Because of the efforts of one Global UGRAD-Pakistan alumnus, more than 400 children of Special Education Complex, an institution for children with disabilities in Peshawar, recently enjoyed cricket, badminton, board games, face painting, and table tennis.
The “Sports Day” was the brainchild of Sikandar, who was awarded a Project Smile grant to organize an event for children with disabilities. “They are the most underserved group of today’s society. Despite the fact that there is a vast network of educational institutions that can work with these students, the general public has completely ignored them. The Project Smile event of “Sports Day” was designed to give them a feeling of attention and care.”
While studying at Tennessee Technological University [6]in Cookeville, Tennessee, Sikandar was actively involved in raising funds for the Putnam County Habitat. “That involvement in the community service paved my way for conducting and leading community service projects,” Sikandar said. For the event, Sikandar successfully recruited and managed a team of 12 volunteers, and got senior-level professors and government officials to attend the event. “One lesson learned was the importance of inviting a chief guest. The children felt great when they saw important officials taking the time out to meet and encourage them.”
In Lahore, Zara was awarded a Project Smile grant to work with a different segment of persons with disabilities: college students. Zara brought together a group of 150 people at a local university to discuss the state of disability rights in Pakistan and what steps can be taken to mainstream college students with disabilities into the workforce.
When asked why she decided to work with students with disabilities, she referred to her conversation with a friend with a disability: “Why do you call us special? Public transportation is for you, restaurants are for you, shopping malls are for you, office spaces are for you. When everything is built only for you, it makes you, not us, special.’’ “Her lines caught me by the throat,” said Zara. “After that, I wanted to work with persons with disabilities and let them know that we do care about them.”
As a student at St. Cloud State University [7]in Minnesota, Zara helped organize events for a variety of local community service organizations. She credits that experience with helping her learn to see past stereotypes, as well as improving her skills in working with a team toward shared goals.
Zara’s event, for which she brought together a team of volunteers, had several different components. In addition to highlighting the state of disability rights, it also had a job counseling session for college students with disabilities, and a competition among architecture students of different universities to pitch designs for accessible buildings. “Through speeches, skits, poems, and dramas, different students highlighted the importance of installation of ramps in buildings. That was definitely the highlight of the event for me.”
Zara’s advice to other young leaders is to stand up, and speak up, “not only for yourself but also for those around you.” In order to ensure that people continue to think and work towards mainstreaming persons with disabilities, Zara plans to organize a series of small seminars to create awareness of disability rights.
Project Smile is a community development program for alumni of select Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs [8] sponsored programs. Grants are awarded to alumni to implement community service activities that will benefit an underprivileged group in their local community, such as children at an orphanage, the disabled, or the elderly.
The Global Undergraduate Exchange Program in Pakistan [9]is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and is implemented by IREX.