A Lighthouse shines from here to Pakistan
HAMILTON PSYCHIATRIST Dr. Sadia Gilani has a vision for the blind in Pakistan.
And not just for those with blindness of the eyes, physically unable to see (in some cases because they’ve had acid splashed in their faces).
But — perhaps more fundamentally — for those with blindness of the wool over their eyes, habituated culturally to not “see” those who cannot see. Or hear, or walk.
The disabled of all kinds in Pakistan — those with autism, developmental challenges, disfigurement — are too often shut off from society, says Sadia.
“They are hidden away, from the time they are children,” she adds. Her vision, part of it, is to help change this, raise awareness.
Sadia, who just returned from a month-long stay in Pakistan, and husband Ammar Gilani, a Hamilton neurologist and McMaster neurology professor, founded The Lighthouse Foundation to do just that, as well as assist the disabled directly. They started the work of the foundation several years ago, though it was just registered last year.
“Our goal,” the mission statement says, “is to share ... expertise in specialized education and medical diagnosis ... for children with development delays and blindness in Pakistan ... to provide awareness ... while eliminating the stigma ...”
During December, Sadia experienced the great success of a Lighthouse-sponsored workshop, intensive and subsidized, for educators and others in Pakistan who deal with those on the autism spectrum. They came from all over the country. It was led by Mansur Choudry, of Oklahoma, a leading world expert.
That’s the kind of reach the foundation has, through the rigorous efforts of the Gilanis. They pull in experts from all over the globe. Through doctors in Ireland, they’ve arranged for cataract surgeries and also free diagnostic camps in Pakistan for the most vulnerable.
They also have great support, says Sadia, from W. Ross School for the Blind in Brantford, and principal Dan Maggiacomo. And from their kids Talha and Aneesah Gilani.
On one of her trips to Pakistan, Sadia met makeup artist/activist Musarrat Misbah, who founded the Duplex Smile Again salon there to help treat victims of acid splashes.
She shows me pictures from the December trip of her meeting with several of these women, one of whom just got married. It’s remarkable the restorations that have been achieved, but there are also deep interior scars, and here Sadia’s psychiatric background, especially with PTSD, is invaluable.
Sadia, who was born in Lahore, came to Canada at age 7, her family settling in Scarborough. She attended medical school at McMaster but followed her parents when they returned for a short time to Pakistan, and Sadia finished medical school in Lahore.
She met Ammar there. It was on a surgical rotation they spent together in a Lahore hospital where they experienced a case they would never forget.
“A girl was dropped at the hospital, 18 or 19 years old, burned from her head to toe, by her husband, we think, left to die,” says Sadia.
“She came to us in ER, and we tried to help but she survived less than a week. A horrible, painful death. The emotions we felt, what we witnessed, as a physician I felt so powerless. I can still hear those screams.”
One day Sadia and Ammar, still in Pakistan, drove back from a wedding they attended.
“It was a lovely night,” Sadia remembers, “so we parked on the side of the road in a rural area and just talked about how we’d like to give back, maybe start a mobile hospital in Pakistan. And we laughed. ‘We have no money in our pockets,’ we said to each other.” Just debt. The reality set in. But they made a promise that ... one day, they would do something, whatever might lay in their power. And 25 years later it is coming to pass.
Sadia says she was moved, often
They all would ask about Canada. ‘Do they care? Do they care about us?’ I said, ‘Oh, yes, so much.’ DR. SADIA GILANI CO-FOUNDER, THE LIGHTHOUSE FOUNDATION
to tears, by the strength and attitude of the people she met in December.
“They all would ask about Canada,” she says, “‘Do they care? Do they care about us?’ I said, ‘Oh, yes, so much.’” They were overjoyed to know it and gratefully received the canes and toys and Braille printer.
There is another kind of blindness. The blindness of distance. Pakistan is so far away, but they are part of our one world and, if we try, we can see them. So far, The Lighthouse Foundation has been self-funded, out of the Gilanis’ pockets and their partners’. They would like to broaden that base.
To help, visit thelighthouseorgnization.org or the Facebook page.