By Zubeida Mustafa
IT IS located in the heart of Karachi in one of the noisiest and most congested downtown areas near the Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum at what was Purani Numaish. Once you enter the gates of Ida Rieu School for the Deaf and Blind you are in a different world altogether. It is spacious, quiet and reasonably green. Continue reading Their voices heard
By Zubeida Mustafa
As she lays out before you her rich treasure of teaching aids, you are struck by her deep fascination for them. Oblivious of your presence, she chatters on, speaking more to herself as a child would, explaining the use of the board games, flash cards, cubes and charts she has herself devised for her students. Crafted from little odds and ends one normally throws away — ice-cream sticks, milk cartons, strings and shoe boxes — these sturdy but inexpensive little kits open up a wondrous world of learning for young curious minds and restless fingers. Continue reading Remembrances of things past
By Zubeida Mustafa
TWENTY years ago the National Book Council of Pakistan conducted a survey on the reading habits of children. Interestingly it found that one out of seven children in the 11-15 years age group did not read books apart from their course book. The children interviewed came mainly from middle-class backgrounds.
In 1981, another survey found that one out of five students did not want to read books. These findings were quite alarming. We do not know if the situation is any better today. Given the longer TV transmission hours, the variety of programmes on the dish which so many households now have and the easy availability of the VCR, children are more easily distracted and less likely to be interested in books. Moreover the reading material has become so prohibitively expensive that many people of modest means can be forgiven for worrying about their bread and butter rather than buying books to read. To ascertain present trends, we decided to conduct a mini-survey. Only children from relatively affluent homes were selected. Since they study in private English medium schools of Karachi they can be expected to have access to good literature and the resources to acquire it. Hence they can have no valid excuse for not reading. Much to our relief we found that children have not abandoned the age-old hobby of reading for pleasure altogether. Quite a substantial majority of youngsters (aged 13-15 years) are reading on an average more than two books a month. Continue reading Reading habits of the young
By Zubeida Mustafa
A few months ago, there was no light at the end of the tunnel for Anwar Jamal. Today, he and his wife Fatima are at peace with themselves and grateful for that.
As the parents of triplets, two of whom were born joined at the head, for two years the Jamals had to live with this aberration. Their life was being affected and they could not figure out a solution to their problem.
When I met them in their apartment in the MacDonald House close to the Hospital for Sick Children (HJSC) in Toronto in April, they had lost one of the conjoined twins, Nida, six weeks ago. But there were hopes for Hira, the surviving sister, who had lived for 27 months joined to Nida until they were separated after a 17-hour operation on January 23. Continue reading Will Hira be able to cope when she gets back?
By Zubeida Mustafa
TORONTO, April 6: The 30- month-old surviving conjoined twin, Hira Jamal, who was separated from her sister, Nida, in January at the Hospital for Sick Children after a 17-hour operation, is doing well and will shortly be returning home to Karachi.
On Wednesday, Hira underwent a reconstructive surgery on her scalp. If the post-operation healing is normal, as Dr Harold Hoffman, the neurosurgeon under whose care Hira has been, hopes it will be, the infant should be released from the hospital in a few weeks.
Hira’s Siamese twin sister was Nida, from whom she had been inseparable for over two years until Dr Hoffman performed a surgical feat to separate them. Nida died a month after the operation. The two girls along with a third, Faryal, were born to Fatema Jamal in October 1992 in a Nazimabad clinic. Faryal was normal, while the other two were joined at the head — a rare condition said to occur in one in two million births.
Hira and Nida spent the first two years of their lives at the National Institute of Child Health in Karachi. The turning point came when Dawn carried a report on them and Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto announced that the government would help bear the cost of the twins’ surgery abroad. Since then the Hira-Nida story has been a remarkable tale of human compassion, professional devotion and skill and fund-raising which has transcended international boundaries. Talking to Dawn, Dr Hoffman was full of praise for his team which participated in the operation that has given Hira the chance to lead a normal life. A price had to be paid and Nida died. Dr Hoffman said: “The case was more complicated than we had initially believed. Nida’s kidneys were not functioning and we had to transplant one of Hjra’s organs in Nida. Hira’s heart was under strain since it was pumping blood into her twin sister’s circulatory system. If we had not operated, both would have died. In spite of the risk factors, I had been hopeful for both.”
About 10 surgeons and specialists have been involved in this case — one of the 30 recorded in medical history when an attempt has been made to separate Siamese twins joined at the head. They have waived their fees. The Pakistani community in Toronto has so far raised 260,000 dollars to help meet the hospital costs and the board and lodging expenses of the twins’ parents and the third sister who accompanied them to Canada. The Pakistan government’s contribution has been to the tune of 135,000 dollars. PIA provided free tickets.
Dr Hoffman is confident that Hira will grow up to be a normal child. At present she is undergoing ‘therapy to help her sit, stand and walk, which she could not do before, because of her handicap. Initially after the operation, she missed her twin sister, Nida, but has forgotten her now. Without the medical / surgical skills, nursing and therapy offered by Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, Hira’s chances of survival would have been nil. The Pakistani community pitched in with fund raising and social support to help the Jamal family tide over the crisis.
Dawn: 07-04-1995