August 04, 2007

While there are some of us lucky enough to enjoy the bounties that life has to offer there are those too who have to keep up with certain miseries and difficulties. Well, being privileged what should we do? The answer seems pretty ready in our minds, just thank God and continue with life. We who are ‘normal and healthy’ have access to the greatest treasure of life. But do we stop and consider it even for a fraction of a second about it? While, if you ask those who are bed-ridden, or those uncertain about how much pain they still have to endure, life is pretty brutal.

But let’s look at it with a different perspective. Have you been seriously ill? Did you not feel that you wanted to be cared by family and to get well soon? So does everyone around you, he may be poor or rich the desire to lead a healthy life prevails in all. To make some of the people realise what it is like when you don’t have the means to combat your illness, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) initiated a volunteer programme. Students of over 50 schools sent pupils to the SIUT for community service. The students opting for the volunteer programme were not only given information on various diseases but also taught a certain code of conduct. There you could see students of posh and not so posh schools understanding and socialising with patients who are living below the poverty line.

“Over 1,000 students so far have visited the hospital. They have been kept under strict vigilance and clearly told that it is not something to be done for fun, but for the sake of doing something good in your life,” says Kishwar Zehra, one of the members of the core committee for the programme. Interestingly enough, the programme was never as such publicised in the newspapers or in media. All that was done was to contact a handful of schools and ask if they were interested in sending their students for community service. “The response that we received was overwhelming,” says Kaneez Rehmani, the coordinator of the programme.

“Opting for rare programmes like these, helps us understand the importance of love and care in a person’s life as well as how much suffering there is in the world,” says Marium, one of the volunteers.

Zahid, a volunteer, said that “I have been here for more than a week and it was really tough in the beginning, but now I kind of enjoy listening to and cheering the patients.”

Community service is not so common in Pakistan, though there is a lot more scope here than any other country in the world. With more than 60 per cent of the people living below the poverty line, charity-run hospitals are no less than a blessing. This programme also aims at educating children as well as making them understand how difficult life is in real terms. I suppose we can all take out a little time out of our lives, for at least once to see what difference we can make in other people’s lives.—MJ