Hum Network Limited took the initiative to recognize and honor the contribution and achievements of iconic women from Pakistan and around the world.

Hum Network honored “Omer Aftab” also, The only male champion of change amongst 11 distinguished women. Omer Aftab received the 1st “Lux Hum Women Leadership Award” for his contributions toward social reforms and women empowerment.

The survival of the fittest can be a perfect phrase that can describe our world today.

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the world so hard that it is impossible for most of us to comprehend its magnitude. No matter how many problems have existed before, we have never experienced the world to come together, and fight for a single cause as one enormous family.

It is comforting to see the empathy for every country and nation, but also very disheartening to see how unprepared we were for a pandemic crisis like this. This novel coronavirus pandemic has forced us to ponder on how we all used to take our lives for granted. How ill-informed we were about our capacities and strengths.

The definition of a superpower – a country that could dominate and exert influence on a global scale through its means of economic, military, technological, and cultural strength has entirely changed to a nation that can save its people’s lives with the best of health facilities.

Now the next question is, how to survive the economic crisis? At this moment, no expert can analyze and share an accurate picture of the abyss we will fell into.

It is anticipated that millions of employees will be laid off, and the world economy will be shaken to its core. But what you and I can do about this?

The foremost step is to accept the current state of affairs. To overcome anxiety, we must accept that our lives are going to be changed for a while and we should focus on areas that we can control. Focus on your strengths and abilities and remember the last time, when things got bad, and how you got through them.

We all have a role to play, to do what we do best. We must understand that this pandemic will leave us with other serious problems which might take some time to get back to normal. However, we must remember that working hard and taking care of our mental health is the key to survival.

These are the three ways you can overcome anxiety about this pandemic and your financial stress:

Take care of your body

Some exercises can really heal you from inside. Take deep breaths, stretch, or meditate. In these times, nervous eating is the most common habit so try to avoid that. Eat healthy, well-balanced meals on time. Regular exercise and 7-8 hours’ sleep can truly reduce your stress levels.

Make time to unwind

This is true that a person who follows one hobby can sustain good mental health. Do something creative, which makes you feel productive in these days of quarantine? For some, it can be cooking or painting, or playing music, or even getting closer to God.

Organize Work From Home

For many of us, working from home is a new routine. Therefore, understanding that this is the only option can make you understand that things will be different for some time but not necessarily unproductive. Get up early in the morning and dress up so you can follow a schedule. Make a to-do list and follow it one by one. By the end of your working hours, it will give you a sense of accomplishment and you would feel less stressed about your job or business. Stay connected with your co-workers. Listen to their issues, help each other follow a work from home routine. Be concerned, be supportive.

Connect With Others

Fear and anxiety are natural and normal emotions to experience. The fear over the coronavirus has taken us all down, but it should not consume our lives completely.

The anxiety we all feel is the fear of the unknown. We, humans, are programmed to schedule, plan, and control our lives. When this is taken from us, especially collectively, we feel scared and the fear of what will happen next increases our stress and anxiety.

We all react differently when we are challenged with anxiety. Some people start overacting by hoarding of food, unwanted items to take control of their situation. While some are glued to all mediums of information.

In these tough times, for the sake of our mental health, we should only stick to the facts, and not follow and believe everything that we hear and read. Only check trusted sources for information and updates. There is no need to watch the news all day. Talk to people who you trust. Social distancing doesn’t mean you disconnect with the world. Talk to your trusted people about your fear, anxiety, and concerns. Tell them how you are feeling.

Coronavirus came like an unpleasant surprise. Rather than creating a panic, we must learn from others and adopt the best practices. We all must exercise crisis management and mold our routines accordingly.

We are in deep rapture, and so in deep opportunity. It is up to us how we deal with these times and become a source of hope for ourselves and our loved ones. We must learn to accept and adopt one thing at a time.

Recently 8-year-old domestic worker Zohra was tortured to death by her employer. Exposing another case of exploitation of domestic worker, Police arrested three women on charges of forcing a housemaid into prostitution, torturing her and shaving her head. Cases of brutality against domestic workers highlighted in every few months. Remember the cases we see in the mainstream media is only a tip of an iceberg, thousands of cases go unreported in our society.

Millions of women and girls are working as domestic helpers in Pakistan. Most of the domestic workers are making sacrifices to support their families. Instead of giving them respect, they deserve they are among the most exploited and abused workers. In domestic workers lower and middle age girls are most vulnerable who face physical and mental torture, sexual abuse, rape and even death.

If we talk about the employer or abuser it could be a male or female, adult or a child, from a middle-class family or high-class family, influential or a common man. What do these people have in common? cruelty and sick mentality.

Let’s dig out the core reasons for this brutality. First of all, people, who have enough money to afford a housekeeper they tend to get underage or adult girls from the villages because they think they can buy anything with money. They consider and deal with them as their slaves. Feudal mindset and patriarchy are the most common reason of violence but in this case psychology and mental health of the abuser also counts. The cruel actions of employers portray the sadistic tendencies and ill mental health. It has become common practice that people let their frustration and anger out to the nearest weaker person. We have seen many cases where one family member is beating the domestic worker brutally and other family members are watching or even recording it in mobile which shows the overall mental state of the society.

In society today, mental illness and violence are often seen as inextricably linked, creating a harsh stigma for people which have dire consequences. Violence has serious implications for society and people who are involve in it needs to be studied. We need to understand the factors contributing to violence so that we can appropriately develop a risk management plan. Addressing the factors and finding solutions can eliminate violence from the society.

The culture of sending children as domestic helpers in other cities become one of the most significant reasons for abuse because the victims have no contact with their families. Many face illegal confinement and torture for months and years until they escape dead or alive. The families of the victims are also culprit because most of the time they know that their children are facing violence and they never take action to get them out. Many of them remain silent because of fear because they get threats by the influential owner. Others remain quiet because they are getting paid and after knowing about the violence, they get hush money to remain silent. In many cases, the victim is physically and sexually abused by the employer but remain silent sometimes in fear and sometimes she also gets some benefits in exchange for it.

Most cases are not reported but if reported, most of the time culprit do not get punishment. Most of the time they work out an agreement with the victims’ families or they use loopholes of law to get free. Legal proceeding and affording high lawyer fee end up costing a lot to the poor families which is also a reason that they do not register the case or withdraw it.

We as a society are responsible for these kinds of incidence too. We do not take action and remain silent when we see any kind of violence in society. We do not condemn the people around us involved in violence and cruelty. We protest for a few weeks, now even for a few hours on social media making the trend #1 on twitter and questioning humanity and saying how can someone be so ruthless and cruel. But suddenly the hype dies down and we get back to our lives waiting for another incident to become a hero on social media through demanding justice for another victim.