When we hear ‘gender’, we often think about young women and the challenges they must overcome to get education or employment. And as Jawad’s experience shows, many young men in Pakistan face gendered expectations too: to get university degrees, have professional careers and be breadwinners for their families. As a result, boys also need role models to look up to, and people like Jawad can give them a source of inspiration as they face social pressures to succeed.
Written by Ján Michalko, edited by Madeleine Harris
Photos by CARE Pakistan and Ján Michalko
IT TAKES ONE PERSON TO SPARK A PASSION
Jawad doesn’t quite recall where this entrepreneur who visited his school came from. Maybe Germany? Maybe France. But like me, he visited Jawad’s former school, CARE 1, many years ago. While some details of the encounter with this successful businessman have escaped Jawad’s memory, the impact of meeting him is clear. He encouraged a young Jawad and his classmates to follow all opportunities that came their way.
And Jawad certainly did.
He runs an IT business in Lahore and, together with his team of 5 staff and several interns, he creates online games that have even received international recognition.
I learn that the online gaming industry is massive in Pakistan, although many people do not know much about it. So, the opportunities, as well as challenges in the IT sector, are huge. For start-ups like Jawad’s it’s clear that you have to battle big multinational corporations and navigate a business landscape, where money comes as easily as it goes.
Jawad admits that he and his team have made their share of mistakes that cost them dearly in the past. But they recovered and rebuilt:
“We reconstructed ourselves. We started again and we continue with our struggle. We continue with our hard work. And there is one day when we get more success’.’
His ‘go-getter’ attitude, drive and passion are some things he is keen to pass onto others, not least the kids at his old CARE 1 school, for which he has much affection.
WITH SUPPORTIVE PARENTS
Jawad spent 10 years at CARE 1 – the first, flagship school of now nearly 900 CARE Foundation established and government-run ‘adopted’ schools. The school was set up after floods devastated the community in the late 1980s, leaving kids without a place to get education.
The words that Jawad has to say about CARE 1 are nothing but praise. He thinks that the teachers were highly qualified and that he had the opportunity to develop through extracurricular activities. He was that boy – who always participated in debating competitions, went to summer camps, and played cricket too. No wonder that a leader he admires is the former cricket star and the leader of Pakistan, Imran Khan.
In order to go to CARE 1, Jawad’s parents had to sell some of their land and real estate, but they believed in the potential that high quality education had for their children. They supported their son on his path, and they did not stop even after Jawad did not get accepted into a prestigious university.
They gave him the time and the space to work and to develop:
“The good thing was that my family was very supportive of me. They never asked me for money, or [asked] what you’re doing, give us money, or [told me] you’re wasting your time.”
For months, Jawad researched the IT sector and spent his evenings learning from a friend about programming after he realised his passion for gaming. With a nervous laugh, he says the times were hard for him back then as he started off with just 1GB ram laptop, until he saved enough money to buy a better machine and begin his business venture.
THE PRESSURE TO SUCCEED
For young Pakistani men, it is not easy to find themselves in Jawad’s shoes. He says that often they are considered a failure by their families and peers if they do not go to one of the prestigious universities and do not follow a certain career path.
According to Dr Amara Maqsood, who studied aspirations amongst Pakistani urban middle classes in Lahore and elsewhere, there are various behaviours that are associated with being ‘new’ middle class, such as buying electronics or having a house with the latest gadgets.
The societal pressures on young men who want to move up the social ladder like Jawad are new. Dr Maqsood argues that the previous generations of the ‘old middle classes’ sprung up after the end of colonialism and had different contexts to establish themselves.
In the present-day Lahore, then, Jawad and other alumni can make a huge difference in the lives of young boys currently in school, who face pressures to succeed in a very particular way.
ALUMNI INSPIRING NEXT GENERATIONS
Jawad is keen to share his spirit of wanting to achieve more and the motivations that drive him. He has also promised to support the CARE 1 learners by taking on interns and teaching how to use computers during summer camps.
Before the alumni committee was established at CARE 1, Jawad had not returned to the school. Although he feels strongly for it, in his busy life he did not see how he would be able to give back easily and so he was not too engaged:
“I didn’t have a reason to go back, but the network provides me with the reason to come back over and over again”
Jawad has been back to the school 2 or 3 times since the start of the committee and tells me that he was very happy to stand in front of the students, telling them about his life.
I am sure he will continue to do so, because of his boundless drive to give back. I try pushing him to tell me what is it that he can get out of the network. What is it that he might want to learn? Or where does he want to get his business, so that the network can be of help?
Jawad admits he still has a lot he wants learn. As he puts it, if he were at school, he would be in standard 3 now, but he wants to reach standard 10! Despite my best efforts, I cannot side-track him from his commitment, as he smiles and reiterates:
“I want to give back. Nobody dragged me [to come back]. It is still my school.”
