Tuesday, April 14, 2009
KARACHI: Children chanted Pakistan Zindabad in unison. Taking their positions to sing the national anthem, they saw the solemn Quaids picture hanging on the wall.
This is the daily routine of the minor children to line up with a view to buying subsidised meals at the Insaf Sasta Tandoor, located in the Hazara Colony near Kalapul. Someone either belonging to the colony or outside, can get two naans and a bowl of daal for Rs5 from the tandoor, said Sadia Agha, one of the members of the Pakistan Insaf Welfare Trust, headed by Imran Khan.
The trust, which is not politically active, initiated this project as Agha cites. We wanted to do something for our brothers in this time of soaring inflation, and hence a group of 11 of us, primarily housewives, decided to set up the Sasta Tandoor.
Tandoor, launched on February 10, can afford to feed 300 people every day. We have to say no to a lot of people, but at the moment we can not increase the number of meals as our limited funds do not allow us, states Agha.
Tandoor, which has been opened in a former auto workshop, takes special care of cleanliness and hygiene, while sacks of flour are stacked in one corner, sewing machines are kept in the other as it becomes a sewing centre in the morning where girls from the community learn sewing free of cost.
For this purpose, the trust provided four new sewing machines so that the females can learn the art of stitching and support their families. Apart from the sewing classes, it also provides medical facilities. On every Monday, Dr Mujahid Farooqi checks patients of the colony free of cost.
Usually people suffer from skin and water-borne diseases. As most of them are very poor and cannot afford to buy medicines, therefore we also give them free medicines, she said pointing towards the large boxes stuffed with tablets.
Tandoor starts functioning at 6:00 in the evening, and within an hour, the meals are finished. However, children start to form queues one hour earlier as Agha said at the beginning when it started operating, there would be chaos everywhere. We had to work hard in order to maintain discipline here. Hence, we trained them and told them that separate lines had to be formed for boys and girls.
We also told them that every one, especially the children, has to wear shoes when they come to buy meals, and have to bring their own plates and utensils. To maintain discipline, we have set up rules that if anyone fights or creates disturbance then that person will not get the meal.
Agha and workers also try to instill patriotism in the children by making them sing the national anthem every day and by speaking in public about any good thing they have learnt or done.
Nadia, a six-year-old, who had been waiting in the line since 5:30, is delighted that for such a meagre amount of money, she is able to get food for her family of ten people. One person is allowed to buy up to a two-person meal, she and her sister come here every day to buy the meals. According to Agha, the idea to open up Tandoor near the main road was that people can find it easily as it is not area restricted and anyone from any locality can line up to buy meals. But the rules are simple; those who do not pay will not be able to get a meal.
Another member of the trust Farah Rehman in this regard expatiated: We do not distribute free meals as we want to promote responsibility and ownership among the people so that they may continue to earn a living and not depend on anyone.
About 9,000 people are fed every month at Tandoor. For this purpose, the budget that the trust needs adds up to around Rs180,000, and donations are therefore much needed to run this business smoothly where in times of runaway inflation, only a single naan is sold for Rs6.
