How it all started…. Children are the foundation of a nation, and the key to a strong Foundation is education. The Citizen’s Education Development Foundation (CEDF) is an innovative and bold program with the aim of educating the children of the poorest of the poor living in the “Kachi Abadies” around Karachi, who have missed out on formal schooling because of financial inability, absence of a school in the area, lack of transportation, social restriction for girls, or simply parental apathy. Organized by a dedicated team of volunteers, the project started in 1986 when a resident of Defense Housing Authority (D.H.A.) saw children loitering in the streets when they should have been at school. Parents had read but not satisfactory answers.Thus the first home school (H-1) was conceived. It began with ten children who were taught in the resident’s garden. A teacher was employed and classes were started two hour a day, six days a week throughout the year.As word got around in the neighborhood of a free, conveniently located studying place, more students enrolled. Parents, who were servants, laborers, and small shopkeepers, initially needed persuasion, but as their confidence strengthened, request for admissions become more frequent. This informal school (H-1) continues till today in the same place, at the same time and by the same teacher.