My time in South Sudan is up, for now! and I will write a lot about
it in the coming weeks as now I'm officially unemployed till I start
school again in the fall inshallah! Today, I will tell you a story that
will touch your heart like it did mine. The story is about none other
than my very own sister.
Before I begin the story let me just say that one of the sins that I despised the most since I was a child was hypocrisy, which unfortunately is something extremely prevalent especially amongst Muslims of this world (its okay for me to say it, I am one, a Muslim that is). As a kid I would hear countless Muslims mourn the sacrifices of the grandson of the prophet at the battle of Karbala but I always wondered how many of them would put their and their families life at risk for the sake of God, or for a just cause. The answer unfortunately is: a handful, maaaybe.
My favorite person from Karbala is Zaineb, the grand-daughter of the prophet who sacrificed everything, yet never bowed down in front of tyranny and protected not only her family but Islam as we know it.
Today's story is not about how much I think Islam owes Zaineb but about another woman I love, my sister, Mariam, who works for Unicef in Pakistan. These days she's working on the Polio Eradication Campaign (23 cases this year in Pakistan so far http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx). One of the major hurdles in this eradication battle in Pakistan is the fact that TTP (Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan) who are the followers of Al-Qaeda's policy of "lets blow up everyone who doesn't agree with our way of looking at the this world" deem this campaign to be "un-islamic" and a western scam to render the population of Pakistan impotent. Yeah, you heard me, impotent.
On the ground this means that if you are working to eradicate polio in a TTP stronghold you better not be a foreigner cause then you get shot (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18868267), heaven forbid you're a woman, cause what do women know except for making roti's (bread) and if you're a local man then you better be prepared to deal with some extremely hostile individuals who will more than likely tell you to please be on your way, and not in such a cordial manner.
Now Mariam was on such a mission in remote parts of Punjab province in Pakistan. This places were in the DG khan district (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dera_Ghazi_Khan_District) which is not a taliban strong hold but is definitely heavily influenced by their ideology.
Mariam also has a 7 month old son, Abbas, who accompanied her on this trip. A case can be made of Abbas being one of the cutest kids you'll ever see, beatiful skin, grey eyes, healthy, looks a lot like his uncle some say, except for the eyes off-course :).
Now DG Khan has sizzling temperatures reaching up to 120 F or 49 C this time of the year making it no place for an infant to take his first vacation but my sister is a little crazy, what can I say. It runs in the family.
Coming back to Polio and how this all is connected. As expected some families in DG Khan refused to allow their kids to receive polio vaccination as it obviously causes impotency, but there was great likelihood that if left un-vacinated polio could return in that particular area. Knowing this my sister pleaded her case to the reluctant elders from the hardline Muslim families, trying to explain to them that if they didn't administer the vaccine to their kids, they were in danger of getting polio. But the elders were adamant about the vaccination being a scam and the west's plan of making their kids impotent. It was then that Mariam presented a solution that even Zaineb of Karbala would have been proud of. She told them that she is traveling with her very own infant son and if she administered the vaccine to him in front of the elders, would they then be willing for Unicef personnel to administer the polio vaccination drops to their kids? The elders were dumb-founded, surly this woman from the city wasn't crazy enough to bring her child out of the AC car in this scintillating heat and give her polio drops, and if she were to do it then surly the drops couldn't cause impotency. They agreed thinking that they had called her bluff. Mariam wrapped Abbas in a cloth and took him to several houses in the village who were refusing to vaccinate their children and administered the vaccine that supposedly causes impotency to her own son in front of them. By doing that she put to rest all the suspicions of the elders and all the kids in the area received polio vaccinations.
She truly believes in what she does and who knows, maybe her actions led to someone not being crippled by polio for the rest of their life. I am proud of having her as my sister, I am proud of her not being one of the millions of hypocrites who can talk the talk but don't walk the walk. She is my very own Zaineb.
Before I begin the story let me just say that one of the sins that I despised the most since I was a child was hypocrisy, which unfortunately is something extremely prevalent especially amongst Muslims of this world (its okay for me to say it, I am one, a Muslim that is). As a kid I would hear countless Muslims mourn the sacrifices of the grandson of the prophet at the battle of Karbala but I always wondered how many of them would put their and their families life at risk for the sake of God, or for a just cause. The answer unfortunately is: a handful, maaaybe.
My favorite person from Karbala is Zaineb, the grand-daughter of the prophet who sacrificed everything, yet never bowed down in front of tyranny and protected not only her family but Islam as we know it.
Today's story is not about how much I think Islam owes Zaineb but about another woman I love, my sister, Mariam, who works for Unicef in Pakistan. These days she's working on the Polio Eradication Campaign (23 cases this year in Pakistan so far http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring/Poliothisweek.aspx). One of the major hurdles in this eradication battle in Pakistan is the fact that TTP (Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan) who are the followers of Al-Qaeda's policy of "lets blow up everyone who doesn't agree with our way of looking at the this world" deem this campaign to be "un-islamic" and a western scam to render the population of Pakistan impotent. Yeah, you heard me, impotent.
On the ground this means that if you are working to eradicate polio in a TTP stronghold you better not be a foreigner cause then you get shot (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18868267), heaven forbid you're a woman, cause what do women know except for making roti's (bread) and if you're a local man then you better be prepared to deal with some extremely hostile individuals who will more than likely tell you to please be on your way, and not in such a cordial manner.
Now Mariam was on such a mission in remote parts of Punjab province in Pakistan. This places were in the DG khan district (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dera_Ghazi_Khan_District) which is not a taliban strong hold but is definitely heavily influenced by their ideology.
Mariam also has a 7 month old son, Abbas, who accompanied her on this trip. A case can be made of Abbas being one of the cutest kids you'll ever see, beatiful skin, grey eyes, healthy, looks a lot like his uncle some say, except for the eyes off-course :).
Now DG Khan has sizzling temperatures reaching up to 120 F or 49 C this time of the year making it no place for an infant to take his first vacation but my sister is a little crazy, what can I say. It runs in the family.
Coming back to Polio and how this all is connected. As expected some families in DG Khan refused to allow their kids to receive polio vaccination as it obviously causes impotency, but there was great likelihood that if left un-vacinated polio could return in that particular area. Knowing this my sister pleaded her case to the reluctant elders from the hardline Muslim families, trying to explain to them that if they didn't administer the vaccine to their kids, they were in danger of getting polio. But the elders were adamant about the vaccination being a scam and the west's plan of making their kids impotent. It was then that Mariam presented a solution that even Zaineb of Karbala would have been proud of. She told them that she is traveling with her very own infant son and if she administered the vaccine to him in front of the elders, would they then be willing for Unicef personnel to administer the polio vaccination drops to their kids? The elders were dumb-founded, surly this woman from the city wasn't crazy enough to bring her child out of the AC car in this scintillating heat and give her polio drops, and if she were to do it then surly the drops couldn't cause impotency. They agreed thinking that they had called her bluff. Mariam wrapped Abbas in a cloth and took him to several houses in the village who were refusing to vaccinate their children and administered the vaccine that supposedly causes impotency to her own son in front of them. By doing that she put to rest all the suspicions of the elders and all the kids in the area received polio vaccinations.
She truly believes in what she does and who knows, maybe her actions led to someone not being crippled by polio for the rest of their life. I am proud of having her as my sister, I am proud of her not being one of the millions of hypocrites who can talk the talk but don't walk the walk. She is my very own Zaineb. 
2 comments:
Amazing!! This girl definitely has some passion for what she does and believes in!
May God Bless you!
Allah Mariam ko aur Abbas ko apnai hifzoaman main rakhai!
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