PAKISTAN

and the role they have played in her own life as well as her
daughter’s. The teachers in these schools are known to go
well beyond just giving lessons in the classroom. They have
become a key part of the communities and families they
serve. Many of their students had never been to school
before. Those who did were used to neglect and
mistreatment. Few if any had help building confidence and
self-esteem to dream beyond the poverty that has ensnared
their families for generations. TCF principals and teachers on
the other hand have become confidantes and counselors to
these children as well as their families, often helping them
deal with personal crises, including health problems among
the students who work nightly shifts cleaning raw shrimp with
bare hands. Most of all, they have lent them empathy and
strength to help cope with tragedy and despair, as in the case
of Rubina.
Anwara, another parent at the same school had five children
when her husband went missing. She also cleans shrimp,
along with her children, two of whom are grown. The two
middle ones are in school.
‘People in the community keep telling my children their father
left them, and then they ask me why. I try to explain to them
as best as I can,’ she says quietly.
It was the TCF school principal who convinced Anwara to
enroll the children, and got them books and uniforms. Now
she is determined to try her hardest to keep them in school.
“I have told myself, they may not have a father anymore, but
they have me,” Anwara says. “I will try my hardest to educate
them. I want them to become independent, to own their
homes, and once they achieve that, I just want to spend the
rest of my life praying. That's my only wish.” Unlike Anwara,
Rubina is still hopeful that her husband will return one day.
And in the meanwhile, she wants both of her children to finish
school. She wants her daughter to become a doctor. “Without
an education, you have to hear a lot of rebuke from everyone
throughout life,” she says. “Education can help us become
something in the future.” Someone important, someone
different, she hopes.
This story has been condensed from an article that was published in Dawn.com
20 Years of Believing in Pakistan 19