The long drive to sector I/11 ended when our taxi stopped in front of a red and yellow shamiana in a huge ground in Afghan abadi. The place certainly looked like one. Afghani men, women were seen roaming all around the katchi abadi. Clustered inside the shamiana, some five dozen boys and girls of Afghan origin sitting in circles were being taught to read, write and count.
“I can write a letter to my father and read newspaper headlines,” says Zarina, seven, who had learnt many things in the nine month she spent in the REFLECT Circle, now coming to its end.
REFLECT is a non-formal adult literacy programme in which students sit in a circle so that they can interact. The instructor is called a facilitator as he facilitates a discussion. In a two hour session, two to three times a week, students collect under one roof to talk on different subjects. Words repeatedly used in the discussion are identified and written on a piece of paper or flash-card. Similar words are collected and students learn to read and write the word directly rather than starting from ABC.
Although these circles are run for all age groups — men, women and children, young boys and girls show a keen interest in learning new things. Once they acquire the basic literacy skills, they want to learn more. Some 20 boys, keen to continue decided to join formal schools. “Although this adversely affected the number of our REFLECT circles but it showed the interest of children and parents towards education which was no where on their list of priorities when we started work in this Abadi.
“Parents prefer to send children to the mandi, which is close by, as they can fetch some money as loaders. Even girls go to mandi to do small errands,” says Atifa working for Cavish Development Foundation.
In the last one year, almost 30 circles with more than 500 students were conducted by Cavish for the Afghan refugees in the area.
“Teaching the older lot is a daunting task,” views Samina, a project manager. The interest of older men and women in circles is far less as compared to the younger lot, she observes. “Besides, their involvement in other activities does not allow them to concentrate much.
“It’s not only learning to read and write, there is a marked change in their behaviour as well,” says Shakira, a women’s circle facilitator. “The women in my circle used to fight with each other and behaved like savages. By the end of the nine months, they could read and write names and count in Urdu. They started reading the Holy Quran and even discussed domestic issues with other women.”
Says Zargul, a mother of four, “although the difference is on a very minimal level but the difference is clear. We wish this work will continue as we want our children to have a better life than us.”
The idea of a circle is to form small community groups. What is actually more important is to become an active member of the community, identify their problem and solve them. Although the community understands the idea, but hesitant to spare time for such kind of activities.
The process of mobilizing Afghan community in small groups is hard for us. “We Afghans are different from other communities. We are more interested to take things rather to make efforts to get things. We are recipient not contributors, collective thinking, collective efforts are very new things for us; it’s very difficult for us to change our mind. It will take time. You need to be tolerant.” says Bazgul a community man.
Busy in taking notes and asking questions, I could not help notice a boy harassing some younger children. “Harris, baaz aa jao,” I heard Shakira shout at him as he again kicked a small girl sitting in a corner. “This is a common problem in this community,” Shakira explained without hesitation. She was actually referring to child sexual abuse, a major problem in the community. “Older boys molest and abuse younger boys and girls. They take advantage of children roaming in the mandi and harass them.
“This is a very sensitive topic and we have spoken to the children’s parents as well. They realize that by ignoring, we are providing opportunities for this malice to grow. We are trying our best to handle the problem on a long term basis,” says Shakira.
The long drive to sector I/11 ended when our taxi stopped in front of a red and yellow shamiana in a huge ground in Afghan abadi. The place certainly looked like one. Afghani men, women were seen roaming all around the katchi abadi. Clustered inside the shamiana, some five dozen boys and girls of Afghan origin sitting in circles were being taught to read, write and count.
