August 30, 2007	Thursday	Sha'aban 16, 1428

MUZAFFARABAD, Aug 29: Sajila Begum, a 50-year-old survivor of the earthquake that hit Azad Kashmir in 2005 killing 74,000 people, says the word ‘impossible’ is not in her vocabulary.

Since losing her son in the quake that reduced most of her hometown to rubble, Ms Sajila has dedicated her life to bringing education to as many of the children in her impoverished neighbourhood as possible.

But not content with building a school that now has 150 students, she has also created a 24-hour piped water system for her neighbours, and a micro-loan scheme for poor women in the local community.

Her efforts have earned her the affectionate title of ‘one woman NGO’.

Though Ms Sajila herself never had the opportunity to go to school, she says she is all too aware of the value of education.

She had already opened a schoolroom in her home when, on Oct 8, 2005, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck the region, flattening 85 per cent of Muzaffarabad, killing around 34,000 of the city’s 900,000 people, injuring 56,000 and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

Ms Sajila lost her home and 21-year-old son, one of six of her children who she raised along with her sister’s two children after her death seven years ago.

“These two blows were too big for me, but I gathered my strength after the earthquake and decided to restart the school,” she said.

“I did not want others in my community to be deprived of education and decided to give others what I could not get during my childhood,” Ms Sajila said.

The school is free for orphans and children from poor families. Those who can pay, do, subsidising those who cannot and helping cover expenses and teachers’ salaries, she said.

Her large family gets by on her husband’s monthly income of 8,000 rupees. A retired army officer, he was rehired by the military to train army reserves.—AFP