A big crowd of very eager ladies was gathered at PHC as the visit from a health trainer was announced a day before.The age of the audience members ranged from 13 to 65 years. I was very excited that so many women of different ages were present and had decided to take health issues in their own control. This was an insanely different population to what 42 Day Challenge was used to. These women at the clinic at Sikanderabad had never known that trainer was a profession and that women could be one too. The houses that have difficulty making ends meet for basic food each day cannot in their wildest imagination think of joining gyms or buying fitness equipment. I was very grateful that they all showed up as they benefited immensely from the experience.
I introduced Nusrat and her friend to the audience. A lot of them had stood up to take a better look at them, in awe of their ripped bodies. They began by asking the ladies what they ate in a day. The ladies excitedly shared their main dishes of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Nusrat also inquired how much sugar were they adding to their tea and how much oil they used to make bread or to make different dishes. She then told them about a simplified and healthier version of their own daily food consumption. This led to a long discussion where each one of them approached her with how to cut down the sugar or fat in various food items. It was so gratifying that all of them were approaching her with ease and so much confidence which is new for them, specially if they are meeting a person for the first time and one who does not follow a lifestyle like theirs. Nusrat and Alizey were so humble throughout, they were enjoying the numerous questions that the ladies kept on throwing at them.
After discussing the basic meal plan, Nusrat then demonstrated a few exercises for burning belly fat. Exercises to target belly fat was a popular request from the audience. She did them in the center of the gathering so everyone could see and then she made one person from each row stand up to show what they learned and she fine tuned their movements by telling them where to point the toes or how far to bend. Most of them then called her to where they were sitting and inquired about exercises for fat in other areas of the body. Nusrat replied to this by telling the ladies that she was so thrilled at the audience members' willingness to learn and she wants to come again for a proper exercise session with more trainers which received an electrified response from the audience.
 |
| Nusrat (extreme right), presenting a student (center) with her certificate |
On this day we were also supposed to distribute the certificates to all the ladies who had successfully completed the computer training classes. Being fortunate that Nusrat was amongst us, we requested her to hand out the certificates. This made our ladies feel very honored that they received it from her. On a side note, I was so impressed by Nusrat and Alizey, they only took a single sip of the soft drink that was served to them, that too just to not hurt the ladies for serving it to them. Ha I need to cut down on my soft drinks consumption too!
It was an absolute pleasure to have Nusrat and Alizey at PHC. I was really moved at how humble they were and how frankly they interacted with the ladies of Sikanderabad. In the past I have noticed some outsiders to think of themselves as being superior to the people of Sikanderabad but this day was truly the opposite of that. After the distribution of certificates, one of the students from the computer training class informed her that they did not have any internet connection at the PHC. Without a seconds delay Nusrat informed her that they will have it tomorrow and true to her word, she got it set up the following day. We hope we can have them over soon and they continue to inspire all these women on their journey to healthier bodies.
 |
| From the left: Neelam-sewing teacher, Huma-computer teacher, Shehla Baji-the backbone of PHC, me, Nusrat and Alizey. |
By Zainab Faiza
No comments:
Post a Comment