A lesson in life: Volunteering at the SIUT
“Those of us who are in this world to educate — to care for — young children have a special calling: a calling that has very little to do with the collection of expensive possessions but has a lot to do with the worth inside of heads and hearts. In fact, that’s our domain: the heads and hearts of the next generation, the thoughts and feelings of the future.” — FRED M ROGERS
It would be perfectly believable if Dr Adeeb Rizvi had himself said these words, for he is indeed striving, and successfully accomplishing, exactly that. The renowned kidney specialist and founder of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplant (SIUT), has committed himself to not only treating kidney and liver patients for free, but to in fact create a generation of compassionate and socially responsible young men and women through a vigorous student volunteer programme that he conducts at his hospital.
How successful is he in achieving this lofty goal? Well, take for example Mohammad Ali, who was in the first batch of this programme six years ago and has since then been promoted to the position of ‘Captain,’ supervising new volunteers.
“Simply getting up early in the morning felt like a task on the first day of work at SIUT. Cleaning bathrooms and sweeping floors was awful, and I really wasn’t fond of kids,” he says, admitting that he was least bothered by anyone’s troubles as long as they did not affect him or his loved ones. “Now after six years, I ask for more work, decorate the Paediatrics Ward and don’t even hesitate to change the nappies of minor patients.”
The student volunteer programme was initiated in 2006, and so far 3,000 students in 150 batches have completed the course. Volunteers, divided into groups of ten and supervised by ‘captains’ and ‘co-captains’ (former volunteers who have become regulars), are required to buy lab coats that allow them entry into wards, operation theatres, dialysis rooms and out-patient departments. Serving in various wards and cleaning is mandatory.
Volunteers are given an orientation on Nursing, Gastroenterology, General Infection, Cardiology, Patient Care, Radiology and diabetes by senior doctors, who even let them observe kidney transplant surgeries and offer Q&A sessions. Recently, the syllabus was updated to include information about the organ donation law in Pakistan and bioethics. Altogether, it’s 30 hours of lectures and activities spread over five days.
The programme not only has humanitarian value, it also imparts practical training to school children and educates them about medical issues and procedures in a way that other hospitals offering volunteer programmes do not. “We have designed a course in which they learn [how to extend] moral help, learn how to coordinate between doctors and patients and also learn first aid,” says Kishwer apa, as she is affectionately called at the SIUT, an organisation she has been associated with since 1972. For her, watching often spoiled students transform into caring individuals is proof of a job well done.
Take the example of one volunteer who says, “According to my friends and mother, I was an extremely impatient and rude person. I never thought of cleaning even my own room, and for me poverty was associated with our house maids and servants only. But here I weep every day and can’t stop my tears from coming when I see such helpless people who don’t have money, health or, most importantly, love in their lives.”
Then there’s the grandmother who thought her grandson had things too easy in life and had never learned responsibility. Until he volunteered at the SIUT, that is. Now, she says, “he gives me medicines regularly and often checks on me during the night. He polishes his shoes himself and doesn’t allow our servants to do his errands for him.”
Principal Minhas is also all praise for the positive changes she has seen in her own students. “A group of students used to regularly terrify and play tricks on the school gatekeeper. But once they were back from their volunteer programme, they starting giving him relief during home time by taking over his position at the school gate and monitoring the kids. That way, the guard is be able to say his prayers and eat.”
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A lesson in life: Volunteering at the SIUT – The Express Tribune