In the morning around 7 o'clock , when Ruba Humayun’s car rolls near a row of tattered tent houses, called jhuggis in the local parlance, children start gathering around her to study. This is the posh locality of Model Town, Lahore.
This particular Monday, she was a bit late due to an engagement at home. Dressed in worn out and dirty clothes , without washing their hands and faces and with uncombed hair, children aged between three and fifteen started asking in Punjabi why she was late. Apparently unaware that Sunday was a holiday, one of the older girls complained to Ruba that she didn’t come to teach them the previous day.Soon Ruba brought out a large mat, a small whiteboard and a box containing writing folders bearing students’ names from the rear of her car. She spread the mat on the roadside and asked the children to sit down. In no time they were chanting “Lab pe aati hai dua ban ke tamanna meri”. After reciting a few poems, Ruba started giving them lesson in English alphabet, adding two new letters that day. “Some of the students are very sharp and learned very quickly”, she said while sitting on a charpoy. After they chanted alphabet s in tune a few times, she started asking students individually to read out from the whiteboard. Those who did with few mistakes received candies as a reward. Then she repeated the pattern for Urdu alphabet and numbers. The children were particularly enchanted by English and Urdu nursery rhymes that followed. Even younger ones joined in although most of them did not understand what was being recited. A lesson in clock reading came next. After explaining the movement of hands of the clock through drawings on the white board, Ruba moved to writing. Farhan Ali, a gangling lad of about 15, picked up folders from the carton and called out children's names. Each folder contained a workbook, pencil, sharpener and a rubber. Children got absorbed in writing in workbooks meant for an adult literacy programme. Ruba explained that these particular workbooks were chosen because they contained Urdu, English and Mathematics, all in one. Farhan belongs to the same community. He has had formal education at school till class five. Farhan gave up studies to earn living by singing on weddings and other occasions. “I have encouraged him to resume his studies”, Ruba told. He helped her in checking workbooks. As the class was going on, Ruba handed a five hundred rupee note to a youth and asked him to count children and bring as many juice packs from a nearby market.
While the children wrote, Ruba started telling about her initiative, “We usually sit in a park situated at some distance. The people at this place are very cooperative. They understand that I am doing something good for their children. Often two youngsters, bearing sticks, guard the class from distractions and do not allow outsiders to disturb during the lessons.” This is the third place where she has started teaching underprivileged children. The first center was opened near Model Town. It was so successful that she had to employ two young girls as teachers. “Some of the girls studying at the first center work as housemaids. They go there in the evening after finishing their jobs. Starting from the scratch, they have learned to read and write and do simple calculations to the level of grade three,” she told proudly. Leaving that school in the hands of the teachers she had employed, Ruba moved on to teach children from another nomadic settlement in Garden Town. Here she had a good experience. “A passerby donated a sum of 5000 rupees for stationary when he saw me teaching here. After a few days, one of the neighbours approached me and said she wanted to send milk for children daily. Later, she along with another lady from the same locality took responsibility for running this center.” Ruba then identified the current place in Model Town and started teaching. Ruba started off by buying school uniforms and books for deprived children. However, she realized that they were more interested in getting free clothes than studying. Most of them did not continue their studies. Then she started visiting their locality daily and began teaching. Sometimes the families of her students would expect her to help them financially or they would not send their children to the class.
“Although my efforts have cost me a lot of money, but I have learned from these experiences. At that time, I used to distribute food at the end of each class. But I realized that these children need education more than the food,” she said. “These families have enough resources to feed their children. I am now thinking of reducing the daily incentive from juice packs to biscuits and candies and focusing more on studies. Only those students who show promise will be rewarded,” she contended.
Most of the gypsy families are involved in begging. During one of Ruba’s lessons, a disabled child limped into the class on his crutches. When she inquired where he spent his time during the day, the students told her that he begged because he was mohtaj (disabled). Taking this opportunity to inculcate the value of earning through right means into children, she narrated an incident from the life of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) in which he had discouraged one of his disciples from begging. Ruba is aware that the lifestyles of her students cannot be changed overnight. But she has a firm belief that headway could be made only through education.
Ruba got married during her Master's in Physics from Lahore College for Women. Unfortunately, she could not complete the degree. However, after marriage she completed Sultan-ul-Fazil course on Islamic teachings. “I used to engage in religious activities like holding daras (lessons in Quran) for women, but soon realize that the people I invited were already saturated. Most of them held rigid views and it involved sheer hard work to change their outlook. In comparison, children from nomadic communities are like empty vessels,” she explained. She thus decided to expend her energies on filling these empty vessels with good education.
Although she considers it a religious duty to educate children, Ruba does not discriminate between Christians and Muslims. Nor does her course include any controversial thing which may displease the families and drive her students astray. She believes that as a nation we are underdeveloped not because of poor and illiterate people, but because of those who are not performing their duty to society despite having knowledge and resources. But she is content on doing her part and wishes other to do theirs.
Source: (wateen.net)