Opening closed doors – Active Citizens in Thatta help two feuding tribes find common ground in education

A community divided

The inhabitants of Daggar Khan Palari Taluka – a  small village in Sindh  can be roughly divided into two tribes. Although members of the two tribes have inhabited the same village for a number of years, their coexistence has been less than harmonious.

The community members reached a point where they minimized their interaction as much as possible: there were no joint community events and no shared celebrations for a number of years. The estrangement left no one untouched – including children and young people.

A tale of two schools

The village had two public schools for children before they were shut down. As time went by and grievances remained unresolved the village folk forbade their children to mix or even share the same school.

Due to negligence of the local education authorities both schools suffered. Structural damage and lack of facilities did not stop the village folk from sending their children to school but it was the loss of teaching staff that finally put the breaks on the learning. Both schools were shut down in 2007.

With the passage of time both schools turned into rundown, vacant buildings with peeling paint and windows with shattered glass. The nearest school was in a village more than 5 kilometers away. In the absence of a school to go to children helped their parents in day-to-day chores.

A helping hand

After completing their Active Citizens training Babar and Tanveer wished to start a Social Action Project that would address the problem of ghost schools – a major concern in rural Sindh.  They surveyed the nearby villages and stumbled upon the village of Daggar Khan Palari Taluka – a community with not one but two abandoned schools. They talked to the local Education District Officer (EDO) and brought the matter to his attention. After a few meetings the EDO arranged a survey of both school buildings.

Monsoons had left the roof of one of the schools in very bad shape and the building was deemed too dangerous to use. The second school building was in relatively better shape and the EDO agreed to arrange teaching staff for it.

Resistance

To their surprise Babar and Tanveer faced stiff resistance from the community they were trying to help. The demand of the community members: either reopen both schools or neither.

Refusing to abandon the progress they had made with the education department the young Active Citizens talked to members of the two tribes in hopes of starting a dialogue between them.

Let’s talk

“We asked them to give the idea of a single school a chance for the sake of their children”

Getting the two parties to talk seemed to be an uphill task at first. One thing in common people from both tribes though was the love of their children: all parents want to see their children do well.  Babar and Tanveer convinced to sit down and talk about finding ways to secure a better future for their children – a future with more opportunities.

Through these talks the two young people helped the community members to realise that some opportunities remain out of reach without formal education. “We asked them to give the idea of a single school a chance for the sake of their children” says Tanveer.

After much discussion the parent of out of school children agreed to one school for their children.

New beginnings

With the help of the residents of the village and the education department staff Babar and Tanveer helped clean up the school building. Within a week the school building was ready to be used again. The EDO’s office also provided 300 – 400 text books free of cost for the students.

Babar and Tanveer volunteered their time to brush up the students’ basic skills. A young person from the village with a high school degree also showed interest in teaching and soon joined Babar and Tanveer in teaching the eager students.

Now the school has a regular appointed teacher and the enrollment has crossed sixty students. with nearly 60% male and 40%female students and their ages range from 7 years to 11 years. Babar and Tanveer visit the school regularly to see if it is operating smoothly and to offer their help if needed.

The power of dialogue – Active Citizens facilitate health care in Mehmood Kot

As the 4-day Active Citizens workshop neared its end and the time came to propose a social action project to help resolve an issue that his community was facing, Talha Hassan spent no time in picking health care. Mehmood Kot is a small town in the Multan district with one Basic Health Unit (BHU) facility for the provision of health care to the community members at a low cost.

A modest affair

Mehmood Kot's Basic Health Unit is a modest affair with limited staff and a small dispensary. The bigger medical facility, the District Health Unit (DHU) is a considerable distance away. There are a number of private clinics in the town though which treat the bulk of the medical cases.

Over the years Talha noticed that the dispensary had assumed a more symbolic role a functional one: on some days the medical staff did not show up, and when they did their work hours were erratic. As a result most of the townspeople had no choice but to consult doctors running private clinics. 

This is a costlier option for the residents of Mehmood Kot, most of who depend on a modest source of income to get them through the month.

Hence over the years the utility of the Basic Health Unit was reduced to a place where cheap medicine could be bought.

Shaking things up

Talha and his youth group resolved to change this perception of their community. They wanted members of the community to receive the care they deserved at the BHU. And so they started a two pronged dialogue campaign: they met with community members in a door-to-door campaign to talk about the provision of their basic health rights; and they met the health care staff at the BHU to discuss professional duties that they were neglecting.

In this way the young Active Citizens were successful in starting a dialogue between the residents of Mehmood Kot and the health care staff at the BHU. The result of these meetings was that the health care staff resolved to fulfil their duties and to extend all possible help to the townspeople.    

Keeping Score

To make sure that the BHU staff would make good on their promise and things would not slip back to a similar situation Talha’s youth group formed a committee to monitor the work of the health care staff voluntarily. This committee comprised of the Imam of a local mosque, a social and political activist, and two Active Citizens from Talha’s youth group.

This committee pays regular visits to the Basic Health Unit and they report much improved staff attendance. 

Mentoring greatness

Asma Farhad teaches at a popular university in Lahore. When discussing the state of education in Pakistan and how it can be transformed, Aasma’s passion for education shines trough: “As an academic, I believe reforms alone cannot provide a solution, our education system rather requires a whole new revolution. I resolve to introduce a novel learning experience to those who need education most”.

Recently Aasma helped her students renovate a computer lab for less privileged young people. With the help of cash donations they also refurbished the faulty equipment. A brief description of the project supplied by Aasma:

We ran a pilot project in the University of Central Punjab, Lahore in August 2012, and experimented with the semi-literate children from slums and very poor economic back ground. Ranging from 8 to 13 years, all these children attended a six days long workshop on using computers as an e-learning tool. To our surprise children who could not even spell their names perfectly were able to use Google search, Google translator, find and play educational games and videos and learnt from them, entered correct URLs, receive and send emails too. That too in just six days!

We also observed that these children did not only enjoy learning, they were stimulated to learn more and often preferred to work independently. This made us work more seriously towards our second goal i.e. to provide free of cost computer and internet access to these children.

For this, our group initiated “donate a computer” drive. We discussed with our friends, family and acquaintances to donate old used computer CPUs, monitors, mouse, wires and key boards. We learnt about an institution in Iqbal Town, Lahore through a friend that provides free of cost education to children with very weak economic back ground. Upon meeting them we learnt that their abandoned computer lab had a few computers lying there.

Our volunteers renovated the lab, repaired old computers, replaced worn out spare parts with the workable ones. The lab is now operational and continues broadening horizons for the young fellows studying there.

Education for all – turning a dream into a reality

Luqman Elahi lives in district Layyah – backward area of Punjab. 70% of the district is rural where a feudal social system of sardars and jageerdars prevails. Enrollment in the local schools is low; poverty plays the biggest role in the schools lack facilities. Ghost schools are a common phenomenon and are mostly used as ‘bhanas ‘(the place where the livestock is penned). Those who are willing to spend money to see their children educated face other obstacles: landlords who discourage education. Luqman chose to work as a youth activist for the development of his area and to help educate the residents of Layyah. He believes that this is possible only through awareness of the benefits of education. Says Luqman: “I will educate them about necessity of education”.

Luqman met different families during his door-to-door awareness campaign. He talked to parents about Article 25a  and how the dream of an educated Pakistan can now be turned into a reality. Luqman discovered that most parents of wanted to educate their children and had hopes for a better future for them – different lives than the ones they lead. The failure to pay the high fee – often to ghost schools is the main reason due to which they chose not to enroll their children in school.

When asked how he would address these challenges, Luqman replied: “I chose to work on admitting underprivileged children in a private school. I knew that it was challenging owing to the fact that they couldn’t afford to pay the high fees on their own”. Luqman met the principal of a local private school to discuss this problem. In the principal he found a kindred spirit who agreed to admit students to his school without charging them any fee for one whole year.

Luqman is not only generous with his time, but does not hold back in spending his money for the all important cause of education: “I managed to pay for their uniform cost but I am looking for sponsors to support the cost of books, stationery for admitted students” he says. Thanks to the efforts of Luqman, 33 children from his community now attend classes regularly without worrying about paying a fee for them for a year.

Beneath the Surface

While 2011 saw excessive torrential rain all over Pakistan that resulted in floods that caused wide placed damage and displaced many people, this year the monsoon rains have been well below the level needed to irrigate fields, and fill natural water bodies and man made dams to serviceable levels. This shortage of rain spells disaster, and what looms now is the danger of a drought.

When it comes to needs and wants the people living in Dera Ghazi Khan are no different from people inhabiting the many villages and towns of Pakistan who depend upon natural water sources such as streams and rivers for their daily need. Naturally without seasonal rains these rivers and streams can not fulfill the needs of the people dependent upon them.

Mahrab Khan is a resident of 'Chooti', a remote area of the Dera Ghazi Khan district. Growing up in Chooti Mehrab was acutely aware of the local community’s needs and after attending an Active Citizens training course his awareness gained focus. Mahrab decided that the most immediate need that his community members was the availability of water. He therefore decided to design a Social Action Project around the provision of water to the various small localities called 'bastees' in the area. Mahrab teamed up with two other Active Citizens: Mr. Ali Abbas and Mr. Kumail to start work on the project.

The group members pooled in their resources to fund the digging of underground water holes in these areas. Ten workers were hired to help them dig these wells. Wells have always been a traditional and cheap method of providing clean water to remote areas, where no other water source is available.

In some places they found drinking water at 140 ft while at other spots they had to dig as deep as 300 ft. The group has also installed taps in some of these water sources in order to make it easier for people to collect water. The group has so far been successful in digging 5 wells, where each well provided access to clean water to 25 – 30 localities. They have also initiated the same activity in other areas so that more people can benefit from their Social Action Project.

Prevention through Awareness

There are certain things that we associate with the summer season. For people living in colder areas there is the promise of warm, lazy days; for people who live in a warm climate it means that their days will only get warmer and longer. In Pakistan we have come to associate newer and less pleasant things of late: the monsoon rains that will flood fields of farmers and drive people from their homes, and the return of the dreaded dengue fever. 

Each dengue epidemic in Pakistan has been worse than the previous one: more than 300 people lost their lives to the dengue virus and more than 14,000 were affected by it in 2011. A group of young people fresh out of an Active Citizens training teamed together to launch a dengue awareness campaign targeted at young people and children in Lahore.

The first part of the project was rolled out at the Punjab University Laboratory school in April this year. Group members briefed the students on the dengue virus, its symptoms, how it can be transmitted, and what precautionary measures to use. The students were also added to the discussion their knowledge on the subject, and stories and jokes. At the conclusion of the activity flyers were distributed among the students who were encouraged to spread the awareness on the deadly disease.

In May the group held an awareness campaign at the Pakistan Society for the Rehabilitation of the Disabled (PSRD). Along with information about the virus and precautionary measures, a drawing competition was also arranged for children at the rehabilitation centre. Children enrolled in therapy sessions at the centre also participated with quotes, stories, and songs.

The efforts of the group did not stop here; they held similar interactive awareness sessions at Nasheman and Dar-ul-Mussarat – both institutes for people living with mental and physical disabilities. At both institutes they were welcomed with enthusiasm. Says one group member: “we went to make these children aware of how to save a life, but (instead) we learnt from them that how to live a life”.

Active Citizens - partnering for stronger communities

A life-time’s learning can sometimes be condensed into a sentence or two. The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu did just that when he uttered words to the effect: “Give a man a fish; feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish; feed him for a lifetime".

This line of thinking is just as relevant today as it was many centuries ago. Helping someone by providing them with money or food or shelter – although commendable – is not a long-term solution. By providing someone in need with the means to earn a living not only enables them to provide for themselves but it also has a positive effect on their morale and self-esteem.

Green Town is a residential area of Lahore with a high rate of unemployment and a low education rate. The residents of Green Town by and large live in poverty, and putting food on the table regularly is a struggle for most.

Shumaila Naaz is a professor in the Management Sciences department of the Superior University in Lahore. Shumaila teaches a course on community development which includes an end-of-semester project that students need to complete to pass the course.

To help her students gain a better understanding of how their efforts – no matter how small – to make their communities a better place to live can have far reaching effects, Shumaila organised an Active Citizens training workshop with the help of Chanan Development Association (CDA) – an Active Citizens partner.

After they were done with the training, a group of her students came up with a formal plan to help women in Green Town earn a living and provide for their families. Their proposal? To raise money to fund the purchase of sewing machines for the women of Green Town.

The women selected by the group fall into certain categories: women who are widowed; women who are divorced; and women whose spouses live with disability.

The proposed project also had a personal significance for one of the members who has lived in Green Town for more than 11 years but has never lost hope for better days for his community.

The students were able to raise Rs. 75,000 by reaching out to donors with the help of a well thought-out project proposal and an effective communications campaign which included the distribution of pamphlets, and a door-to-door campaign. With these funds they purchased 17 sewing machines.

To ensure that the sewing machines would not be resold the group members attached a condition with their distribution: the women who would receive the machines would pay a fee of Rs. 250 to the group each month. In this way the recipients would gain ownership of the sewing machines and through the fees collected the group would be able to finance more sewing machines for other deserving candidates. In short a win-win situation.

A distribution ceremony for the machines was arranged by the group at a local high school of Green Town. A large number of the residents attended the event and praised the Active Citizens for coming up with this clever yet simple plan to strengthen a community that gave its members the tools to be more self-reliant.