DARS-I-QURAN in the morning, Iftaris in the evening and shopping in between, Ramazan is a busy month for Islooites. Dars-i-Quran, a new trend in Islamabad, is no doubt an enlightening exercise whereby one can peacefully listen to Tilawat-i-Quran and its explanation during the day. Every second house in every single neighbourhood in Islamabad arranges a session either in Urdu or in English where ladies from all walks of life (irrespective of class, age or grade) assemble to enhance their religious knowledge. In the process, they are also informed of those traditional religious practices not justified by the Holy Quran or Sunnah. Apart from Dars-i-Quran, there are households celebrating the Taaq Raats of the last ashrah of Ramazan. The special namaz and dars starts right after the Isha prayer and goes on up to the wee hours of the morning. The special dua culminates into the lavish spread out of Sehri, cholas, pooris, chicken currys, jalebi, gulab jamans, parathas, omlettes, kheer, served by the well known caterers of the capital.
EXPLORE, SPEAK OUT, TAKE ACTION: Adolescence, the period of a person’s life between 10 and 19 years, is a time when young people take on new responsibilities. During this transition to adulthood, adolescents develop biologically and psychologically and move towards independence. In the absence of any avenues to acquire new information and skills for personal development and protection, they also encounter health risks and often exhibit risk-taking and experimental behaviour. The three-day National Forum, ‘Explore, Speak Out, Take Action’ was actively participated by 32 vivacious teenagers from all the four provinces who had gathered in the capital city to ‘Break the silence and talk about HIV/Aids.’ Arranged under the Unicef’s Empowerment of Adolescents and HIV/Aids project, it provided adolescent girls and boys an opportunity to act as change agents for HIV prevention by providing, sharing information and life skills necessary to lead healthy lives and protect themselves against the virus.
In more and more countries, young people are at the centre of the global HIV/Aids epidemic where more than half of the newly infected patients in the world today are below 25 years. HIV/ Aids prevalence rates are still low in Pakistan. However, with a population of 150 million an epidemic will have major human and economic implications for Pakistan where an estimated 27.5 per cent of its population are adolescents. In a country where poverty, low levels of literacy, denial of adolescent sexuality, limited access to information and services are the major factors, little is known about the actual situation of adolescents and HIV/Aids.
The National Forum gave adolescents a platform to learn more about HIV/Aids, express how they feel about it, and what they would like to do about it. Children openly stated what they thought and the situation of child rights and HIV/Aids in their own communities. They shared lessons learnt and experiences, identified and defined ways of how they can be engaged in true and effective partnership with policy-makers, programmers and parents, teachers religious leaders and the entertainment media.
“Experience shows that HIV prevention efforts for young people are only effective if young people themselves are involved in at all levels of the development process, that is planning, implementation, evaluation at community and policy levels,” says Laura Fragiacomo, Project Officer with Unicef. Laura believes adolescence must be provided with the space to explore what the issues around HIV/Aids are; they need to be able to speak out about how HIV impacts children and what vulnerability factors they see in their own communities. Lastly, they need to take action themselves and in partnership with adults in a way that is culturally acceptable and in line with societal and religious mores.
“Unicef views it as a window of opportunity to break the vicious cycle of risky behaviours, which begin during this age and promote health and development,” she added.
HIV/Aids is not just a health issue. It is a development issue as well. The underlying causes that make people in Pakistan so vulnerable to HIV/Aids are poverty, gender imbalances, low education and illiteracy. With HIV/Aids taking root in Pakistan it is likely to destroy the country’s most productive resources: its young people. The repercussions will affect everyone. Unicef’s Empowerment of Adolescents for the promotion of adolescents health and development includes prevention of HIV infection too. Adolescents are tomorrow’s adults. Investing in them will safeguard the future of Pakistan’s development.
DARS-I-QURAN in the morning, Iftaris in the evening and shopping in between, Ramazan is a busy month for Islooites. Dars-i-Quran, a new trend in Islamabad, is no doubt an enlightening exercise whereby one can peacefully listen to Tilawat-i-Quran and its explanation during the day. Every second house in every single neighbourhood in Islamabad arranges a session either in Urdu or in English where ladies from all walks of life (irrespective of class, age or grade) assemble to enhance their religious knowledge. In the process, they are also informed of those traditional religious practices not justified by the Holy Quran or Sunnah. Apart from Dars-i-Quran, there are households celebrating the Taaq Raats of the last ashrah of Ramazan. The special namaz and dars starts right after the Isha prayer and goes on up to the wee hours of the morning. The special dua culminates into the lavish spread out of Sehri, cholas, pooris, chicken currys, jalebi, gulab jamans, parathas, omlettes, kheer, served by the well known caterers of the capital.
