Who is this woman?

She is Phaphul.

Awoman from the heart of Sindh wants to share an important message with the rest of the world: Pakistani women are strong and can do whatever their hearts desire.

This woman knows what she is talking about – she has, after all, faced everything and come away with her head held high.

She is the middle child from a village near Pir Jo Goth. Her parents worked in the fields and tried hard to provide for their three daughters. She remembers that as she grew older, her life got harder. Things got worse when her father died due to some mental illness and her mother, who used to weave fans, decided that the best thing she could do for Phaphul was to get her married.

For Phaphul, who was only 12 when she got married, this felt like the end of the world. “I had gone to school but only till third grade. My mother thought that it was better to get me, and my older sister married off and send my youngest sister to school instead. I felt like my dreams were shattered because I had always wanted to study,”

Years later, when Phaphul was helping her daughter with her homework, she shared that she felt helpless because she couldn’t help her child because she was unable to read English. “That lesson always stuck with me… I remember it was about a brother and sister sitting on a rock,” she said.

Life went on, but Phaphul held on to her dream. When her grandchildren started going to school, she told them to inform their class teacher about something important – their dadi will be joining them in the class.

“At first, the teacher thought I was joking. But when I showed up and asked her to teach me, she started taking me seriously. Initially, it was a little awkward. The teachers didn’t know how to behave around me. They would offer me their chair instead of letting me sit with the other students,” she said.

“I told them to pretend that I, too, was a child in their class who had come to learn new things and somehow it worked,” she added.

Year after year, Phaphul progressed, but things changed in 2008 when she was in eighth grade and was unable to proceed to the next grade. She faced a similar challenge as she pursued higher education.

In the end, however, it was all worth it when Phaphul graduated with a university degree.

She’s proud of the fact that because of her own love for education, one of her daughters is at a university close to home, and a grandson is studying at a university in Islamabad.

Forging her way forward

With her degree in hand, Phaphul knew that bigger and better things lay in her future. As luck would have it, Phaphul got the opportunity of a lifetime when a team from Friesland Campina Engro Pakistan Limited (FCEPL) arrived at her village.

“At first, the teacher thought I was joking. But when I showed up and asked her to teach me, she started taking me seriously. Initially, it was a little awkward. The teachers didn’t know how to behave around me. They would offer me their chair instead of letting me sit with the other students,” she said.  

“I heard about this short programme being conducted by a team where they would teach you how to vaccinate cows, increase their milk yield etc. The team told me to get back to them after I had discussed it with my husband,” she said as she shared the beginning of her journey with FCEPL.

“I agreed to do it immediately. I felt like this was what my education had led me to, and my husband felt the same way. He told me that God had something good in store for me,” she added.

Everything seemed to be going in Phaphul’s favour till one of her sons raised an objection because of what “people will say”.

As the situation at home got tense and her son threatened to leave, Phaphul’s husband took a stand. “He told my son that ‘she is my wife, and I support her work and her education’,” she said, adding that it was true. Her husband stood by her when people made fun of him for having a wife who was attending school with their grandchildren.

“After that stressful time, my training finally started. It went on for 22 days, and I enjoyed myself. There were two or three women from my village,” she said.

“Initially, I was scared and had said that I would not go near the buffalo. But then they taught us how to inject the animal. I tried thrice and did it correctly all three times. I remember people clapped,” she added.

As the training went on, Phaphul gained more and more confidence. Recalling an incident, Phaphul said that there was an aggressive buffalo that was not allowing anyone come close. With a plan in her mind, Phaphul said, she used a big stick and a blanket but managed to do what no one could.

In the field

After her training was complete, Phaphul said she had a tough time finding work. “Back then, nobody thought much about the animals. They just wanted to milk them and sell the milk. They did not know that cows and buffaloes fall sick or feel pain,” she said.

In order to change things, Phaphul approached a cousin and asked him to give her his weakest animal, “and I would show him what I can do with my training.”

“People started talking about me… they said things like ‘oh she thinks she’s a doctor,‘ the words were hurtful, but I persevered,” she said.

As days went by, Phaphul looked after her cousin’s buffalo, and the animal’s health showed a marked improvement.

Her cousin was impressed and thanked her for her help. As word spread of Phaphul’s skills, people started bringing their animals to her. “Within months, the virus that had been killing buffaloes in my village was finished because people are vaccinating their buffaloes regularly. They would come to me with questions about how to tend to their animal,” she explained.

Phaphul’s rise in her village opened many avenues for young girls and women – they were now allowed to go to school and pursue a career.

The writer is an eminent journalist. He can be reached at rajakamran5@gmail.com