Role of the privileged
Only those nations prosper and flourish where citizens have values, where the privileged classes realise the significance of their fortunate status and where they recognise the needs of the impoverished classes. We are all part of a single society and if anyone believes that he or she can live and be shielded from societal problems, they are living in a dangerous dream. Pakistan is a nation in dire straits, as recent trends have made abundantly clear. For the first time in our history, we have seen 38 consecutive months of double-digit inflation, devastating floods, the worst law and order situation since our independence and a crippling energy crisis. We have seen the lowest investment in four decades and a significant slowdown in overall economic activities. This has resulted in increased unemployment and rising poverty. People cannot afford basic foodstuff and other necessities of life as these have become unaffordable. Many have been forced to take their children out of schools as they cannot afford tuition and books with their shrunken budgets.
Imagine if every family that earns more than Rs100,000 a month makes a solemn resolution to teach a minimum of 10 needy kids a year. No huge investment is required for this and for as little as Rs400-800 per month, you can teach a child at an NGO school. If we conservatively assume that there are 100,000 households making this level of income, tomorrow we can help a million impoverished children to read and write. There are two kinds of people; those who live in a dream world and others who love to face reality. We should be the latter. Teaching one million children will impact seven million citizens as the average Pakistani household size is seven members per family.
For those who have not yet touched other lives in a big way, one of the most courageous acts you can do is to move out of your comfort zone. Make an immediate resolution to help out the flood victims who have lost everything. Just imagine for a second, if one day your home is taken from you, every valuable you ever owned is washed away, you have no savings, no acquaintances or friends who could help, have no shelter for you or your family, no food, no water and no access to medical aid. Yes it is a scary and terrifying thought but the least we can do to help anyone suffering from such a fate is to help in any way we can. Join any of the hundreds of NGOs working day and night to help flood victims.
Have a mission in life and set a vision. As the world famous educator and writer Hellen Keller, who was born deaf and blind, very aptly stated: “The greatest tragedy in life is people who have sight but no vision”. Don’t lose this ideal opportunity to help your fellow citizens at a very critical juncture in history. Having a vision will have no impact if your heart, passion and attitude are not positive and not in sync with your goals in life. We are all here for a brief moment, so let us all try to make a difference.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 27th, 2011.
COMMENTS (19)
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Just to add to Saad's comment on Mr Sajjad Hussain's commendable gesture to support two children on their education... I am a member of The Citizens Foundation (TCF) and this foundation is doing great work by providing education to children who are less privileged. Thanks Saad for sharing about HOPE and I intend to support a few children on this NGO as well. Regards.
@Sajjad Hussain:
Dear Sajjad,
People like you are the true inspiration and I am really touched by your will to support 2 children to learn to read and write. One organzation I support is HOPE NGO which has 200 informal schools and 2 formal. Their website is www.hope-ngo.com/
Please go to the website and contact them, they will help you fullfill your effort.
Regards,
Saad
Well said Saad - I couldn't agree with you more...the need and opportunity to deliver life-transforming services is definitely there. I also agree with the comment that the 'privileged' classes should pay their taxes...although I do understand that many folks evade tax because (i) government ministers/legislators are the largest tax-evaders and b) they have little faith in the government's ability or intention to deliver public services.
What the above means is that in the mid term (i.e. for the next 10-15 years until we fix our fiscal policy and reform our tax code/revenue collecting mechanisms), the private and philanthropic sectors will need to step up to fill that void.
Also, don't forget that you can now provide quality healthcare to a child from a low-income or NGO school for just Rs 100/month through the NAYA JEEVAN health plan! :-)
http://www.njfk.org
It is high time that our people ultimately stop multiplying like the rabbits......Horrible, children giving birth to children!
the issue is that whether education will make a difference and bring people promised fortune..............I do not mean to say that it will not effect society.........but in term of financials will it help? My highly educated (educated from abroad even) siblings are still in search of job.............even at a starting level of 10k.........but unable to get cause there are no jobs..........they dont have good sifarish...................now look at the dis-appointment these people are facing..............on other hand my cousin who has just completed his BCOM is 2nd division got government job with salary and benefits which equalizes to 35k..................just because his father was government officer and was able to get sifarish................now my last sibling is studying and my father is of view that we must not invest on his education as it is of no use..................the issue is the mind set here with which we are made to study................all of our life we are told to study harder so that we are able to get better jobs..................and what a pity that my gold medalist sister is not able to get a starting job position at 5-6k even...............for last 1 year
Sir, I am a pensioner drawing pension of Rs 47000/- but I am willing to support two children for their education.
my mother is a widow, we are a middle class family and all four of us sisters are currently studying. but we have always paid our taxes and not only that, zakat too.. we also support various charities according to our limited means..at the time of the floods last year, my mother sold a bit of her jewellery to donate to imran khans flood relief fund. long live pakistan!!
I think you forget an important fact: we may be tax-cheats, but in per capita terms I would think we are the most generous people on this planet in terms of giving -- even if it is done not specifically in the name of zakat.
It is a pity that this has never been quantified and my own "sample" is small and limited to family. I just made a "contribution" to a charity run by my first cousin for abused women and children in the name of my late father whose "barsi" was October 23. I will do the same for my late mother. People are doing great things. We should not under-estimate their generosity.
Maybe that is why there hasn't been a revolution?!
Saad,
I totally agree with you. I think that if we, the so called civil society, does not play its due role in challenging the rampant corruption in the country, the worsening law and order situation, the lack of basic necessities like power and clean drinking water, we cant expect miracles to happen. All that we do is sit back in our comfortable homes and complain. The level of indifference and apathy has risen so high that we even fail to realize that our leaders are a sorry reflection of all of us. Unless and until we accept our collective resposibility to change the fate of our nation, things will continue to deteriorate. We are already a failed state and time is running short. We must rise now, otherwise our future generarions will be lost.
Each one of us must realize and accept that we have to contribute in our own little way, whether by way of teaching a kid or paying for his education, or going out on the streets and raising our protest, or to say the least, vote for the lesser evil in the next elections.
Look at the Arab Spring--- although the quality of life of those people is a million times better than us, still they have the courage of their convictions and they have succeeded in making a difference. Unfortunately, even after 64 years of independence, we have failed to evolve as a nation and we have only three kinds of loyalties: ethnic, sectarian and political. We have no loyalty towards the nation and that is why we are where we are.
Well put!!! Love this, couldn't have said it better myself. Love that a member of the "privileged"class wrote it, too.
Such an inspiring article.
Yes, all this is practical and not far from our reach. We can do it easily.By adopting such behaviors, not only we can teach the ones who cannot afford learning by their own, but we can also make many other things by this positive attitude towards our society and our people.
A fair call indeed. As for the argument for public sector taking up responsibility of the issue, I think most of us agree that it won't happen till the credibility of the govt. is restored. However, it does not mean that we let poor people die on the streets till that day comes. At the least, we can start doing whatever we can from wherever we can and in time, we will have the right institutional structure in place to address bulk of the challenges. As the writer said...life is short and we are not getting another chance to make all the difference we can.
Sir, the nations elite need to pay their taxes rather than making solemn pledges to support 10 children, which well intentioned doesnt help in the long run. How about all those who earn more than 100k pay their taxes honestly and then use their preferential position to lobby the state to make sure its spent the right way?
In Pakistan, many of the elite educational institutions like DJ Science college, NED College, Adamjee Science College, Dawood Engineering College, Aisha Bawany School, Habib Public School, St. Patricks School, etc. were created by philanthropists. Today institutions like the TCF and HDF are building schools for the under privileged by collecting doantions. Therefore, it it unfair to say that it is only the west that is doing charity work for education.
The bigger question is that the scale that is required to take care of the huge population needs can only come from the public sector. Unfortunately our education department like the rest of the government is totally corrupt and inefficient.
Sir one more thing in America or U.S.A every thing almost run by private donors colleges university and so many Theology colleges and universities and libraries so many other public wellfare organizations is there pakistani Rich are ready to give some millions to there country poors i dont think so they are snakes sitting on gold and diamonds we need man like Imran Khan...