Jaag Pakistan's Bloggers Meet-up

JAAG PAKISTAN is a financial support group for NGO's working on ground in the disaster area.
- To raise funds for reconstruction phase..- To raise funds for immediate direct relief for various allied NGO's working in the disaster areas.- To train volunteers to send to the affected areas for emergency relief and works.
JAAG PAKISTAN will be an open forum for all to contribute towards the relief effort. A collective platform where all organizations work together.
JAAG PAKISTAN is a transparent fund raising effort and its activities can be monitored throughout on our website.
JAAG PAKISTAN will be a continuous effort to be replicated across Pakistan and the Karachi chapter as the initiator will forward its format to like minded people across Pakistan.
JAAG PAKISTAN Karachi, has selected Hill Park as the central venue for its activities in Karachi , for its high visual prominence and accessibility.
JAAG PAKISTAN will come alive whenever there is a calamity in Pakistan.
Jaag Pakistan is also planning to have a blog meetup on their first event, which is Farid Raziuddin Qawwal - Live at Hill Park, 9pm October 22nd 2005.

HelpPakistan.Net Flyers

"Choose to Give"

"Hope"

I am rather proud of these flyers for HelpPakistan.Net and our fund GIVEPakistan! Please copy, paste, print, distribute. Click to enlarge.

GIVE to the GivePakistan fund! As little as $5!

What do you think of the concept & design? (Hint: Say only encouraging things. We need all the love!)

E-mail: helpPakistan.net@gmail.com

GivePakistan!

MAY 7, 2006: THIS FUND IS NOW CLOSED. BLOG POST PRESERVED FOR ARCHIVES & REFERENCE.

There are thousands of people under the rubble. Mothers crying to save the bodies of their dead children from being eaten by dogs. Tons of donated goods waiting to be moved, when transport is bought. Thousands of volunteers working without stopping to eat or drink.

We can no longer say: These people SHOULD/ MUST be helped.

Say: I CAN help them.

Help Now. Donate at ANY charity of your choice. If you know or trust me, donate here to GIVEPakistan! We are organizing a ground-based relief effort. You can help. Donate. Just a little S 5, 10, or 15. It's less than worth a good cup of coffee, but it can save someone's life NOW.

Don't wait. ACT.

Note: the money from this charity will be routed to me. More details at http://helppakistan.net.

HELP SPREAD THE WORD! COPY THIS BUTTON ON YOUR BLOG & LINK TO THE FUND!

GIVEPakistan! Fund Launched

MAY 7, 2006: THIS FUND IS NOW CLOSED. BLOG POST PRESERVED FOR ARCHIVES & REFERENCE.

2400 hr and beyond? Found Faraz. Tell him and Auf, eventually un-ignored, about "doing something for the relief effort." Meanwhile swapped coupla e-mails with Teeth Maestro. He has set up PayPal. Better! I am invited to co-blog. Swiftly accepted, logged in, blogged.

Realized we need something more.
+ I love wiki.
+ Oh, where did I read up about a people-to-people fund set-up? On my fav trend spotting website!
+ I wanted to write about that since the longest time!
+ Searched my favorite trend spotting website... rush of blood.
> Found www.fundable.org. Yeah!
> Asked Auf for help.
> Faraz gets intereted.
> I'm setting up http://helppakistan.wikispaces.org/
> Ask Auf to check out Fundable.
> Auf, sign up!
> Faraz shown the wikispace.
> Faraz offers to set up a .org.
> Wow. I love that!
> I am shooting off a few more mails.
+ My computer's been on for 7 days. Lotsa windows. I can't close them! Copying URLs to check out again. Gotta close to save bandwidth and avoid distraction.
+ Copying URL's, talking to Auf. Ali Khan is online. I'm asking if a concert can raise funds. He's asking where to put his money. I tell him about The Fund. He's impatiently waiting.
+ Faraz is impatiently waiting. I am now designing "the world's make-shiftiest logo" for Help Pakistan.
+ Faraz has bought a helppakistan.net. Org and Com are gone. Okay. We are waiting for hte FWD to work.
+ I'm telling Auf to set a large amount to raise. $ 10,000.
+ Auf is making a flyer for distribution in his university.
> Shall we use helppakistan.net in the flyer? Site still not forwarding to wikispace. I am a little nervous.
> Then I ask Auf to say Bismillah and no worries. We are sure we'll do it. $5/head. 2000 people. $ 10,000 to raise. 14 days. Okay!
> Auf leaves for Iftaar (USa). Faraz surprises me with a lovely logo. By now, he's made several versions. I've taken down my ghastly version. Sadly, it's still on the Fund Page.
> HelpPakistan wikispace launched at 0311 hr.
> I'm adding pages, shooting e-mails, worrying about the fund. Relying on Allah.

Sehri Break.

Oct.10.05, 0600 hr: A while back, sms'd Kibs for marketing advice. Told mom about website, she started glowing. I think she's also happy to hear about Auf.
After Fajr: Ran upstairs. Faraz has MSN-transfered another logo. Very neat! Auf is finally setting up fund. And oh, before the Sehri, HelpPakistan.net finally landed on the wikispace.
+ I am advertisign on Orkut.com.
+ AUf has set up the fund. They aren't accepting the large fundraise demand. Okay, we're lowering to $5k (excuse, I just told Auf to try $1k - and then see how it works?). We're starting with this, and mailing Fundable on the side.

THE GIVEPAKISTAN! FUND HAS BEEN LAUNCHED!
Auf will collect a check, and we'll transfer the money to Pak.
We will think of handling the money and other stuff meanwhile.
I updated a team page that's missing and I am ticked.
We are arranging groups of reliable folks.
Let's see what happens.

In a few hours, we've done so much. But it's so little! Someone's still under the rubble waiting for us to come help.
Help. Save a life. Donate. Something, anything.
Spread the word about the largest people-to-people collaborative on this effort: HelpPakistan.net: a site where you can write, edit, share... help!

I'll keep ya all posted. Keep the world posted through the website!

HelpPakistan.net launched!

HelpPakistan.Net has been launched. It is a people-to-people disaster relief site. Also launched the GIVEPakistan! fund at Fundable.org. If we don't raise $ 5,000 in 14 days, we lose all the funds. Privately, our target is to raise funds in 48 hours. GIVE now!


The past few hours have been very busy. If I recall correctly, they went something like this.

Oct.9.05 - 1901 hr: just thought of Ameena Khan out of the blue. The next second, she sms's:

earth-quake victims 55,000 + dead bodies. we need kafans (most important), blankets, tents, medical supplies:

• amoxil 500mg
• flagyl 400mg
• cotton rolls
• bandages
• dettol
• polyfax
• children's fever & cough syrups
• first-aid kits
  
• syringes
• distilled water
• medicine for heart & diabetic patients
• drips (dextrose and normal saline)

1956 hr: I've just found Dr. Awab/ Teeth Maestro's Help Pakistan blog. Great ida to collect onoline funds. Little problem: Google doesn't allow link-clicking to generate revenue. I shoot a little e-mail to the good doctor noting this, and racing my mind for a solution. On the side, I am writing to a marketing e-group to consider NOT putting the ad jingles in the midst of a grim transmission. The Ufone "aaj hamara, kal bhi hamara" (my fav ad, otherwise) seems hopelessly out of place.

1957 hr: Set off for taraweeh prayer four homes away. I've made a list of things Ameena asked for to share with other ladies. We will raise and donate together.

2003 hr: I start taraweeh. Wondering if I can speak up. I will. This is what I enjoy most: to help; to solve critical problems.

2137 hr: Taraweehis over. We are discussing fund and goods collection with a Jamaat lady in presence. I offer to share a list of items we should all find at home. They can stock at my place tomorrow, and then we'll take the goods over to the nearest but reliable collection point. We discuss many things: who is collecting what kind of aid? We will find not jst used clothes, edhi-style, but utensils and other stuff - needed to make a new home! The ladies seem to trust me. Good. I promise to research what kind of things can we donate and share them by today.

By 2200 hr: I'm back home. Thinking like crazy what to do next. Convinced my parents, sitting awe-struck by TV, to clean up the home and DONATE!

2200 hr - 2300 hr: Working in the kitchen. Making mental lists of people to contact. Stuff to collect. Torches. Batteries. Where did I hear about this before? Some Katria list? Backpackers' guide? Boy scout thing? We need lists!

A little past 2315 hr: Running upstairs. Need to work and research!

2345 something hr: Found brother Auf online. Ignored. After thought. I am unblocking everyone. Yes. Shame on me. I have everyone blocked on the list but me and my bro. :|

Continued...

9 rock-stars of finance @ Yahoo!

Just found this at Yahoo!: 9 business and finance columnists - the "Rock stars of Finance" as Yahoo! calls them - are writing on Trends, Retirement, Money & Happiness, Common Sense investing, and more. Even Daniel Pink is there! Check out The Trend Desk. This looks promising.

These columns are one in the line of many new initiatives that Yahoo! is taking to re-launch itself as a hip, global news agency + portal. I feel Yahoo! is now looking more like a lifestyle than just a portal that looked like a bazaar carrying all things e-. Being a "lifestyle" will give Yahoo! products an integrity. They will also gel in well with the consumer's need for having saner media that streamlines their needs for news, entertainment, communication all in one.

MSN and Google should start worrying. Google in particular - for it seeming to be a constant work-in-progress (everything is beta!). Perhaps Google needs to stop getting fascinated by its own awesome technology (there IS something eerie about sensing and ranking) and get down to providing reliable solutions for the users. The Gmail downtime has come to the point that I have to forward my mail to Yahoo!

Anyway. More on the emerging portal and search tech wars later. I am back to reading at Yahoo! Finance. Let's see what Pink has to say in Green is Good.

Re-positioning NEXT>

Two days ago, the description of what NEXT> is about (up there at the foot of the header) was a long-winding statement that tried to be all-inclusive. In effect, it restricted my thoughts by listing a few things NEXT> would be about.

I took a dose of some Seth Godin advice: if you can't state your position in 8 words or less, you don't have a position.

So here it is:

NEXT> by Ramla is about the emerging global society.

That's the core position. The tagline remains: Know What's Coming!

It gives me one freedom that I was itching for: not just chronicle the future and trends, but have the room to shape trends (more important, esp. for original thinking). This is a smaller line, but its nakedness gives me the freedom to clothe the blog in many ways.

For the curious, here is the old position statement:

"NEXT> by Ramla is about a future that becomes past faster than we know it. So how do we anticipate, and make use of rapid change? Where, essentially, is the world going to? Or is an essence even there? NEXT> by Ramla predicts, anticipates, and celebrates a future that is not centrally controlled. That is going to BE. And fast! This requires new thinking skills and high perception to survive and prevail. In a rapidly changing world, this may be all that matters."

What do you think?