On the first Friday of each month in front of Edward St. John’s Building, the University of Maryland’s Pakistani Student Association (PSA) held events called “Chai on the Mall” where the club sells a variety of different traditional chai in collaboration with the Indus Hospital and Health Network in Pakistan.
The Indus Hospital and Health Network (IHHN), founded in 2007, is a nonprofit healthcare system in Pakistan that serves patients at 12 multidisciplinary hospitals across the country free of cost. Donations to the hospital can be made at IHHN’s website.
“Indus Hospital provides completely free, high-quality treatment to every patient who walks through their doors — and your cup of chai helps make that possible,” UMD PSA wrote in an Instagram post.
Vinay Kumar, a senior public health science major and marketing chair of UMD PSA who helped organize the event, said that IHHN reached out to the cultural club earlier this summer via Instagram. UMD PSA was intrigued by their initiatives and commitment to providing medical services completely free of cost, Kumar told Al-Hikmah.
“Recently the Indus floods happened in Pakistan and the healthcare system isn’t as well versed as here [in America],” Kumar said. “Pakistan is a third world country and there are a lot of issues that happen there, but the fact that we were able to give back and directly impact people through the different causes that we had was really special. It makes us proud that our contributions made some difference.”
Flooding in Pakistan in recent months has killed nearly a thousand people and displaced millions, according to the United Nations.
Kumar added that PSA wanted to challenge the reputation of being an exclusively social club.
“We wanted to make this a long term partnership,” he said. “We do a lot more than just GBMs and mock shaadi [mock South Asian wedding].”
Fiza Sukhera, one of PSA’s event coordinators and a senior information systems and marketing double major, echoed this sentiment.
“With PSA, everyone knows our events are always lit, but we also want to do something that’s more impactful and that actually changes people’s lives. And this is exactly that,” Sukhera said.
Each monthly event showcased a different type of chai with sales going towards a different medical service offered by IHHN. The first event, held on Oct. 3, featured Kashmiri chai with a Rooh Afza (South Asian syrup) refresher. The chai was made with a pink theme in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month observed annually in October with all proceeds going directly to cancer patients at IHHN.
On Nov. 7, UMD PSA served seasonal drinks like pumpkin spice chai and mango refreshers with proceeds going towards IHHN’s maternal health initiatives.
PSA’s last Chai on the Mall event for the fall semester, held on Dec. 5, drew students from across campus despite the unexpected snowy weather. The event featured doodh patti chai [South Asian milk tea] and hot chocolate with all proceeds going to IHHN’s primary care division.
Eshal Ahmed, a historian on PSA’s board and one of the organizers of the event, wrote in a statement to Al-Hikmah that UMD PSA wanted to pursue Chai on the Mall not only to represent Pakistan but the larger Desi community.
“We really wanted to emphasize that sense of community to help encourage people to donate — when people purchased a drink, they were also directly impacting Indus hospital patients,” Ahmed, a junior neuroscience major, wrote. She said that as a Pakistani and an advocate for healthcare, she really wanted to contribute to this initiative.
Aleezah Khaliq, a junior neuroscience major and PSA’s fundraising chair, helped organize the events. She said the events resonated deeply with the board.
“Being able to make an impact, even if it’s at a smaller level … being so far away from back home [Pakistan], and still being able to make a difference in their lives, I think it’s very valuable to me, and I’m so glad that PSA is doing something like this,” Khaliq said.
Attendees of the event said they liked how Chai on the Mall drew people together for a good cause.
“Everyone was brought together. People came out for jummah [Friday prayer],” said Sobia Khan, a sophomore public health science major who attended the Dec. 5 event. “I really, really loved it.”
Haniya Khan, a sophomore public health science major who attended the Dec. 5 event shared a similar sentiment. “I like that the whole community comes together for this [one], and it’s supporting such a good cause, like the Indus hospital … as a Muslim[,] we really want to support that,” Khan said.
“I really enjoyed the chai, too,” she said. “It was such a cold day, so it was the perfect thing that you needed that day.”
Image credits: Cover photo by Amna Tariq/Al-Hikmah.
CORRECTION: Edits were added to specify primary organizers of the event.
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