The Unsung Heroes
Saturday, October 31st, 2009“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something, and because I cannot do every thing, I will not refuse Dark Shadows Game do something that I can do.
–Edward Everetthale
It is indeed a sorry fact that with the busy schedules of our lives, we sometimes become oblivious of the needs of those who are less privileged than us. Labeling them as “special” does not fulfill our duties towards them. My seven years of experience with these exceptional people has been an eye-opener for me, as it made me realise the great extent to which we can help them by just showing a little cooperation.
The first thing that I learned about them was the dissent they showed to the word “special”. In fact, they wish to be treated as normal human beings. Spending time with them and listening to their stories helped me identify a number of problems that these individuals face.
The biggest problem for them as residents of Pakistan is the unavailability of proper educational facilities for compromised children. There are some institutes in the big cities but they are accessible to only a minute fraction of these children. Another problem is the provision of job opportunities for these individuals, which is very inadequate considering their potentials.
Not much has been done to encourage these extraordinary people to display their talents. They have done our nation proud by displaying spectacular skills at the Special Olympics but their efforts were not considered worthy enough to be given much coverage.
This display of apathy toward them makes them feel neglected and even more conscious of their shortcomings. It has, however, made me realise the role that can be played by individuals who are eager to help their community members. The basic need is to motivate these gifted individuals to come forward and play an important role as members of the society. We need to make them feel capable of contributing to their community welfare through their skills, for which the need to empower them academically is imperative to address.
Special curriculum catering to the requirements of these individuals and an organised framework to create job opportunities for them should be designed by the government in collaboration with the NGOs who can also play an important role in crating large scale awareness about their rights and privileges. Guidance can be sought from the United Nations Charter for Human Rights regarding the safeguard that should be provided to the rights and demands of these individuals.
A very important role can be played by the youth to infuse the spirit of life in these exceptional individuals. They can be included in different youth programs and led through a process of self-discovery to learn about their own inner spark. In this way, when representatives of different societal groups will join hands to help these ind00004000ividuals, there will be every reason to believe that they have a bright future and will prove to be productive toward the development of Pakistan.
Munir Moosa Sewani is one of the famous, prominent and creative names in the field of Education since 8 years. He is a Master Trainer In Special Education, Post Graduate, Teacher Educator and a Teacher. He is a Freelance Writer and Photographer too. He is an author of the famous self-published storybook for children named as “The MORAL STORIES FOR CHILDREN” and has also written Biology course book for Secondary Classes. He has written almost more than Hugo, Man of a Thousand Faces articles on social, health, educational and cultural issues, which are internationally recognized and published on most of the famous world wide websites, magazines and newspapers.
He is also a Social worker, private tutor, career counselor, musician, lyrics writer and have multi- dimensional talents. His future plan is to write dozens of informative books and articles and to work for education and media too.
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