KARACHI: “Sometimes in life, something happens that’s so remarkable that it creates a paradigm shift,” said Feroze Dada at the launch of his book Children of Revolution at the Liberty Books Clifton outlet on Thursday.

The ‘paradigm shift’ in Mr Dada’s life happened in 2009 when he was visiting Myanmar, where, being married to a Burmese woman, his in-laws live. One day, he was on a little boat when it started to pour heavily and they had to quickly reach the nearest shore to take refuge there.

“On shore, I was greeted by a monk about whom I immediately felt that he was no ordinary human being. After the rain stopped, he showed me around and I was surprised to find the entire island full of very polite, well-behaved and sweet children. They belonged to a monastery, which was also an orphanage. Then when the weather cleared and the monk was accompanying me back to the boat, he asked what I thought could be done for these children, who’d beg for food to sustain themselves,” the author said.

“The impact of meeting those sweet children had connected my tongue to my heart. So instead of thinking about it first I just said that I wished they all had computers. To this the monk informed me they didn’t have any computers as they didn’t even have electricity on the island. When you have a mind for solving problems, you can take up all kinds of challenges. Soon I returned to the place with solar panels, batteries and computers for the children,” he said.

“When working with computers, you don’t need many teachers as there is computer software to do the teaching. You just need a supervisor to help you where you get stuck,” said Mr Dada, who introduced the children to a literacy programme, ReadingWise.

Later, he surveyed the island to come up with a way to make the monastery self-sufficient. “I thought it was an ideal place to set up a spa, etc, and bring in business. But then it was not going to fit in with the monastery. Then I saw a stream of crystal clear water there and thought of something else. On testing the water we found it very tasty and full of minerals with a 7.8 pH level. At the time I myself didn’t know much about water purification but we managed to build a plant for bottling the water. All this needed raising a lot of money first but you can multiply your efforts by inspiring others, and things turned out beautifully,” he said.

Senior journalist and author Asif Noorani, the moderator of the evening, then asked Mr Dada if being a Muslim he had experienced any anti-Muslim sentiment.

Answering the query, the author explained the basis of the problem first. “See, Myanmar has so many neighbours like Thailand, China, India, Laos and Bangladesh. People from these regions filter into Myanmar and then they fight the Burmese.

“After raising money for the water plant, when I went to see the manufacturers and suppliers of equipment, I met a woman who wanted to know my religion and was surprised to learn that I was Muslim. She worried that with Muslims and Buddhists fighting each other in the country we wouldn’t be able to make any money from the business, and yet we are doing it anyway. My next project is to raise a clinic for the children on the island,” he said.

All proceeds from the sale of Children of Revolution will go to charity and more such projects for the education and betterment of children in Myanmar and Pakistan, too. The author said he also intended involving himself in a school being adopted by the Rotary Club here.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2015

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