By Rupa Abdi, TwoCircles.net
I read about her in a small article in the ‘Times of India’ and decide to visit her during my recent trip to Lucknow. I met her at her home in Choudhary Tola – a nondescript locality of Aliganj. . Afroz Jahan does not come across as some fire brand activist or a high society socialite working for the cause of down trodden. This mild mannered frail woman comes from a conservative Muslim family of a daily wage earner.
With seven children to fend for, her father married her off immediately after she completed tenth standard. She had to live with her husband in Jeddah where he worked. Her husband repeatedly abused her for years and even tried to sell her off. Ironically, the Gulf War was her saviour and she fled Jeddah with other Indian migrant workers. She and her two children got shelter in her father’s house in Lucknow, where she lives now with her younger brother.
Her husband and in-laws continued to hound her with their attempts at taking over her house and children. However Afroz gave a brave fight and her desire to give a better life to her children made her resolve to be financially independent. She initially survived by lending out TV and VCR sets that she had managed to bring with her from Jeddah. She joined school and passed twelfth standard. There after she learnt tailoring and later with the help of social organizations like Pratham, began handicraft training classes for poor women. With the help of her hard earned money and bank loan, she has managed to give her two children good education. Her son is now pursuing an engineering course and her daughter is studying in a Medical school.
Today, Afroz is fondly known Afroz aapa among the slums of Luknow. She gives free tutorial classes to girls of her neighbourhood, regularly visits the tailoring classes initiated by her in the city slums. She works with DUDA (District Urban Development Agencies) as an area supervisor to monitor poverty alleviation programs being run in slums. She also runs awareness programs for women telling them about the various employment generation and health schemes offered by the government. She holds training centers at her home where various skills like tailoring, toy making, etc. are taught.
Afroz has till now managed to give a new life to almost 200 women, all divorced or abandoned by their husbands. She advises women to educate their daughters to secure their future so that they may not have to suffer like her. Before I bade her good bye, she introduced me to a small girl named Iqra Afroz. Afroz found her two years ago, lying abandoned in the rain on the streets of Lucknow. She brought her home and now raises her as one of her own. For the poor women and victims of domestic violence Afroz Jahan is a woman who has won her own battle and continues to help them to fight theirs.
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Rupa Abdi lives in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Photo credit : Razi Abdi