Posted March 4, 2016 from Pakistan
Pakistan where men and women feel pride that their girls do not go out of home even they do not look out from the street door, ignorance means for them is the innocence and simplicity which all men try to find in girls and they think as much ignorant she will be that much less demanding she will be.
In that society at the age of 13 I started my academy in open air, we had nothing but only a few students, it was in court yard of my home with small walls which were not able to throw a shadow on us in summer or to control cool breeze in winter but we spent 15 years like this my students were very brave and loved to get education so they did not complain or this was so because they never saw a better place for study so it was ok for them.
But then when I saw it was not possible to keep going like this because we were in need of basic supplies I was preparing for 9th standard at that time as a private student but I started working in a nearby school as a teacher where I was paid $6 a month then after a few months I joined a Telecom Franchise as a receptionist where I was paid $15 a month I kept working there for years and then in 2008 I got a job in a biggest telecom company of the Country after completing my bachelors, It was a very good job of 17th Scale
I and my family was very happy the salary package was good and enough to manage our expenses at the academy the moral was very high I thought everything was going to be fine soon, my boss was very caring, in the beginning I had to face some religious discrimination because I was the only Christian in that office but when it came into the knowledge of my boss he screwed them who discriminating me and all was alright for me, so I was use to do a full time job and then to teach my students six days a week along with my own studies to gain Master’s degree.
Everything was going very well then my boss changed and another man replaced him, he wanted me to stay in office till late without any work but I said I cannot because I have to teach my girls, then he asked me to go out with him which I did not accept, then he started telling people about me that I do not have a good character.
I did not have enough knowledge about computer so one morning when I reached to office, I saw the default page on my computer’s screen had sexual pictures on it, it made me so much scared I did not know how to remove that page, I was scared of others if they would look at that what they would think of me. My whole body was trembling and I was crying so much, I did not know who was doing it. I was afraid to go to office, I could not leave my job because it was necessary for me and for my students I was used to cry on the roads and when I would reach home from my office every day I would go to wash room and would cry so much and then would come out I did not want my family to know what was happening I did not want my parents to be worried
One day he called me in his office and said I do it with your computer because you look so beautiful when you cry with fear on looking at necked women on your computer screen, it shows your innocence and I enjoy it a lot, I got very angry on it and threw a paper weight on his face, he did not say anything I came out and started doing my work , I learnt from Google how to remove that page and how to block such sights so I did it someone suggested me to put a password on my official computer I did it and thought now I was safe.
But then one day he did the worst thing, he sent sexual pictures to me in an email, when I opened my official email ID, I have no words how I felt I felt like my head was going to burst, but this time I was not scared I was not even crying because I decided to do something what no one expected.
I simply forwarded that email to the Regional General Manager and said in that email that if a strict action against this man will not be taken I will go to the Police and to the Head Quarter. Then I showed all this to all my female colleagues and they shared their stories that he was used to do the same with them also but they never had this much courage to go against him. I wrote a letter against him and convinced all those women to sign that so they did it , I brought that letter to the HR department , he was investigated and company came to know about not only his abuse with women but of corruption also so he got fired from the company he called me and threatened that he will do with me what I do not expect so I again wrote a letter to the HR department and said if anything wrong will happen to me he will be responsible for it, I submitted this complain to our police station also and informed him that he will not be spared if something bad ever will happen to me.
I was safe now but I did not want it happen to any girl so although we were still working in open air but I started learning more advance features from Google and You tube to use computer and to teach each lesson to my girls on my personal laptop and in 2012 we bought our first computer for our computer center in 2013 it was a complete computer center, not only this but I started teaching self defense techniques to our girls so that they can protect themselves. Now our girls write blogs to share their stories, they use computer and internet and they have guts to defend themselves.
My heart told me to save myself, to take a stand and show my strength as a woman and I did it I did not only save myself but many women who were silent and were suffering since years.