There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up. That’s what she is doing: reaching out to people in need. Widows, destitutes, schoolchildren; all get benefited through her in some way or the other.
Farzana Badruzzaman is a one-woman organisation. Though just a housewife, she goes all out to make a difference to the lives of the less fortunate. This Good Samaritan is taking care of at least a dozen odd schoolchildren in her locality. Many a poor family in and around A.C. Guards owe the education of their children to Ms. Farzana.
Tahseen Tanveer Khan, a teenager, dreams of becoming a doctor. Her only plus points are her intellect and ability to learn fast. And her disadvantage is she has no father. Her mother, Tabassum, is struggling to keep the wolf away. Thanks to Ms. Farzana, Tahseen got a housekeeping job at a mall.
Shaikh Nasir (14) is also interested in studies and wants to make it big. But to his misfortune, his father, Shaikh Sharfuddin, a rickshaw puller, is missing for the last five years. His mother runs the house by working as a maid.
Others like Somayya Fatima, Nasreen Begum and Arshia have similar tales of misery and despair. In spite of their extreme poverty, if they are going to school, it is all due to the motivation and personal interest of their benefactress, Ms. Farzana. This compassionate lady feels that she has not lived the day until she has done something for someone who can never pay back.
Ms. Farzana hails from an educated and well-to-do family. Having worked as a lecturer in Chennai, she knows the value of education. Her three sons and a daughter are all engineers and well settled in the US. Along with her husband, Syed Badruzzaman, a retired engineer, she is doing her bit to help out the underprivileged in her immediate neighbourhood.
She inherited the trait from her grandfather, Dawood Khan, who was a great philanthropist. “What I am doing is not even 30 per cent of what he did,” she says.
Farzana’s children, too, feel strongly towards paying back to society. She pools her own money and whatever is sent by her children and tries to help out the poor. “Others also have a share in our money. We are accountable to God for the comforts of life,” says Ms. Farzana.
She wants Muslims to spend their annual ‘zakat’ (poor due) for the education of deprived children of the community. She does not merely give money and forget but keeps in touch with Rahmania school headmistress Khairunnisa to know the progress of the children. Ms. Farzana can be reached on thaleem.roshniyahoo.com or 9866225535.
