Sabir Arif lives in the slums, works as a literature tutor and dreams of Dickens.
Sabir says his great challenge in life has been his caste. He was born a Deendar Changar – Pakistan’s version of the ‘untouchables’. Sabir, however, is not a typical victim of the abject poverty and prejudice found in the city of Lahore today.
He reminisces about how he came across old story books while picking garbage as a young boy and went on to succeed in higher education. He now works as a tutor and teaches local children in the slums in Lahore, where members of his community are usually made to live. He also describes the prejudice he has faced studying in colleges from other students due to his background.
Sabir’s story shows how the human spirit and individual dignity can challenge the ancient and modern prejudices in Pakistan. He also compares the condition of the poor in Lahore today to the descriptions of poverty in Victorian England which he has read about through his love of the works of Charles Dickens.
Film by kind permission of the Express Tribune Pakistan
Producer and Reporter: Rabia Mehmood
Related media
-
Britain in 2021: new year, new hope
Societies showed remarkable resilience and adaptability in 2020.
-
RDI Insights: Paule Constable
Paule Constable RDI is a lighting designer. She has received a staggering five Laurence Olivier Awards for her lighting design work. Listen to her conversation with fellow RDI, Mike Dempsey.
-
Design’s response to the crises of 2020
The crises of 2020 have created the perfect conditions for timely, relevant, optimistic and proactive responses, amongst those of us who lean the most into that designer mindset – whether by nature or nurture, and whether we identify as designers or not.
Be the first to write a comment
Comments
Please login to post a comment or reply
Don't have an account? Click here to register.