What really counts is devoting your name & person to the workings of a cause. In utilizing our leave in this manner, we hope to provide all sympathetic humanists a cue; to extend personal support and cooperation…..
Once in a while when one comes across a breed of people who dare to take up arms against a sea of troubles, the feeling is that of rejuvenation, that the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune can be opposed if not overcome.
Recently, the full six members at the helm team of the joint Medical Aid Foundation (Cancer Division) was in town. It comprises Fred Prosser, Ausaf Hussain, Asadullah Khan, Dr Saira Khan, Dinu Gajjar and Paul Wilkins. The occasion was the acquisition was the acquisition of a sophisticated ambulance by the Medical Aid people. A very commendable part of it all is that the members of the team drove the ambulance all the way from Watford North, England to Karachi, Pakistan.
The two British gentlemen in the team, Fred Prosser and Paul Wilkins, are policemen by profession. And this cooperation they’ve extended towards the Medical Aid Foundation is totally voluntary. Such encounters so strongly enliven the dying faith in humanity.
As Fred, who’s affiliated with the Rotary Club, Watford North, England, enlightened us at length about how it all started……….
“I moved to Watford North in 1969 and there I met Ausaf Hussain in 1971. This was the beginning of an animated friendship, other introductions also took place, one was Asadullah Khan who proved to be the bridge between the two worlds and we haven’t looked back since”.
These very determined, very pragmatic people have declared war against cancer. There is no need to discourse on the unfathomably destructive power of the disease. And the fact that there is not the amount of awareness required present in the masses regarding cancer makes this crusade a painfully uphill strife.
But the valour of Medical Aid Foundation is astoundingly single-minded. All of them, the minds behind the organization, are fully aware of the odds, ignorance, social ills, poor hygiene, poverty, illiteracy; everything contributes to giving cancer its cancerous quality.
Paul and Fred, both in their uniforms, slept on the ambulance berths, and at times outdoors, in adverse weather conditions, for days on end.
“They sacrificed their three weeks’ annual leave for this venture,” Asadullah spoke up.
“That’s no problem. Actually, we made a very candid statement by not shipping but driving the vehicle through; it is all very east to complain against the plight of the poor patients and everything else. We’re all grumblers by nature. So we decided to show that complaining about the wrongs in not enough. Signing the cheque & making monetary donations is all very good. But what really counts is devoting hour time and person to the workings of a cause. In utilizing our leave in this manner, we hope to provide all sympathetic humanists a due, to extend personal support and cooperation”.
Each one of us can help the message of the team was inculcated in every member.
“Each one of us can help the message of the team was inculcated in every member. Every one has played a role. Dinu Gujjar is the person on whom the safe and sound arrival of our ambulance depended. He’s an engineer and a professional mechanic, is how a Ausaf sees it.
Dr Saira Khan the force behind the Karachi based Rahatkada, was on the threats and dangers of cancer. “I ignorance is our main hindrance. We encounter patients advanced and terminal having no inkling whatsoever of what they are up against poverty and illiteracy are the final nails.”
The fear of cancer is so paralyzing that people hesitated refers to it as the Big C only,” Fred informed us.
“Despite the heavy odds, our efforts have been relentless so far; we’ve only been operating in Karachi but intend to expand our project as soon as we acquire the requested funds.” Continued Dr Khan, for fundraising we do not refrain from personal door to door campaign. Our doctors and paramedical staff make medical visits, too. Every nine months since 1989, we’ve come up with a centre. In 1991 Rahatkada and another Centre in F.B Area was set up with the coordination of the Pakistan Memon Jamaat.
“Our services are totally free of cost. Any payment is purely voluntary. At the moment all we need is the exposure to the masses many out of which will silently be suffering from the deadly disease which unobtrusively creeps up too close for comfort.”
Their objective of creating an environment where, with care and sympathy, trained professionals offer their dedicated skills to patients who need peace, comfort and dignity is noble and yet realistic.
A group of people with courage and a dauntless with have found a way. The ball is in our court, now … |
