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Naeem belongs to an
educated Syed family from UP. His grandfather was
a Pesh Imam (a highly respected position in
British India), while his profession was hikmat
(traditional medicine).
His father migrated
to Pakistan on 14 August 1947 under very difficult
conditions along with his wife and Naeem's elder
brother who was only 14 days old (this child
became an Air Commodore in Pakistan Air Force).
Naeem has a total of 5 brothers and two sisters.
His father settled down in Old Sukkur and worked
for Pakistan Railways.
After his two years
at Petaro as an N-Cadet (1976-78), Naeem joined
Pakistan Navy and got his commission in 1981. As a
lieutenant, he chose to take early retirement and
decided to go into private service. He joined Emba
Corporation in Karachi to get into sales and
marketing of electrical equipment. Subsequently,
he moved on to Makkah in Saudi Arabia where he
worked in the same field. During the course of his
stay in Makkah, he had a slip disc which led to a
state of immobility. He performed his last umrah
on a wheelchair there before returning to
Pakistan. He made a promise to Allah that he would
enter into welfare work in Pakistan if the
Almighty would bring him back on his feet.
This was the turning
point in his life. As he recovered, Naeem kept his
promise and joined LRBT (Layton Rehmatullah
Benevolent Trust) in 1990 - an important NGO in
Pakistan providing free eye treatment to the poor
-
where he was exposed to charitable work and a
greater desire to serve humanity.
He then moved on to
join Imran Khan's SKMT (Shaukat Khanum Memorial
Trust) as the General Manager for the Karachi
region. Among his contributions to SKMT was the
acquisition of a 20 acre piece of land to build a
hospital in Karachi, and 2,275 sqyds of land from
DHA as a donation to build a Diagnostic Centre.
During his tenure, he raised over Rs. 2 billion
from Karachiites for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial
Cancer Hospital over a period of 10 years. This
was a great learning period for him where hundreds and
thousands of people suffering from cancer were
treated. Truly the real cure comes from Allah
alone. But at the same time, man must also make
his own efforts and Allah rewards him for it.
While he worked for
SKMT, he continued to support other charitable
organizations as well. He worked for the following
purely on a volunteer basis:
-
Adviser to the
Islamic Mission Hospital Trust
-
Member Executive
Committee of Eye Care Society of Pakistan (JPMC)
-
Adviser to Feroza
Hashim Foundation
-
Adviser to
Fundraisers for R.E.A.D. Foundation
-
Member, S.O.S.
Villages
-
Adviser to the
Petarian Foundation
Other
philanthropists who sought out Naeem's services
included the late legendary film star Mohammed Ali
who wanted to establish a kidney transplant centre
in Lahore, late Hakim Saeed who shared ideas on
establishment of a Women's college in
Madinat-ul-Hikmat. The Governor of Sindh
recommended to the Sindh Health Dept to utilize
Naeem's expertise for betterment of conditions of
the poor in Sindh.
Naeem was thus
blessed by Allah where he devoted himself to the
service of mankind. After great thought and an
internal desire to do even more, he made his next
move. He left a very high paid job with SKMT to
start an NGO that would aim to do a lot more for
the poor children. Naeem established and started
CHAEF - Children Health and Education
Foundation in 2003.
The primary
objective of CHAEF is to work in the fields of
health and education. In this regard, within this
short period of time, CHAEF has done wonders.
-
Providing free
treatment for common diseases
-
Diagnosing deadly
diseases at an early stage
-
Utilizing state of
the art technology for early diagnosis
-
Providing medical
consultation, medicines and laboratory tests
free of charge
-
Establishment of
vocational training centres for girls
-
Imparting free
technical education to the under-privileged
-
Providing primary
and secondary school education free of cost
Many prominent
Pakistanis and companies have come forth to
recognize his work and have provided monetary and
other support to CHAEF.
Syed Naeemul
Hassan received a shield of honour awarded by
Amnesty International at a meeting held on August
22, 2006 at Rawalpindi in recognition of his
enormous contribution in the filed of social
welfare and society’s development. Ms. Latimer
Hodgson, Regional Director, Amnesty International,
Mr. Thomas Mcdernott, Representative UNICEF, Mr.
Imran Khan, Chairman, Shaukat Khannum Memorial
Trust, Mr. Saeed Ahmed Qureshi, Chairman, Pakistan
Red Crescent Society, Mr. Fayyaz ur Rehman,
President, Amnesty International-Pakistan were
also present. Amnesty International also awarded
their membership.
He has also been a
very staunch Petarian, and has contributed greatly
towards the growth of the Petarian Association and
the
Petarian Foundation.
Naeem is the
brother-in-law of (late)
Riaz Hamid Jafri,
489/Latif.
It is a real honour
to have known Naeem and be associated with him.
For more information
on CHAEF,
please visit its website
www.chaef.org,
or call Naeem at (0300) 820-2828.
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