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| Sobia Khan |
Supporting Humanity starts from nurturing humanity within. For Sobia
Khan, the birth of her organisation was clearly the extension of her own
personality, and the culture of peace she continues to create gives hope for a
brighter future. Here is her story.
Support Humanity (SHO) is non profit , non-governmental organization
trying to reach out to marginalized communities, who are suffering from
poverty, ignorance and other socio–economic problems. The target
community comprises women and youth. SHO was established in 2008 and
since then, we have conducted seminars and awareness
sessions on peace building, domestic violence, mother and child
care, and women's empowerment in remote villages in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan.
Support Humanity is currently implementing
Livelihood Improvement Projects, with the kind support of Collegiate
Churches in New York and Intersections International, both US-based
philanthropies.
Support Humanity works in Dera Ismail Khan, and the adjacent
area, Tank and Lakki Marwat, all located near South Wazirstan Agency
of Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa. The main objective of SHO is to assist the most
needy and vulnerable communities, to contain environmental degradation and
encourage and promote environmental protection and conservation, to take direct
and institutional change approach to foster a culture of youth-led development
and social innovation, and to promote community empowerment and the
establishment of self-help development organizations at the cross-root level.
Through my initiative, I am working in an area which is backward in
every aspect. Dera ismail Khan is severely affected by sectarian
violence and terrorist attacks. These things have distorted the economic
condition of the community. We assist widows and orphaned young girls,
all of whom have lost relatives and have survived suicide attacks. By
providing vocational and agribusiness trainings, we try
to find a route for them to empower themselves. My organization does
not have enough financial resources to support such vulnerable
communities, but being an agricultural expert, I make it a point to pull all
stops in arranging for training sessions on organic farming, mushroom cultivation
and production, poultry production and marketing of produce to rural
women, so that they can adopt learnt practices and used to initiate small
start-up businesses.
I think people, especially young girls, are mature enough today to
understand how social and economic self sufficiency is important. Today's youth
want education, and want to excel in life. But searching for opportunities
to start this off remains a challenge. This has to change, and change can
come only when you have the socio-economic bandwidth to afford these things.
Being a woman in a community that is skewed against women remains the
hardest challenge till date. I don't let it affect me or
make me give up my goals, though, because I am a fighter and I start with the
acceptance of myself on a professional and a personal basis. Women
in our society are only used as sex tools or as showpieces. No one is
ready to communicate with women, or empower women in a sustainable manner in
this space, and there are no suitable work conditions to encourage women
comfortably. Women face the brunt of evil customs in society. It is a crime
against humanity, really, that so many women are brazenly shut up and confined within
the four walls of their houses, as if they are prisoners. There is no action
taken against the deplorable condition in which our women live. Once I
succeeded in breaking walls of the restraints imposed by customs and
restrictions that hindered my path, I realised that others can do it
too.
The support came from within, to learn, and to bring change in society.
Urge and will power is the main driving force. The other support came from my family,
which gave me some liberty and freedom to take a chance and to try something I
wanted to. It is risky, but sometimes, we have to take risks in life to
prosper. In my case, my mother is an educated single parent. She
spent much of her money on educating me. That’s why I was able to take such an
initiative in a place where women are not allowed to go outside the house.
I want to extend the Network of Support Humanity, most of the work is
done on volunteer basis. SHO has a group of educated and dynamic young professionals who
take part in implementing different activities as volunteers.