Mrs Fareeda Amir retired this year as Honorary General Secretary of the TOS in Pakistan after 17 years of devoted service.  ‘Devoted’ is an understatement in qualifying her work.  It would be better to say “devoted, efficient, loving, gracious and courageous” service!

In taking responsibility for the TOS, Fareeda and her husband Aman accepted the challenge of following in the footsteps of the highly respected and nationally known Mrs Gool Minwalla.  They have helped the TOS continue her outstanding work during a violent and frightening period in Pakistan’s history with which we are all somewhat familiar through the media.  Along with their staff, they have ensured that Pakistan remains one of the most active and vibrant sections of the TOS worldwide.

It is our pleasure to share an interview with Fareeda in which she relates her rich experiences along the Way.

Retiring Honorary General Secretary of the TOS in Pakistan, Fareeda Amir.

TOS: Dear Fareeda, You and your brother, Dara Mirza, were raised in a theosophical family, weren’t you?

Fareeda: Yes we were.  Our parents met each other through activities at the Youth Lodge in Bombay. Both our paternal and maternal grandfathers were members of the TS.  On my father’s side, our great grandfather was a TS member too.  So, I guess that makes us fourth generation Theosophists.

Fareeda’s brother, Dara Mirza (right), was for many years TS Presidential Agent in Pakistan. Dara gave lectures and conducted weekly study classes at the TS in Karachi. He lived his life in accordance with his deep commitment to Universal Brotherhood, and his altruistic life style and liberal views unfortunately made him a target.  He was kidnapped and murdered in 2007.

TOS: Did you meet Gool Minwalla as a child?  Were you in awe of her?  What were the qualities that enabled her to achieve so much in the way of social and educational reform in Pakistan?

Fareeda: In the days before independence in 1947, Karachi was a relatively small town, with a close knit cosmopolitan community.  My family and the Minwalla family collaborated regularly at the TS and had friendly contact outside the TS as well.  Gool Aunty's (as we called her) sons, my brother Dara and my cousins were all of the same age, and were good friends.  In later years, one of my cousins married Gool Aunty's niece.

Children of the Montessori School that operates in the building of the TS in Karachi sing their national anthem.

During World War II, my mother and Gool Aunty attended courses conducted by Dr Maria Montessori in innovative approaches to teaching.

The classes were held at the Theosophical Society building in Karachi, and there is a plaque there to commemorate the event.

This is how our Montessori School in Karachi came to be started.  It is still serving middle and lower income families to this day.

Gool had a dynamic and forceful personality and was a brilliant speaker.  She felt passionately that the spiritual path was not something that should be open just to the well-educated who have enough leisure to read, reflect and meditate.  For her, education was a key to social transformation and spiritual progress for all. She was instrumental in advancing the rights of the poor and of women in a surprising number of domains.

You ask if I was in awe of Gool Aunty. I would think that she inspired love and affection rather than awe.  I was always aware of what the TOS was doing, but it was only in my teens that I started to go along with my mother and help out with the work as a volunteer.  Gool Aunty was always thinking of ways to promote the TOS work and take it forward.  It was a great privilege to see her approach to things and her skills in handling situations. She nominated me to be Honorary General Secretary in 1996, and told me that she would not take no for an answer when I expressed doubts that I might not be able to handle the work.  My husband Aman and I learnt a lot from her and so did my brother Dara whom she was grooming to take over the TS work.

Mrs Gool Minwalla, 1913–2002

TOS: What was your first task in the TOS?

Fareeda: When I started volunteering at the TOS, my first job was to translate from Urdu into English the letters that students had written to their sponsors. In those days the TOS was handling the considerable educational work of 'Save the Children Fund' in Pakistan, and all the sponsors were from the UK. They sometimes sent photographs of themselves to their students which caused much excitement.  It was the first contact the children and their families had ever had with people from another culture and race. They were fascinated by the light hair and eyes, and the photographs were shown to friends and neighbours with an element of pride!  One young boy said that his ambition was to do well in his studies so that he could afford to go and visit his sponsors, and thank them personally for their help.

In later years, the TOS started its own educational sponsorship programme, and has been instrumental in educating many hundreds of young girls and boys from primary school right up to university level.  We can say with satisfaction that there are many young men and particularly many young women in the work force today, who have achieved their position as a result of TOS educational sponsorship.  They have become fine young progressive citizens, which is what the country needs!

The TOS in Pakistan decided long ago that the only way forward in violence-torn countries like ours is to educate its young, particularly women.  We encourage them to go on to tertiary education.  Many live in conditions of abject poverty but life will not be the same for them as it is for their mothers.  They have hope.  They are bright and talented and they know it.  They play an important role in their homes in steering their siblings and parents.  They are aware of what is going on in the world; of the pace of progress elsewhere and they want to be a part of that forward-moving world community.  We are inundated with applications from young girls and have to maintain long waiting lists while we look for sponsors.

TOS: What has been the hardest thing about Aman’s and your volunteer work within both the TS and TOS?

Fareeda: Overcoming numerous obstacles such as convincing parents that they should educate their daughters.  Most parents requested that we help to educate their sons and were indifferent about their daughters.  But the greatest obstacle was fear and a sense of responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of the children, teachers and our office staff…  Never knowing when violence will break out right outside our TS building in central Karachi where a lot of our educational work takes place, and where our Montessori school is located.  Fear for the TS itself.  Fear for the safety of our extensive Library.  Fear for all our lives.  And then at a deeper level, there were the dark questions that came up about human nature, terrorism and the future of the country.  It is easy to remain optimistic when one isn’t facing human cruelty in the raw.  It takes a lot to ‘keep on keeping on’ in our service work when we are confronted directly with fanaticism and ruthlessness.

Aman Amir, like his wife Fareeda, was deeply involved in the administration of both the TS and TOS in Karachi over a long period.  For the TOS’s tribute to Aman at his passing in January 2013, see the March 2013 issue of this e-newsletter: http://international.theoservice.org/e-news/25/en25_vale_AmanAmir.htm

TOS: What gave Aman and you the strength to carry on in fact?

Fareeda: The conviction that every human being deserves to be given the opportunity to strive for betterment.  First of all materially, and then spiritually. It is hard to tread the spiritual path while coping with poverty, hunger and disease. The only way out of this vicious cycle is education, as that opens the door of opportunity for change, for growth.

At a more practical level, I have to say that our Karachi team has also been able to carry on because of the loyalty of TOS members overseas, particularly Australia, New Zealand and Italy.  After the terrorist attacks in the USA of September 11, 2001, some donors simply stopped supporting our educational work and even ceased communicating.  Thanks to the confidence of our TOS friends, we have been able to carry on successfully.  Their brotherliness is deeply felt and appreciated.

The TOS in Australia in particular, but also in New Zealand and Italy, have been inspired by Aman and Fareeda to donate funds to support the running of several of the twelve “home schools” set up by the TOS in Pakistan.  Female teachers run literacy classes in their own homes.  They go right into the homes of families in their areas to encourage the parents to allow their daughters to come to school, as well as their sons.  The TOS in Australia recently set up a custodial account in Sydney for incoming donations from TOS groups around the world.

Here we see Aman and Fareeda with Vicki Jerome who looks after the educational sponsorships covered by TOS members in New Zealand.

TOS: What have been some of the high points of your work within the TS and TOS?

Fareeda: The amazing success stories of our students.  A few years ago we were thrilled to know that one of our students was among those who topped their class in medical school.  She became a Bachelor of Medicine while her mother was semi-literate.  We have seen so many young men and women graduating with university degrees.  Our students have studied medicine, engineering, accountancy, nursing, and physiotherapy, arts, science and information technology – an amazing achievement from the children of parents who have had a very rudimentary education or no education at all. Seeing the flowering of these children into fine young citizens who care about the state of their country and their fellow humans has been the driving force that enabled us to go on with the work irrespective of the numerous hurdles and the ever-present fear.

TOS: Dear Fareeda, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your husband, Aman, your brother, Dara, and you have done for the TOS and TS in Pakistan and we wish you all the very best in your retirement.  We also send hearty good wishes to the new Honorary General Secretary of the TOS in Pakistan, Mrs Gull Afroze.