An Accrington man is hoping to raise funds for a charity which helps to run rural schools in Pakistan.

Twenty-one-year-old Ali Khan, a volunteer with Bahja Initiative, will be trekking to Rakaposhi base camp in Pakistan with the Abaseen Foundation next month to fundraise for a Peshawar school where educational funding is non-existent.

Ali who is an apprentice with Rolls Royce in Barnoldswick said: “I have no previous trekking experience but I have been training by doing walks such as the three peaks in the last two months. I am hoping to do the Yorkshire dales treks after Ramadan.

“There are around 30 of us trekking together and we will be accompanied by two members of staff from the first (Girl's) school that was built there.”

In 2018 the Abaseen Foundation received the Queens Award for Voluntary Service and is headed by Helen Bingley OBE who set the Lancaster based group alongside her late husband William.

The Frontier Region (FR) Peshawar, had no school facilities until 1947. Through mountainous treks and other initiatives by the Abaseen Foundation, Mian Gul Model (MGM) Girl's School opened in April 2011.  This school now teaches over 300 girls aged between 12 and 16.

The boys’ school, commenced construction in 2018 and is partially complete. The intake is 188 students in 7 classes, increasing to 450 once the construction is finished. Funding for building the school has come from three challenge treks in Pakistan in 2017, 2018, and the upcoming 2022, which have raised over £250,000 so far.

Ali is heading out to Pakistan on May 7 and begins the trek on two weeks later.

He added: “I will be visiting the school after the trek, meeting the teachers, students and alumni of the schools. The students and teachers have nominated two staff members to accompany us on the trek.”

You can donate towards Ali’s cause by clicking here