KARACHI: Young men and women, who have benefitted and are benefiting from the Perween Rahman Fellowship for Community Architects, and several eminent persons of the city gathered at the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) office in Orangi Town on Tuesday to interact with one another and remember the slain social activist on her fifth death anniversary.

The fellowship for community architects was instituted in Perween’s name by the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, Bangkok, soon after her assassination. It enables fellows to train in mapping, AutoCAD, digitising-surveying, housing design, food security, water recycling, health surveys, port services, art education, entrepreneurship, etc.

In addition to the young people of katchi abadis, the OPP trains students of high-profile government and private universities along with hosting young artists who want to understand life in communities.

Tribute paid to slain OPP head on fifth death anniversary

“We gather here on March 13 every year to talk about our work and Perween. The work we do here is based on Perween’s philosophy and thinking,” said Aquila Ismail, the older sister of Perween and now also a part of the OPP.

One by one she invited all those who wanted to say a few words and share their memories of Perween with others.

Fazal Noor, head of the department of architecture at the Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology, said that Perween was his teacher at Dawood College.

“But she wouldn’t let us call her ‘madam’. She wanted us to call her by her name,” he said. “And she taught us like a friend, not a teacher. The passion she carried for her work, she was able to transfer to us as well.”

Rabia Siddiqui, who was in charge of school education projects at the OPP and has worked closely with Perween, said that she also studied at the Dawood College but unfortunately she was not Perween’s student. “Still, I was so impressed by her personality. I liked the way she carried herself and the way she dressed,” she said.

Making others’ lives better

“So after graduating I wanted to work with her and came to OPP. Here I also learned how to work selflessly to make others’ lives better. And as time passed I grew more engrossed in our work. It was more than work. It was a mission. Perween taught us teamwork. We were a team,” she said.

Mohammad Younus of the Urban Resource Centre said that Perween always told them to first understand the ground realities.

“She was aware of the fact that development banks and the government overlook the ground realities. Later, the Asian Development Bank also acknowledged this while admitting their oversight and thanked her for putting them on the right path,” he said.

Ashar Saagar, who learned mapping at the OPP, said that Perween believed in the old saying ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’.

Naveed, another one of her students, said that he was confused about what line to take. “Madam guided me, helped me make my own decision and then supported my decision of going into community architecture. She told me to work for others like you work for yourself,” he said.

“At OPP we were taught by Perween to not impose our policies on people. All we are to do is provide them with the ideas to generate their own thought pattern in the right direction and then leave it to their choice,” said Tooba Aslam, who gives training in kitchen gardening.

Kiran, who runs a sewing programme and how to run a garments business, said that she has had the honour of working with Perween for seven years. “She always advised us to work hard but not to be overwhelmed by our work. She took us for outings and picnics. Those happy memories will stay with us forever,” she said.

Other students and colleagues who spoke about her included Yasir, Shahnawaz, Zain, Samreen Anwar, Saima, Ms Farooqui, Mr Memon, Rana Khan and OPP’s CEO Anwar Rashid.

A documentary on the life of Perween Rahman was also screened on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, March 14th, 2018