Babu Sameedullaha and his wife Khaleekum would never have dreamt that their daughter Ashma would ever go to school. Her life and future had always promised to be bleak and dismal. Abu had injured his hand in an unfortunate accident and is not capable of working with his hands, leaving his family extremely poor.

It was when IIMPACT set up its Learning Centre in their village that its teacher Sabiha reached out to prospective students and laid eyes on Ashma. This young girl had a unique problem – she had been struck by polio in her early childhood. She could only walk by dragging her feet, finding it challenging to travel any distance. This did not deter Sabiha from approaching Ashma’s parents and introducing them to the IIMPACT program. Ashma’s parents were initially reluctant but finally agreed to send their daughter to school.

Today, it is wonderful to see Ashma arrive at the centre before anyone else on her wheelchair (pushed by her sister), which was presented by a donor in order to enable her to travel to and from the Learning Centre. She is a dedicated student who has the distinction of not having missed a single day of school since the very beginning.