.
Background information
In 2003, Shahlla Gill, one of the founders of Diwa, raised a little school for poor children in her hometown Francisabad, a Christian Colony in Gujranwala, Pakistan. Normally these children are helping their parents in the brick factory. By convincing their parents of the importance of education and by providing a meal for the children at school, the children and their families was given a chance to breakthrough the negative spiral of working in the factory.
To support this work from the Netherlands, begin 2010 Stichting Diwa was raised.