KARACHI: Mela organized to raise funds for special children
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, March 7: A large number of children, accompanied by their parents, participated in an annual festival organized by the Darul Khushnud, Centre for Mentally Handicapped Children, on Sunday.
The day-long event was organized at the Holy Trinity Cathedral grounds to raise funds and to provide an opportunity to the parents of the handicapped children, studying at the centre, to meet each other.
The handicapped children at the centre were provided with an opportunity to interact with normal children, who had come to attend the event. Over 20 stalls had been set up on the occasion, many of these selling the items which had either been completely prepared by the handicapped children, or they had made these items with the help of their teachers.
The items made by the children included earrings, bracelets, decoration pieces, block-dyed cloth, dupattas, painted glass bottles, stain-glass paintings, clay works, etc. These skills are also taught to the handicapped children at the Darul Khushnud.
A stall set up by the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre displayed various items, particularly leather goods including bags, hand bags, shoes for toddlers, etc, prepared by the cured leprosy patients living at Manghopir.
Stalls offering different games were drawing large crowds, where people and children were participating in the games and enjoying themselves. Large crowds of children were also seen at the stalls offering free face painting, magic and puppet shows. Children had specially flocked around the jumping castle and having fun.
The food stuff selling stalls, which offered a wide variety of snacks ranging from samosas, pakoras, to rolls, soft drinks, tea, coffee, etc, were also drawing big crowds.
Responding to Dawn queries, Darul Khushnud principal Zafar Iqbal said that over 175 children, 65 per cent boys and 35 per cent girls, with an average age between 10 and 12 years were studying at the centre.
He said that though the school was being managed by the Church of Pakistan, its students came from all religions and at present over 95 per cent of the students were Muslims.
He said that the centre spent nearly Rs4 million a year on the students and major donors were the Chistoffel - Blinden Mission of Germany and Inter services of Netherlands, while it organized a few fund-raising functions also. He said only around 28 per cent of the students paid their full fees, while education was heavily subsidised for others.
