Indian Muslims Involved In Community Endeavors

A common perception is that Muslim lacks leaders at the grass root level. Where are leaders like Medha Patkars, Sundarlal Bahugunas, Irom Sharmilas from the Indian Muslim community?

In a four part series Charu Bahri looks closely at one such leader Altaf Shaikh who is making a difference for many Indians.

Part I

The Indian Muslim community is familiar with film stars, leading corporate honchos – think Azim Premji of Wipro – and sports luminaries it has produced but is sadly still unaware of its Altaf Shaikhs who are doing a yeoman’s service for the community.

So who is Altaf Shaikh? When we at IndianMuslims.info decided to seek out and focus on lesser known Indian Muslims working with the community, we decided that Altaf Shaikh, a founder member and trustee of Saathi, an NGO – officially registered as a society and public trust – working with street adolescents in Mumbai represented the kind of person we had in mind.

Saathi was established in 1997 by a group of like-minded people, its founder members are Altaf Shaikh, Mansoor Qadri, Neeta Kolhatkar, Rashmi Varma, Nayyar Shaikh, Roabin Mazumdar and Roshni Nair, who collectively run the organization together with new members.

Now in its tenth year, at the core of Saathi’s mission statement is its recognition that what street adolescents most need is role models, guidance and facilitation. This practical realization has followed through from its team members’ actual involvement with children living on the streets – walking the streets with youth living on the streets to exactly determine their priorities and needs and design programs around them.

The Saathi philosophy thus centers on the fact that each person must take responsibility for himself or herself and is capable of making their own decisions. In fact, Saathi represents just that – Saathi, a friend or companion – who walks the journey with the individual, not for the person.

A worthy ideal indeed, but Altaf Shaikh simply says, “I feel we at Saathi are all ordinary beings who have the opportunity to do something which seems extraordinary, where circumstance or conditions allow us to foster our desire to get involved and actively bring about change.�

We wondered what factors foster a desire to bring about change, for wouldn’t the world would be a much better place if so many more shared the vision of those at the helm of affairs at Saathi?

Start young

Evidently, starting young helps! Altaf got involved in social work after his 10+2 standard exams. He had free time, and accepted his mothers’ suggestion to take a six-month evening class organized by the Social Service League where she was coordinator.
Interestingly, he says, “I did the classes with no great enthusiasm. I was studying printing technology and intended doing an advanced course in Germany.�

Altaf readily went along with the proposal and contacted a woman he’d met earlier – a founder of the organization YUVA. Alpa introduced Altaf to YUVA, where he committed to work 7 days a week for 2 months. He was placed in a team to undergo field-training, during the course of which he started conducting non-formal education classes for children of pavement dwellers or living in hutments alongside roads. Altaf’s realization, so to speak, gained momentum when he was approached by other children who asked to join in, but clarified that they did not have any parents or family. They were children living on the street.

In Altaf’s words, “It was the first time I realized that there were children living alone with no support systems other than the circle of friends they created amongst other children living on the streets. It immediately became an area of interest and I approached YUVA about working specifically with these children. YUVA was not set up for this, but gave me the freedom to start a program for children living on the streets, lending whatever guidance they could, but otherwise it was just me and the kids.�

Brave?

Perhaps, but the fact that his small circle of 3-4 children quickly grew to 20, then to 3 groups of 20, was a great motivating factor. Moreover, Altaf’s own experiences spurred him forward. In particular, one boy who’s story mirrored an episode of his own life, but let’s hear it from him:

“One boy affected me deeply and sealed my resolve to continue with what I was doing. When I was in 7th standard, I was staying in Mumbai with a far off relative, with my family in Hyderabad. I had many problems with my guardian and after an especially tense evening, packed my bags and left. I went to Girgaon Chowpatty where I slept on the beach. The next day I wandered around and again spent the night outside. Finally, I went to an uncle from my community and requested that he let me stay with him. His home was not much – four walls and no furnishings – but he welcomed me into his home. When I was working with the children living on the streets, years later, a boy joined our sidewalk classes and his story mirrored my own. He was from a family of a sub-inspector from another city. He also did not get along with the guardian with whom he was staying while attending school, so he ran away from the house. He was not as lucky to have someone to turn to and instead landed on the streets. It had a major affect on me to realize how close I had been to being a child living on the streets myself had it not been for that uncle.�

Child sleeping at Marine Drive,Mumbai

Go with the flow

Altaf’s experience shows how much can happen even if, as he says, social work is not on your agenda. As he says, “I didn’t know what I was getting into. However, one thing led to another. My early experiences on the streets led me to believe that here was a world far remote even from a third world. It was run by different rules to live, love and hate. I consider myself very fortunate to have a very encouraging mother who allowed me to experience this world without forcing me to get on with my life, so to speak or move on with a traditional career. Thus without the typical parental expectations that usually steer children into conventional career oriented study and employment, I was free to spend the four years from 1986 to 1990 working with children living on the streets.�

Certain experiences stand out, for the way they affected him. Altaf recounts one such episode. “One day,� he said, “when I reached these children at around noon, I asked one boy why he was still sleeping. Perhaps I scoffed at his laziness, saying, ‘Yeh sone ka time hai kya?’ He slapped me and spat on my face, saying ‘Tum kya jaante ho, hamare saath me raat ko kya hota hai?’ This experience was enlightening but it culminated in my desiring to know more, to see things for myself.

I then realized that the time I spent with these children was a reflection of my need to be a part of their lives. In fact, however hard I tried, by wearing the same clothes for days, no foot wear etc, I could never really look like them.

I therefore determined to get more involved, hence adopted a new strategy. I would leave home for 3 to 4 days a week and live, eat and sleep with children living on the streets to understand exactly how their lives were.

Once, the police took me in, thinking they would teach me a lesson, and thus push me off the streets, but this only helped to understand how the boys felt when locked up on falsely framed charges.�

Thus, Altaf’s involvement with children living on the streets slowly grew. It was not planned.

Stay tuned, for Part II tracks Altaf’s journey and the birth of Saathi

photos:
Child on the road by Ruchi Mehta
Street children by Moinak Basu
Child sleeping at Marine Drive by Anindo Ghosh

Altaf's journey and the birth of Saathi

We continue with Part II of our 4-part series. Even if we learn one thing from this series then let that be a quote from Altaf about the birth of Saathi "We complained about what others were not doing until we slowly realized that if we couldn't do it ourselves there was no point in talking about it. It was during the course of this ranting that one night at 2am, the idea of establishing Saathi was conceived."

Part II

By Charu Bahri
IndianMuslims.info
Getting on with life and its harsh realities

Around 1987, Altaf began taking tuitions to support himself. His proposed study of printing technology in Germany went out of the window, as his work with children living on the streets took precedence. By 1990 however, he began to look for a job. As he says, "I began to look for a job, a typical 9 to 5 job that would leave me with enough free time to continue my work on the streets. I applied for the job of a diamond sorter in a semi-government, as I reckoned there would be no work to carry home to do? I mean, who'd trust employees with diamonds worth lakhs of rupees?! Since I was one of 300 applicants that were whittled down to ten and finally only three, I consider myself really lucky to have got the job."

However, life had a lot more in store for Altaf.

The 1992-93 riots were a major jolt. "Till then," he says, "I had been living with the belief that segregation and isolation occur, but in far off places. These things will never happen to me. At the time, my mother, sister, handicapped nephew and I lived in Tardeo Road (Mumbai) in a Hindu dominated housing complex. The Shiv Sena shakha was situated at the foot of our building. On day one of the riots, 3 of the only 4 Muslim families occupying the building left. During the ensuing 72 hours or three days of rioting, our neighbors protected us even though the rioting mobs made many attempts to force their way through the building. Eventually, our neighbors came and requested us to flee, saying they could no longer guarantee our safety. We fled with hardly a few clothes each and took refuge in a Parsi journalist's home in Colaba. For 31 days, we did not know whether our home existed or had been burnt or destroyed or what."

Mumbai riots 1993

Religion on the streets

The riots left Altaf with more questions. He wondered how it had affected his friends living on the streets. He had already realized that the assumption that those who live on the street live in harmony was false, for he had encountered 14 or 15 years olds who had committed crimes like looting, even murder. Of course, as he reflects, "I do believe that in most cases, the ability to perform such ghastly acts comes from a lot of anger against life and circumstances bottled up within."

Yet at the same time, Altaf speaks highly of the generosity of children living on the streets, believing as he does that the hardships they face makes children living on the streets far more accommodating and generous. He was once tracking a ten year old boy at night, for he had been told he was getting into wrong company. Imagine his amazement when he saw him encounter a beggar, and part with one rupee, when all he possessed was two rupees. This incident itself speaks a lot for their attitude.

Insofar as religion is concerned, Altaf realized how it must feel to have to eat non-vegetarian food if your faith dictated otherwise, yet you were so hungry you had to eat whatever was available. Also how Muslim boys felt if they had to eat free food doled out by a temple, even if their hearts and minds resented their action.

Adolescents are affected differently by religious issues, depending largely on the age at which they left home. If they have left home late, that is, after having had a religious initiation, they feel more strongly on certain issues vis-a-vis those who have quite literally, grown up on the streets.

The birth of Saathi

Altaf worked with adolescent children with support from Yuva till 1995, but then had to part ways. By 1995, as he says, "I'd seen a generation of children living on the streets grow up on the streets, reach early adulthood, and find themselves with few to no resources to draw on since all the NGOs working with children had an age cut off."

Sadly, adolescents (over fifteen) were viewed as aggressive and social work reaching out to them as too demanding. Social organizations focusing on children were aplenty but no one wanted to get deeply involved with a group if it meant addressing issues facing adolescents, such as prostitution and face offs with the police.

In 1996, Altaf began spending more time with Mansoor, also a community worker and Saathi founder member and trustee, and as he says, "We complained about what others were not doing until we slowly realized that if we couldn't do it ourselves there was no point in talking about it. It was during the course of this ranting that one night at 2am, the idea of establishing Saathi was conceived."

The duo discussed the situation and slowly, they met up with others who shared a common vision of creating an NGO that could effect change, work with populations left behind, and develop programs that could serve as models for others to replicate. Saathi's focus was thus identified as youth living on the streets aged 14-22 years, irrespective of their background or religion.

Altaf Shaikh(standing) with Saathi youth

Secular working

Saathi's diverse team represents a number of major and minor religions. They strictly work on a secular basis. Issues of communalism are discussed openly and peace between communities is fostered tacitly through a variety of activities. For instance, Saathi's group homes for youth house boys of mixed religions, and participants of Saathi's projects collectively celebrate religious festivals.

This open attitude has helped steer Saathi forward. Altaf himself believes that he has achieved what he has thanks to mentors who were nurturing and trusted him when he chose to explore new areas and ideas. That support allowed him to build on his experiences and learning to eventually take up further issues.

Part III highlights Altaf's beliefs on a few practical issues related to starting social work

[photos:
Mumbai Riots by Times of India
Altaf Shaikh by Saathi]

Encourage Muslims towards a proactive role

In the third of the four part series Altaf Shaikh's thoughts on some of the important issues. Interview by Charu Bahri of IndianMuslims.info

Part III

On Fundraising

Fund-raising for child endeavors is very easy. However, funding for 16-18 year olds is a different ball game altogether. Such efforts are questioned and doubted. We too, were asked to change the name of our project such that it would use the word “children� not “youth.� Since we were unwilling to do so, fund-raising became all the more difficult. In truth, we were paving the way for a change of mindset. I believe we were the first organization that received a UNICEF donation for a youth camp. For us, this represented a major breakthrough.

prejudice because of religion

Interacting with local agencies such as the police and certain government departments that require one to be fluent in Marathi, which I am not, is difficult. You’re usually totally rundown and made to feel like an outsider. However, my worst humiliation followed an invitation for an Earth Symposium in Vancouver in May 2004. My visa was rejected for no reason, inspite of all the documents being accurate. On inquiry, I realized that every Muslim participant, whether from India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran or Africa, had been refused a visa. The person we had communicated with for the conference spoke to the concerned Canadian minister, as it appeared that all our visas had been purposely refused. He replied saying the problem was within each country, not at the level of the department of external affairs. Evidently, he was not truthful. The lady wrote a few articles highlighting the problem and these fortunately made their way to leading newspapers causing a furor and eventually leading to the visas being issued.

I however, had additional trauma in store for myself when I landed in Toronto. My visa was not stamped. Instead, I was issued a letter which simply stated my entry in the country. Apparently, the authorities did not want my passport to reflect my entry to Canada. To add insult to injury, I was grilled at the airport in the presence of armed guards. The fact that I was born in Sudan made the grilling more intense. Consequently, I missed my flight to Vancouver. However, I finally made it to the symposium and put the questioning behind me to enjoy the experience.

Acceptance of Saathi by Hindus and Muslims

Saathi has always been well and easily accepted, in both Hindu and Muslim dominated areas. In Muslim pockets, language is sometimes a barrier, such as when implementing literacy programs. But we surmount this by providing an Urdu language teacher to help our team.

Muslims in the Indian mainstream

Self-belief and dependency would go a long way towards achieving this aim. I often hear Muslims voicing their expectations, saying “Government ne nahi kiya.� If instead of expecting they do things for themselves, they’d automatically integrate better. It’s important not to wait for things to happen, but make them happen yourself. I also feel certain Muslim religious leaders encourage this attitude. They’d do better not to mislead Indian Muslims and instead encourage them towards a proactive role.

For more on Saathi, stay tuned for part IV, A Closer Look At Saathi’s Endeavors

A Closer Look At Saathi's Endeavors

Part IV

The Girls Project

Did you know that when young girls and women arrive in Mumbai's train stations in search of a better life, employment or a family member they have no clue where to find, within fifteen minutes -and that's an average figure-they are approached by a "friendly" stranger promising help, only to be whisked away to a brothel?

Shocked? Why does this happen?

These adolescent girls, who are easily identified for their obvious disorientation and fear, quickly succumb to offers of assistance. Saathi discovered this when they found that these girls never make it to night shelters for children living on the streets, as newly arrived street boys manage to do, and instead simply vanish.

Under its Girls Project, Saathi has rescued many young girls and women in the age group of 14 to 24. The project also incorporates intensive networking, a day centre offering general amenities, night shelter, medical care, vocational training, counseling and sponsorship and escort for those who desire to return home.

Youth Initiative

Youth living on the streets are often branded as difficult, quick to get into arguments or pick a fight. Actually, perhaps Indian cinema has contributed to this perception, for think of the number of Indian heroes, youth on the streets, ever-ready to quarrel against injustice. In truth, these youth lead a harsh life, and naturally tend to erupt whenever an inner sensitive chord is touched.

With the right kind of opportunities for growth and development, however, these youth eagerly work towards realizing their aspirations. Saathi helps youth living on the streets by organizing awareness programs, family life education, non-formal education and educational support to those studying through the National Institute of Open Schooling, group homes, guidance and passage for those who seek a re-unification with their family, a means to channel savings, vocational guidance, recreation events and character-building camps outside the city. Saathi also offers medical facilities, nutrition, counseling and a day care centre for support. Its outreach program constantly brings it in close contact with children and youth living and working on the streets.

Project Aasmaan

Project Aasman reaches out to families living in a pavement community (shacks and chawls), particularly women and girls, who lead wretched lives in filthy conditions and are extremely vulnerable to all kinds of abuse - familial, economic and sexual.

In partnership with the Committed Communities Development Trust (CCDT), Saathi offers general and vocational education, awareness, supports recreation, health and encourages the formation of groups to foster concern for each others' well-being and safety.

Saathi also helps build links with institutions, government departments and police etc, to help the pavement community get on with their lives.

Kria - An Income Generation Program

Kria complements both the Youth Initiative project as well as the Girls Project. The program focuses on income-generating activities - such as the making of bags from recycled newspaper, and glass mosaic products such as coasters, tray sets and wall hangings for sale and thus allows the participants to earn a stipend to cover their living expenses in Saathi's group homes or be saved, as well as learn a vocational skill.

More importantly, since Kria activities are scheduled and take place in a workshop, participants learn life skills such as commitment, confidence, planning, punctuality, team work and quality control.

Some candidates are inspired to study further and enroll in the National Open School. Even then, their time spent in vocational training provides them an income to sustain their learning endeavors. Others choose to take up the activity as a profession. These participants are involved in training new entrants and the administration of the project and thus encouraged to further their skills.

Working in Gujarat

Unlike the global and national response to the earthquake in Gujarat, relief work after the 2002 Gujarat riots was limited and scattered, perhaps due to funding constraints, lack of will, and politics.

After conducting various discussions with project participants and within the team and addressing their own questions and concerns that can arise from such an event, the organization chose to explore working in the refugee communities. Altaf Shaikh and Raja (a drama therapist) joined Bindu from the Bangalore-based Center for Law to visit the Qureshi Hala Refugee Camp. The group worked on bringing children out of their shells by organizing games and the like.

Eventually, Saathi partnered with local NGO Sahyog working with refugees in the Vatwa camp. The partnership has successfully established education centers and works with children to help them overcome traumas suffered through talking and drama therapy, and generally live as their age warrants.

Home Placement Project

The Home Placement Project assists girls and boys of all ages who have left home for various reasons, to return. Intensive efforts are made to prepare the child or adolescent, escort him or her home and intervene to work with the family to address the issues responsible for the child leaving. The aim of the project is to offer the runaway or abandoned adolescent a viable means to return to a supportive home environment, and forestall the possibility that they get so acclimatized to life on the streets that a more stable environment becomes both unwelcome and unattainable.

Focus on Quality Institutional Care in Maharashtra

Saathi's collective expertise has led to it being included as a principal organization in coalition efforts (with CRY and the State Department of Women and Child Development) to establish minimum standards of institutional child care in Maharashtra or the Quality Institutional Care and Alternatives for Children (QIC&AC) campaign.

This campaign aims to reach out to nearly one lakh children in 750-odd institutions (government, semi-government, private and voluntary) in the state, catering to children from birth to 18 years of age. The movement endorses the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, and advocates the belief that every child has a right to a family or a family-like nurturing environment. In accordance with the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2000, it reinforces the role of the state as the guardian of any child in its custody, that is, in the absence of family or when families are in distress, and postulates that civil society is an equal partner in this process.

Practically, the campaign involves the collating of a database of child care institutions, their inmates and standards, with the aim of reviewing and improving the quality of care. It also seeks to sensitize the public to the plight of these children, involve the children in the process and facilitate the de-institutionalization of these centers. No wonder then that Saathi has been recognized as a "fit institution" to act as guardian to children in conflict with the law.

A Willingness to Explore Innovations

Saathi maintains the central tenet that there is always more to learn and so remains open to various explorations and innovations. This can be seen in how projects have evolved, but even more so in its endeavors to explore ways of self sufficiency that also impact the community. In the past, the organization has explored the introduction of a micro-credit/ microfinance-based program to teach basic financial tools, is working with the distribution of a docu-drama feature film, and has consulted for a socially responsible corporation.

Inspired?

If you're inspired to experience Saathi's work first-hand, you could volunteer as a Saathi intern. For more details on this or for information on ways to assist or contribute to a Saathi program, please email info@saathi.org or visit their website at www.saathi.org