HYDERABAD: The International Women’s Day brings some great stories all around, but the women of Thar have unique tales to express their courage, confidence, and resilience who have smashed centuries-old taboos. Traditionally, the women of Thar had been confined to domestic chores like cooking, collecting fuel wood, taking care of kids, and milking domestic animals with additional tasks to produce seasonal crops in a harsh climate.
But the discovery of coal in Thar and subsequent industrial development has created not only lots of employment opportunities but also the entry of women in the jobs that were previously believed to be men’s work.
Heena Kolhi, a 25-year-old woman from Islamkot, District Tharparkar faced a lot of hardship to complete her education in an area where the literacy rate among women is less than 15 percent. Heena belongs to a family which is discriminated against as a “lower caste” community because of their family profession. They provide janitorial services to the local town committee.
“I was born to a very poor family and could not get higher education due to socio-pilloried reasons, but the Thar Foundation’s Women RO Plant Operators Program changed my life and honoured me,” said Heena Kolhi.
She got her early education from Islamkot Town and graduated from a government college. Initially, she faced challenges to get a job due to her association with the family but later she managed to get short-term jobs in some local NGOs. Thar Foundation provided her the opportunity to demonstrate her abilities and made her supervisor of its Women RO Plant Operators Initiative. A unique initiative to operate drinking water RO plants through local women after imparting them with technical skills and make them trained industrial workers.
She did not know anything about operating a RO Drinking Water Plant. She was trained by Thar Foundation and now she not only operates the plant and playing her part in providing clean drinking water to the people but has also convinced and trained 11 other women of the area to come out for a job and do missionary work.
This job is a source of pride for me, said Heena. Adding that she travels 70 KMs a day early in the morning with the intention that she can play her role in addressing the vital need of drinking water of the poor communities of Thar. Besides playing a role in providing water to the people, by doing my job, gives me immense satisfaction.
She said she is honoured to have been given the responsibility of supervising the 11 women involved in this programme. Since fetching water is the prime responsibility of women, they come to us without any fear and take water to their homes. I try to provide water to every family according to their needs and keep my plant maintained so that the families could not suffer for a day. Because of this job, I am also raising my three children well by giving them quality education, a proper diet, and dreaming of a bright future for them.
Nusrat Khaskheli is the mother of 3 children and dwells in Mithi town of Thar district. She is a middle pass and was dependent on the meagre income of her husband because there was no livelihood opportunity for her to contribute to her home.
Nusrat broke all the taboos of the time and decided to become a trained industrial worker after joining as Woman Dump Truck Driver with Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC).
Nusrat has recently been decorated with the prestigious award of Sindh Women Commission for not only contributing to her family’s uplift but also emerged to be a symbol of encouragement for Thari women to emulate.
Syed Abul Fazal Rizvi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Thar Foundation and SECMC said that rural women empowerment has been our flagship endeavour which is changing the lives of Thari women in a big way.
“Thari Women who were earlier contributing unpaid, unappreciated and unnoticed labour to the society, have now been converted into a handsomely paid industrial work, well-recognised service contribution and inspiration to local girls,” said Rizvi.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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