Battle on another front

Mental healthcare has become a big issue in militancy-ridden Kashmir.
Women volunteer-counsellors have emerged as icons for
traumatised people, writes Aditi Bhaduri 

IT was just another mundane day for Munira Manzoor until a knock on the door changed her life. That moment marked her journey of transformation — from being a school dropout to a respected paramedic in her village of Zuhama, in Kashmir’s Budgam district.

The year was 1997. The Valley was in the midst of armed insurgency and the healthcare system, especially in the remote areas, was in a shambles. "Most of the doctors, who were from the minority Hindu community, had fled Kashmir, and both the government and private healthcare facilities were in poor condition. Even the treatment of small injuries was not possible, as paramedics were too scared to step out. This severely affected women, particularly pregnant women. The nearest maternity home was in Lal Ded Hospital, Srinagar, and for people in remote areas, it took a long time to reach the hospital as we had to stop regularly at Army checkposts," recalls Munira, who is around 35.

This crisis in healthcare deeply disturbed Dr Ali Mohamed Mir, a retired IAS officer. He wanted to do something to ease this problem. So he collaborated with the J&K Voluntary Health and Development Association (J&K VHDA) and decided to reach out to the worst-affected villages. Ten villages in Budgam, seven in Pulwama and five in Khansaab, a block near the border, were adopted. In the beginning, the J&K VHDA organised OPDs for administering first-aid and other treatment. But it was observed that women were reluctant to get themselves treated by male doctors and paramedics. That is when they decided that if the healthcare needs of the Valley women were to be met, they needed to build a team of local women paramedics.

So Mir himself went from door-to-door in the villages, asking women and girls to volunteer. That is how Munira suddenly found herself undergoing training in basic healthcare, natal care, and later even in post-trauma counselling. While the J&K VHDA conducted the OPDs, they simultaneously trained the women. As a class IX dropout, Munira had never thought that she would one day be able to make such a valuable contribution to her community, but when Mir presented her with the opportunity, she instantly agreed. "I learnt about anti-natal and post-natal care. I underwent training gradually and began by going from home to home and finding out and registering pregnant women," she recalls. She was also taught how to talk to women about basic healthcare, nutrition and even tri-semester care.

But all this was not easy. In the shadow of militancy, Munira undertook this work at great personal risk. As did Haseena Begum and, later, Sakeena Shafi, Safeena and many others. According to the women, although they felt insecure, they were able to undergo the training and, later, help the local women because care-giving was considered as non-political work. Adds Mir’s daughter, Ezabar Ali, who conducts the training sessions: "To make our working transparent, we conducted all our meetings in the open so that the entire village would know what the volunteers were doing."

Yet, despite the open attitude adopted not only by Ali and her team but the volunteers as well, they faced a lot of opposition when the time came to step into the homes of friends and neighbours. Recalls Sakeena of Gundi Maqsood village: "Initially, people laughed at me. They would poke fun by saying look, the doctor has come." She had just passed class 10 when she saw her first J&K VHDA medical camp and decided to undergo paramedic training. Of course, her family was supportive and she finally became a volunteer in 1999.

Sakeena has since become irreplaceable for the pregnant women in her village, seeing that she has become quite an expert adviser when it comes to anti-natal and post-natal care. She also talks to them about family planning and occasionally helps train other volunteers as well.

Safeena from Zuhama village, who has been working as a volunteer for the last five years, is thrilled by the fact that she can help people. Inspired by Munira to undergo training, she has been particularly effective in reaching out to women on the brink of nervous breakdowns.

Trauma counselling and mental healthcare have emerged as big issues in Kashmir. Scores of mothers whose sons have disappeared or been killed by militants or security agencies, have suffered great trauma. Wives have had husbands remaining untraceable for years. Everyday they find themselves trying to cope with the pressures of loneliness and uncertainty.

Many women in far-flung villages had been suffering in silence. But now, in volunteer-counsellors like Safeena, they find a sympathetic ear. Seventy-year-old Magli, who lost a young son to militants and suffered from acute depression for years, has someone with whom she can converse. Safeena visits her regularly.

Understanding domestic violence also proved to be an eye-opener. The rise of domestic violence has been specifically connected to the series of hartals and bandhs (shutdowns) Kashmir has been witnessing since 2008. Since most of these bandhs are called by separatists who are accountable to no one, people are too afraid to violate them. Today there are over 50 active women health volunteers in Budgam, Pulwama, Baramula and Srinagar. Besides the healthcare they deliver, they have emerged as icons for the local people. — WFS

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