Improving lives through education and sports

A social activist launches several activities for women and the youth, to restore peace in neighbourhood

KARACHI:

Lyari has often been dubbed the city’s “most dangerous area” because of ethnic or gang-related violence. Despite being Karachi’s oldest locality, it has often been in the news for all the wrong reasons.

While most people in Karachi treat this poverty-stricken neighbourhood as a no-go zone, social activist Sultan Mandhro saw what the majority ignored - the humans living there.

Mandhro -a resident of Lyari himself - decided to do something about restoring peace during turbulent times in the neighbourhood and empower his community through the promotion of women’s education and youth’s talent.

“In 1999, I was elected as the president of the Young Mandhro Welfare Association, a community-based organisation, and expanded its social activities to other communities in Lyari,” he recalled. “In 2005, I co-founded ARADO, a research and development organisation for social workers. Through this platform, I continued to perform social services related to education, health, and environment along with my team.”

In 2013-14, the Karachi Youth Initiative and Women Development Foundation jointly played a vital role in organising the Lyari Peace Conference in various union councils (UCs).

“Taking the opportunity, I launched a series of sports and cultural activities to restore harmony and peace among speakers of all languages in Lyari,” he explained. “Since 2013, I’ve also made efforts to educate children from Lyari and its adjoining areas, who had been deprived of education. Many teachers volunteered to join us and provide free education to underprivileged children.”

In areas like Lyari, Ibrahim Haideri and Mauripur, Mandhro and his team worked in collaboration with the Society for International Education.

Environmental awareness

Besides educating children, Mandhro has launched a campaign to raise awareness regarding environmental pollution, with a particular focus on finding alternatives to plastic.

“We ran tree plantation and sanitation drives under the Clean and Green Campaign to tackle the effects of climate change with the help of young people,” he narrated.

Women’s empowerment

According to Mandhro, when Operation Clean-up was launched against Lyari’s gangs, the authorities paid scant attention to rehabilitating the area and its people.”

“The violence and unrest destroyed countless families, and poverty and social problems were already rampant. Under such a scenario, women were worst affected. It took a toll on their mental health,” he said.

To provide relief to them and help them cope with the trauma, he set about organising cultural and sports activities in the UCs.

“Along with a German organisation, we launched the Lyari Girls Café, a platform for women’s empowerment offering free training to women and girls in sports like boxing, cycling, and football,” he added.

The café has been active in empowering women economically through the provision of free vocational training, resources and guidance to promote entrepreneurship.

“Holding social events allowed women and girls confined to their homes to come out and focus on positive things. At the same time, the café induced confidence in girls so that they could take a stand for themselves and change their situations,” Mandhro explained.

“At present, about 300 girls and women are receiving training here, while about 2,600 women have been trained so far,” he said, adding that after training, investment becomes the biggest problem for women seeking self-employment.

He voiced his dream of taking the Lyari Girls Café to other parts of the city too, to foster interaction between women from across the city.

“This is necessary to dispel myths about Lyari. People here have the same potential as those dwelling in other parts of the city. I am very keen to set up community centres in the form of girls’ cafés in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Keamari in the next two years,” he elaborated.

Adding that Lyari still had the city’s highest unemployment rate, Mandhro expressed the fear that if gang violence made a comeback in the area, the devastation will be far greater now as a result of inflation and unemployment.

“One of the crucial steps in lifting families out of poverty is to educate and employ girls and women. In this connection, some corporate firms are playing their role to the fullest, providing support for the promotion of sports talent as well.”

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2020.