IT was a tragic end to a noble dream. While there was a sense of adventure attached to 17-year-old Haris Suleman’s attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 30 days in a single-engine aircraft, the motivation behind this challenge was equally inspirational: to raise funds for the education of underprivileged children in Pakistan. Sadly, this dream came to an end in the waters of the Pacific on Wednesday. The Pakistani-American pilot’s aircraft crashed soon after taking off from Pago Pago in American Samoa. The young pilot, accompanied by his father Babar Suleman, was on the last leg of the trip. The duo intended to cross the Pacific and head to the US mainland, where the journey was eventually supposed to end in their home state of Indiana. The young man’s body has been recovered, while, at the time of writing, the search was still on for his father with the hope that he might be found alive. Rescuers are also searching for the plane’s wreckage to help explain what went wrong. It was a demanding challenge; such a long journey in a single-engine aircraft over vast bodies of water is perilous even for the most experienced pilots. But as Haris Suleman told the media, he was less interested in setting a record and more focused on his goal: raising $1m for The Citizens Foundation, a Pakistani NGO. Over half the amount had reportedly been raised.

Haris Suleman knew risks of around-the-world journey: family

The best way to honour the young pilot’s memory would be to further the cause he believed in: the uplift of education in Pakistan. After all, the country faces an ‘education emergency’, with millions of children out of school and lack of quality education for those studying in public institutions. Fundraising and allocation of sufficient funds in state education budgets is important. But equally important is the management of these funds productively. The state needs to address Pakistan’s educational deficiencies urgently, while those in the private sector working for educational uplift must be supported.

Published in Dawn, July 25th , 2014