‘Look at me, then look at your children’
He makes sure that he is with them every time they are in his neighbourhood for a polio drive—sometimes he helps them with directions and at others, he helps them administer the vaccine.
Attaullah was a year old when he contracted the virus and has been encouraging people to vaccinate their children so they don’t suffer like him. “When I go along with polio teams, I tell the parents to take one good look at me and then to look at their children,” he told The Express Tribune. “I tell them to get their children vaccinated so they don’t become like me.”
The young man uses a trusty set of crutches to walk around. He said that his parents, who are from Swat, did not get him vaccinated when he was a child because they did not take vaccinations or polio seriously. He added that there wasn’t enough awareness about the virus so they did not think it was important.
His condition, he said, caused so much worry among other relatives that everyone started to get their children vaccinated immediately.
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As a child, Attaullah recalls he used to love watching other children play cricket and football—he even dreamt of becoming a bowler one day. “I was eight years old when I fully understood what was wrong with me and that I would probably remain a cripple for the rest of my life,” he said. “Sometimes when I see children playing or people walking, I do get upset. It’s a feeling that one can’t explain in a few words.”
These days, Attaullah, a second-year government college student, is busy studying engineering and hopes to become a teacher.
“I want to become a teacher and set an example for disabled children,” he said. “I want them to know that they are useful and can do much more with their lives. They don’t have to beg or be dependent on others.”
After he passed his matriculation, Attaullah temporarily discontinued his education and started selling mobile phone cards at a friend’s shop to support his family. Later, he decided to take up studying again because he felt it was important to do so. Attaullah wants to live in a polio free Pakistan. “I am not angry with my parents for not getting me vaccinated, but I am disappointed,” he said. “I hope that no other parents ever make the same mistake.”
For more stories on polio attacks, click here
Published in The Express Tribune, October 24th, 2014.
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