By: Bushra Aslam, Research Associate – SUCCESS Programme, RSPN
“For generations we have been living in this village. Before [the EU funded] SUCCESS programme I had never stepped out of my house. In our caste women are not allowed to go out. Our men, husbands, brothers and fathers do not allow us to travel alone. When this programme came to our village, initially we did not have the permission to join. However, when the NRSP female staff came and talked to us, and we found out that this programme is being implemented in other villages too, our elders decided they will join the programme, Nooran narrated her story to our research team.
“When I stepped out of my house to participate in the activities of SUCCESS Programme, I learnt a lot of things. I didn’t even know Sindhi, I could only speak Balochi. We even had no idea about where the other castes resided”. The community organisations (COs), village organisations, and local support organisation (LSO) have been formed in her village with the support of NRSP. She is the vice (naib) president of the LSO and all the COs and VOs are led by women only. Due to these organisations the women meet regularly to discuss social issues such as education, health and many other challenges faced by the community. “Before SUCCESS Programme we had limited idea about how to deal with health related issues and how the public hospitals work”.
While talking about LSO meetings, Nooran said that it was in the first LSO meeting that they were told by the social organiser that medical tests are done for free in public hospitals. “However, they would charge us for tests, I talked to the DHO and threatened him of calling out a protests if tests were not done free of cost. So far I have taken 80 people from my village for free tests”.
“We used to cut down trees, but now we are planting trees in our villages as we learnt their importance. Now I go to do grocery for my house, before I did not know where Sujawal, Hyderabad and Karachi were located and did not have permission to go to these places. Now, whenever there is any problem in the village, men and women of my village come to me. Even men take me with them if they have to talk to government officials”. Nooran is looked up to as the most ‘strong’ person of her village, not only by women but also men appreciate her efforts.