A movement of her own
ABDUL LATHEEF NAHA
| Illness has not stopped her from reaching out to people. Confined to a wheelchair, Rabia has overcome many hurdles to be where she is today. |
“I don't give too much importance to this temporal life. I will continue to serve society the best way I can.”
She is the Mother Teresa of Kerala. Had she been born into Christianity, she would have been beatified by now. These were the remarks of cultural leaders of Kerala to extol K.V. Rabia, the village woman from Malappuram who rose to global fame by kindling the light of knowledge to hundreds of illiterates, despite being confined to a wheelchair.
Many awards
The country celebrated Rabia in the last two decades by bestowing many an honour on her, including the National Youth Award of 1993, the maiden Kannagi Sthree Shakti Award of 1999, the United Nations Development Programme Award of 2000, and the Joseph Mundassery Award of 2010.
Recognition took Rabia to pinnacles of fame. Books were written about her, and documentaries made her famous. Struck by polio, she has not walked since she was 14.
Having survived a cancer attack at age 32, Rabia broke her backbone in a miserable fall in the bathroom five years later. “It was that fall which cost me so dearly that I continue to suffer its after-effects,” says Rabia. Once described by her teachers as a “tape recorder” for her excellent memory, she has been suffering memory loss after the fall. The incident paralysed her below the neck, totally incapacitating her for several years. For six months, she was confined to a waterbed. Diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol followed thereafter. A drastic change in food intake led to peptic ulcer, which currently annoys her more than anything else.
Rabia
Today, Rabia cannot hold a telephone receiver for five minutes. “My hands are so weak I cannot even hold a book properly for a few minutes,” she says. She has been advised against using cell phone because of her cancer history. She keeps herself away from computers too for health reasons. Yet her inner spirit burns bright and indomitable. “I don't give too much importance to this temporal life. I will continue to serve society the best way I can… and what matters more is the life after,” Rabia says, reposing an unflinching faith in God.
Fighting the odds
She says the fall she suffered seven years ago was a blessing in disguise. Incapacitation and immobility brought her much-needed peace and quietude, and she eventually became spiritual. She no longer attends any functions. The number of people visiting her at Vellilakkad near Tirurangadi has come down. But her heroic fight against odds has found its way to the textbooks of Stds. IV and V.
Students and teachers who visit her after reading her story in the textbooks are in awe as Rabia tells them the importance of acquiring knowledge both temporal and spiritual. “Never be proud and arrogant when God showers you with blessings; and never whine when God tests you with troubles and crises,” she tells her visitors.
The knowledge-imparting movement she began several years ago pulls on today, though not with the same verve and vigour. The organisation called Chalanam (meaning “movement” in Malayalam) she gave shape to made a lasting impact in the region. Under her patronage, as many as 200 volunteers joined Chalanam, and this organisation runs six schools for the physically challenged.
Rabia could mobilise 60 neighbourhoods as part of a programme she initiated for women's empowerment even before the popular Kudumbasree movement came into existence. They experimented in many things, including paper works, envelopes, pickle, and handicrafts. Currently Rabia manages a Jan Sikshan Sansthan (JSS) unit, offering several job-oriented courses to women, including saree designing and electronic repair works.
Apart from coordinating several village industries for women, she manages a women's library as well. The village of Vellilakkad owes much to Rabia for facilities like road, power and water supply it got some years ago. The State Government has made her a promise — that it will do something to prevent soil erosion taking place behind her house.
the hindu, 22nd May.
Nice read up. I never knew about this lady before.
ReplyDeleteI took this from wiki....
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In June 1990, she began a campaign for adult literacy for illiterate people of all ages near her locality. Within six months, virtually the entire illiterate population of the village Tirurangadi was in her class. Though her work deteriorated her physical condition, she moved forward, garnering support from both the public at large and the authorities. In June 1992, state authorities and officials visited her classroom and were surprised to see a child of 8 studying alongside an 80-year-old woman. Upon receiving her complaints about the lack of basic infrastructure at her village, the District Collector sanctioned roads, electricity, telephone and water connection for her village. The one-and-a-half km road was aptly named Akshara (word) Road.
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She knew how important literacy was for the survival of an individual in the society that we live in today, the energy that she was born with to do all the useful work that she did in the area that she lived, in spite of her parents being so illiterate that they could not even get her safe from that preventable polio.
And that reminds me of John Salk and Albert Sabin, both American scientists who came up with the vaccine against polio. I really really admire these dedicated men for their work. Imagine how much the whole world you and me have benefited from them. Awesome.
And people like Rabiya to make us literate. Kerala was lucky. Awesome.
Recently, UP and Bihar have taken great initiatives to fight the polio disease. May they fight again against illiteracy too. Don't you feel disgusted when you see those little boys and girls working in tea shops, serving plates dish and dash...
They say that Allah tests and yet they also say that Allah already knows the results even before he tests! So they cant fool me, I don't appreciate all that philosophy talk the people come up with as conversation pieces to entertain their lives, but I really appreciate all the practical beneficial work that people do that really helps me and you.