We are Sitara Trust, a registered non-profit organization based in Chatha Bakhtawar, Islamabad since 2011. Our projects include our original Sitara School, Sitara Mother Child Center, Sitara Girls High School and College and our newest initiative, Sitara Boys’ High School. Sitara Trust is a philanthropic charity registered in Islamabad Pakistan. It is a subsidiary of Sitara Institute, a 501 C3 non-profit organization, registered in the state of Michigan, USA. It's mission is to reach out to the impoverished children of Pakistan and offer them quality, contemporary education at little or no cost to their families. The school runs on private donations from a small group of donors. Sitara School is located in Chatha Bakhtawar, a village on the outskirts of Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan.

"Message from the Chairman of the Board"

My wife (Sommieh Flower, Director of Sitara) wanted to educate the trash-collecting children who roamed the streets around where we lived. The idea was appealing to me. All I did was to assist her make it happen. That was a decade ago. I’m still in my enabling role. Most of our students are from the families who live on, or below the poverty line. Educating this segment of our society is one of the very best things one could do, & I can’t thank Allaah enough for granting us the opportunity to be part of this effort. Our donors & our school staff are surely blessed. May Allaah remain Benevolent towards all who are part of this service. Ameen

"Our Story & Our Mission as Sitara Trust"

Sitara School director, Sommieh Flower, is the former principal of Crescent Academy International in Canton, MI. She and her husband Mr. Tariq Ashraf Khan started Sitara after a visit to Pakistan in 2010. Here she shares a few words about how it all began: Sitara School started, quite literally, with a dream. After meeting and befriending the children who collected recyclable trash in the streets of Chatha Bakhtawar, I saw them in a dream, laughing and playing and reading in the courtyard of my home. I woke up with the idea of starting a school, a safe haven where these impoverished girls and boys could come to play and to learn. I took this thought home with me to Canton, MI and began to tell my friends about my experiences in Pakistan and my intention to start a school there. A handful of supporters invited others to donate and dream of Sitara became a reality. That first year there were 20 children. They came wide-eyed into the school room and saw the whiteboard, the desks, the crayons, pencils and books. They began with an undisciplined eagerness that left me and their teachers exhausted at the end of the day, but it was the good kind of exhaustion that comes from doing something worthwhile. With Allah’s help and blessings, the school has grown from its humble beginnings. Generous donations have allowed us to rent a brand new campus and to expand our classroom space and curriculum to include a future girl’s high school, Inshallah. Sitara School is the first venture of Sitara Institute, a non-profit group formed in the State of Michigan, USA, in January 2011. Its board is comprised of five Indo-Pak and Arab American professionals residing and working in the U.S. Sitara Institute currently has a small but growing donor base of about 200 people in North America and abroad. Sommieh Flower, Director