In memory of Sabrina Pari (late) by Qurban Rahim

In memory of Sabrina Pari (late)

my cousin-sister Sabrina Pari, 32 was born and raised in Rasht Chipursan valley. We were of the same age and grew up together and shared our childhood memories. Since her childhood, she was fully engaged with social activities-village based which are agricultural, domestic work, and livestock- generation of the 90s used to live a pure villager life in the northmost valley of Pakistan. We were grown together and shared most of our time at school, house, working in the fields, and looking after the sheep and goats. She was very optimistic about life, future, and struggle. The 90s generation lived tech-free life and most of the time we used to play, work, and spend time. There was no option for screen time for this generation-they have to rely on living with the natural world. Disconnected from the rest of the world give one space to explore one’s surroundings-that happened with her too. She was very much socialized with the villagers. She was among the first batch of English medium students. She was a very good student as compared to other classmates of the time. Teachers always admired her for being a shining student. She was good at solving mathematics. After passing grade 8, she went to Sedna School Aliabad and completed her grade 10 exams-(in science) subject with good marks. Then she went to APWA college Lahore and passed grade 12. She got admission in Karachi University and completed her Bachelor's (Hons) in Sociology, except (submission of final thesis). She maintained the same spirit and dedication to education at Karachi University. It has been a month, on July 7, she left this mortal world. Though, this was too early to leave and, hard to believe that is no more with us and she will be missed. For the last few years, she was struggling with depression. She was under treatment and routine medication. Her psychologist was very optimistic about her pace of recovery. Her decision for not to be with us today hurts knowing that she was improving. Accepting mental health as a curable disease may take time for society particularly (my society) and it may cost more if not handled timely and properly. Collectively we need to understand and make the patient accept that mental health is a curable disease like other diseases. Knowing that is difficult to assess the symptoms of a person struggling with mental health but screening and mass awareness may lead to the right direction of handling such individuals. Timely response and collective way of dealing with the one struggling with mental health may go either way, it may help to recover or get worse depending on how the individual is being treated. Lets' pledge not to lose other Sabrina and share this message that Mental Health is curable but diagnosing and reaching to the doctor on time. On behalf of my family, I would like to thank you for your love, sympathies, and condolences in reaching us in person and remotely. #MentalHealthisCurable