It is human nature to yearn for freedom, free from the shackles of one kind or another. Every year as we celebrate Pakistan’s Independence Day with a patriotic spirit, we are reminded of the value of freedom.
This year we conducted a programme to drive home the message that “despite seventy years as an independent nation, we are still in the cage of drugs.”
Written by Terence Lee
The sudden and tragic death of three family members; being married off to a man not of her choosing; caring for her sister as she slowly faded and finally being unwelcomed in her own home. Through it all, Anila still says “God never leaves us in the time of troubles, in tough times or in problems, but He gives us more strength that I feel during all these problems or hard times.”
Reema lives in Sindh, Pakistan, and is part of the Women's Empowerment Programme under the Primary Education Project (PEP). Her journey is a great testimony of how a village girl overcame deep-rooted prejudice against education for girls to become a role model herself.
"I don't want the children of my community to work all day in fields. I want them to be educated."
This is the mantra of Mizoram (not his real name), who opened a school in a community hall a few years back with an enrolment of 50 children. He belongs to a Hindu community in rural Pakistan where education had been lacking for many years.
One of the most common taboos in Pakistani society is "disability". Disabled people carry a stigma which can dog them for life.
A village in Khowaja Goth, rural Sindh, chants this same sad story of the scars that disabled people, especially children, have been bearing since birth. The lame or mentally retarded children have one and only possible way to survive, and that is to be shut out completely from society. Their families feel an inner shame and are unable to shake off this albatross.