Fouzia's Story: Her tale of pride and courage and her vision of a better Pakistan. 

Pictured above is FLAME teacher Mrs Fouzia Jabeen who teaches in Landhi, Karachi . Fouzia is from the northern areas and a Pathan, she began to teach for FLAME three years ago. She and her sister teach for FLAME in one house, each taking one floor of the same house for their class; between them they teach 63 pupils from their locality.

(Landhi, Karachi)

Fouzia studied in the northern areas of Pakistan . After she finished her high school studies, she went to medical college for a year. Achieving this level of education was a constant struggle for Fouzia. At the age of 15, her father began to object to her education. In his opinion, she was now becoming a woman and should be married and stop with her education, his main priority being her reputation and safety. Her father decided to stop her education at 6 th class, despite Fouzia's frustration at this decision and her desire to continue studying. Fouzia went on hunger strike for three days in order to force him to listen to her. Finally, her father gave in and gave the duty of picking and dropping her to school to a male cousin, whom he trusted.

Later that year, at 18 years old, Fouzia was selected for a competition for speech and debate. Fouzia enjoyed participating and was selected for the final round, which she had secretly entered and while attending the ceremony, it was announced that she had received first prize. Fouzia sat still and froze on her chair, she was so scared of her family finding out and punishing her, she didn't want to go on stage and accept the award. Her friends encouraged her to go up and accept and people began to clap, newspaper journalists were there and photographers began to take her picture. Fouzia had no choice but to go on stage and accept the award despite the possible ramifications that she feared back at home. When Fouzia went up onto the stage she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw her father, in the front row of the audience, proudly clapping at her achievement. She simply couldn't believe it. Gradually, people gave him respect in their community for having such an able and educated daughter and his attitude to her studies shifted. He became proud. Soon after this Fouzia was to be married, at 19 years old to a local Kashmiri man and her studies were stopped, despite her efforts to continue, since her duty was now to be in the home.

Fouzia's mother had become very sick and they were forced to move down to Karachi in search of work. ‘How does it feel to now teach and earn your own wage' I asked: Fouzia replied ‘I never thought I could earn my own money. Since I was educated, I felt my goal in life was to carry the responsibility this involves, but I never envisaged this. In a community as impoverished as this, it became my duty to be a leading example to those around me, to become a role model to those without education, to give them the desire to force others to take control of their lives, to convince them to educate their own children.'

After marriage, living in a dark gully in Landhi: one of the largest slums of Karachi , Fouzia needed money. She now feels that by passing her education over to children she is making a difference at last, whilst earning a little money of her own. This would never have been possible if she was required to leave the home and travel to work, the flexible non-formal school system provided her with an opportunity to work and transfer her skills to others.

Her basic training as a health worker also plays a large part ion her valuable role for FLAME. Fouzia mentioned that local women, at first would not let her teach their children, she even received physical slaps from one family for asking them to send their children to her house for free education. Now she said proudly, three years later, her home is full of local children of all ages coming to learn to read and write, many of them having never been to school before. Often local women come to her and ask her in secret, questions about their pregnancies, their health and their families' illnesses: women too scared and too impoverished to ask a doctor. ‘You can't buy these feelings' Fouzia commented. ‘I am absolutely making a difference. Women that wouldn't open the door to me now come for advice.' So, I asked: ‘When will you become the next president of Pakistan ?! ' Fouzia replied ‘ When I have the money you need in Pakistan to bribe the right people to actually make a difference! ' Fouzia laughed, ‘Seriously. There are two things I would change if I could: corruption and the plight of women. Women need permission for everything, we are so constrained, even the food we cook, we select the best for the men. Education should be a priority, many children still can't go to school, and the government does so little. I want to be a good example for others to follow. This is my responsibility and duty.'

The FLAME pupils of Landhi area enjoying a dance on stage at the recent annual function day. January 2006.

FLAME feels honoured and privileged to work with such self-motivated, competent, children and teachers with such a strong sense of responsibility. Here at FLAME we hope to continue to create opportunities for children to express themselves and develop their understanding of the world and their ability to believe in themselves and question independently the system to which they belong. FLAME encourages the development of self-esteem along with a concern for the well-being of other members of the school and the wider community and wishes to take this opportunity thank Miss Fouzia and all our committed teachers for their hard work.

Rosie Pannell
Resource Manager.
February 2007.

Pictured below with her daughter Um-e-Roba.