Madeeha Ansari - Blog Administrator
All the girls dressed up for the closing ceremony. Anam even lugged a massive makeup kit to Amna’s place during the frenzied rush to get posters and people to the Club on time. It was important, the ritualistic completion of the female toilette. It was important to mark the day as one to be remembered.
The ceremony itself was a short one, meant as a neat little end to the seven day retreat. The programme was an opportunity for the schoolgirls to come forward and share stories of their home with a wider audience. The selected girls did so in their own characteristic styles, with confidence, humour and insightfulness. Islamabad was spellbound.
Another objective of the ceremony was to share the experiences of the retreat with people who could offer valuable input and support to future ventures. Myra prepared a slideshow, the documenters put together a collection of video clips. The Meeha-Maham-Maliha phone-calling team invested much time and Ufone credit in developing a network for Shajar-e-Ilm to rely on, once registered. Their task ended with the printing of the guest-list. After that, it was the Swati girls who came forward in their eagerness to reach out to those they felt were straining to understand the lives behind the news stories. Even if, as Shandana said, all those present were among the lucky ones, they were still a medium to access a wholly different world. Mr. Ziauddin and his girls put us all to shame with the depth of their knowledge of literature, philosophy and the world at large.
The ceremony ended with a rendition of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s “Bol”. The following is a simple translation of the first verse.
Bol, ki lab aazad hain tere
Bol, zaban ab tak teri hai
Tera sutwan jism hai tera
Bol, ki jaan ab tak teri hai
Speak, for your lips are free
Speak – your tongue is yours yet
Your body is yours
Speak, for your life is yours still
Shiza's expression said it all.
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