How it started
On ground nobody wanted
From Zero began on a piece of land at Quaid‑e‑Azam University that everyone said was not worth the trouble. The plan was manure and water.
How it went
The Timeline
- 01
A house full of plants
During COVID, before any ground
It began at home, in lockdown — plants on every surface and a duck pen in the yard. The collection outgrew the house, and when it had to move out, it went looking for ground. That was the first biolab: the plants and the ducks.
0215 August 2023Quaid‑e‑Azam University
The first ground
A piece of land nobody wanted — thorny jungle, hard soil full of stones. The plan was manure and water. Everyone who looked at it said the same thing: not worth it.
03It worked
Compost, then food
Kitchen scrap went in at the gate and came back out as soil, then as vegetables. Beds, a nursery, a herd and a flock followed, on ground that was supposed to be useless.
04Early arrivals
A stray, and her puppies
Nobody brought them. In the middle of the thorny jungle a stray found this corner comfortable enough to settle in, and had her litter here — the first sign the ground was becoming somewhere to be.
05QAU closes
The ground goes
The site is lost. What it proved does not go with it: the compost, the seed, the animals and the method all move on.
06Chak Shahzad
Shahjani Farms give the land
8 kanals inside their 44, given to us to work, with more already committed. The camps, the shop, the nursery and the herd are all here. This is the one you can visit.
- 07
Youth Development Center, Karachi
A second city takes the loop
The same loop on city ground at the Youth Development Center — beds, compost and a nursery going in now, on land lent to us.
- 08
More FromZeroSpots
Soon, all across Pakistan
The same loop on more ground, wherever it is wanted. Each one announced here as it opens.
- 09
A thousand
The intention
In the remotest and poorest places, all connected — taking in waste, employing people, and churning out green equity.
More dates to come — the order is right, and the rest of the years are not on here yet.
Quaid‑e‑Azam University
What It Looked Like
Before any of it. Thorny jungle to the edges, hard soil full of stones, and a plan that was only manure and water.
Everything now growing at Chak Shahzad was proved on this.
Ways in
How to Take Part
None of this works without the people around it. These are the doors that are open.
Give Your Scraps
Separate at home, leave it out on collection day. We weigh it in front of you.
Volunteer a Saturday
Turning, building, sorting, harvesting. You leave with dirt under your nails and a bag of vegetables.
Adopt a Bed
One marla, one season. You get the yield, the numbers, and the right to inspect it.
Bring Your School
Waste audit, compost build, planting. Beats any diagram of the carbon cycle.
Learn to Compost
Pit, pile or bucket — whatever your space allows. Most people are running within a week.
Host a Drop Point
You provide a corner. We provide the bins and turn up for them.
The team
Who Runs It
A founder, and the people who actually turn the compost. One of those lists is longer than the other.
Umair Jaliawala
Founder
Started From Zero at Quaid‑e‑Azam University with manure, water and no budget. His note is on the FromZeroSpots page.
The Farm Team
Tufail · Munir · and more to name
Tufail has been the gardener at Umair’s home since day one. He carried the Quaid‑e‑Azam University ground through, and the cuttings that start much of the nursery still come from him. Munir works the beds and fills, by hand, every pot that leaves the shop.
Partners on the Ground
Shahjani Farms · and the ones to come
The land at Chak and the Karachi site both come from people who backed this before it was proven. More FromZeroSpots, soon, all across Pakistan. Partnerships.
The short version
From Zero on One Page
The loop, the sites and the figures, in a form you can send on.