July 27, 2007	Friday	Rajab 11, 1428

KARACHI: “Six weeks into the volunteer programme at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) and I feel really bad. Not because I am not happy working here, but because I see so many people around me who are poor and cannot afford treatment on their own,” says Shahab, who started at the institute as a volunteer and is now a group captain.

To him the picture of poverty was limited to his housemaid or servants. But the volunteer stint at the institute has changed Shahab’s outlook on life and inculcated a new spirit of community service in him and in many other boys and girls from privileged backgrounds.

“Life has turned out to be pretty stark compared to what I had in mind. Here I have learnt to respect not only life but also people hailing from different economic backgrounds,” he says.

Rashna Virgi, another group captain, joins the conversation.

“Earlier I used to think that only people who do not take care of themselves end up being ill. However, my perception changed when I saw kids months or even barely days old being brought here for dialysis and transplantation,” she observes.

‘Creating awareness’

Kishwer Zehra, Chairperson of Resource Generation and Outreach, (RGO), has initiated the programme.

“The idea behind the whole thing is to create awareness among the youth about community service,” says Ms Zehra.

“These bubbly and carefree kids transform into responsible individuals over a matter of days. They collect information about the patients, their grievances and cheer them up. At times they also take part in cleaning up the hospital,” she adds.

She believes that if children are taught at this age to think beyond the social background of a person, they can bring about a change in the mindset of society in general.

Over 1,000 children from more than 50 schools have taken part in the programme since it started in December. They get certificates which help them obtain foreign scholarships. These kids are given basic information about various diseases that are prevalent in Pakistan and the world over. They are taught how to identify one disease from the other and what to do in case of an emergency. They are also given basic first aid training.

Kaneez Rehmani, the RGO Coordinator, and Kishwar Zehra with the help of school teachers who visit the SIUT, give the children basic instructions needed to deal with the patients and to work in the hospital.

“We have to make them understand that they have to follow certain rules while they are in a hospital. They have to dress modestly, girls in particular, as patients come from various backgrounds,” says Ms Rehmani.

“The staff members of the SIUT guide these children as much as they can” she adds.

Visible changes

The changes in the children’s attitudes go beyond the walls of the hospital and many parents have noticed the metamorphosis.

Ahsan reveals that his parents are pretty relieved with the fact that he is spending his time doing something so worthwhile.

“I used to hang out with my friends, smoke sheesha, sleep late and surf the net during the last holidays. But now I am here from morning till evening and am so tired at the end of the day that I sleep early too,” he says with a chuckle.

The boy admits that initially he didn’t want to come to the SIUT and it was his parents that forced him to do the community service. But once he was in, he started to appreciate what the project was trying to do.

Karim, who is jokingly said to be a resident of the SIUT by his group-mates as he stays there for almost 12 hours daily, pours out his feelings about the programme.

“I realise that by giving a little time to the patients we can divert their attention from the misery and pain that they are going through,” he observes. These feelings are shared by a large number of children taking part in the volunteer programme.

But not all the kids share the majority’s enthusiasm. According to the group captains, a handful of children are found wasting their time chatting and staying away from the job that they are assigned to do. Once noticed, though, these children are either not given certificates or their credit hours are reduced.

Some patients are annoyed as all nine batches go and visit them and ask them if they have any complaints against the staff. On the other hand, the children’s ward (most popular among the volunteers) and dialysis wards’ patients admire the kids for taking out time to listen to what they have to say. A nurse was even fired when the volunteers reported that the majority of the patients were unhappy with her performance.

It is amazing to see children of the genteel class being so considerate towards patients who often earn even less than their servants. Running to and fro, talking to patients of all ages, trying to overcome the language barrier (some of the patients speak only Sindhi and Balochi), these young folks are full of energy and enthusiasm.

Though community service is quite common in the West, it has never been introduced by charity-run hospitals locally in a manner that doesn’t ask them for money or any other help, except to understand how precious a human life is.

Whether community service should be part of the educational curriculum is something for parents and policymakers to decide. However, the parents that visit the SIUT with their volunteer children say that community service has made their kids all the more respectful and responsible.