"Now When They Push Me I Just Go Faster"

"Aqeel takes the spotlight away from the politics and misunderstandings that can too often muddy the dialogue about polio vaccination."

This video about polio communication tells the story of Qari Aqeel, a teacher at a Madrassa (an Islamic religious school) in one of Karachi, Pakistan's economically poorest areas. Pakistan is a country where religious belief and polio eradication are often intertwined. As portrayed here, in addition to teaching children the fundamentals of Islam and the Holy Quran, Aqeel talks to parents and children about the importance of vaccination from an Islamic perspective and also tells them, from his own personal experience, what it is like to live with polio. He talks about his longings, as a child, for an education and a connection to God that were strong enough to make him brave whilst being pushed, shoved, and spit at by other children as he made his way on crutches through the streets of Karachi to learn at the local seminary. As a grown man in his newly acquired wheelchair, he says: "Now, when they push me, I just go faster."