Years 2006 to 2009 were the bleakest, which the people of Swat valley find almost impossible to erase from memory. It was when militants played havoc with their lives. The worst hit were the women and children. Following a successful military operation when a welfare organisation conducted a survey it found that 7,000 children had lost their near and dear ones in different militant attacks.
A handful of Dubai-based Pakistanis planned a rehabilitation programme for the orphaned children. They conducted another special survey in the most badly affected 25 union councils of District Swat and the number of orphaned children stood at 2,213. Staying watchful of their own limited resources a criteria for just providing them with shelter and free education was adopted to help these children who didn’t even have the support of their distant relatives.
The Parwarish School and Orphanage was set up on November 9, 2009, in Qambar Town near the Swat River located on GT road some two kilometres away from main Mingora city. Initially 42 orphans, who fulfilled the criteria, were admitted but in 2011, another 16 girls and 12 boys between ages five to 10 were admitted to the school while 32 victim children including 12 girls and 20 boys were given admission in 2012. Parwarish at present has 100 children from different areas of Swat. Most of them lost both their parents during the Taliban occupation while others are those who lost everything in the devastating flash floods of 2010.
Twelve-year-old Najeebullah while narrating his woeful tale said, “We were fast asleep when one night a mortar shell targeted our mud home and killed both my mother and father while leaving my uncle seriously injured. There was smoke and blood everywhere. I ran for help outside but there was no one there to come to our rescue. The village people reached us in the morning only.”
Parwarish’s Director Naeemullah Khan said that they have had to hire a psychiatrist for helping the grief-stricken, traumatised children. It took her three months to bring some stability to their way of thinking. “Most of them used to wake up screaming from nightmares in the middle of night while others suffered from various forms of anxiety attacks. Some of the children were even unable to give us their parent’s names. But now their behaviour has improved a lot,” said the director.
Narrating her heart-rending story, 10-year-old Gulalai said, “One day when my mother was getting me ready for school, I heard a Talib call out my father’s name outside. Then I heard shots and I ran out of the door to find my father in a pool of blood.Coming back inside I found my mother killed, too. I don’t know why they murdered my parents, who were both nice and caring people. My mother comes in my dreams sometimes and tells me not to fight and try and sleep early. Sometimes I feel as if my father is only away for a few days and that he will come back with gifts for me.”
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government may boast of its efforts for the rehabilitation of Swati people but such orphans still don’t find any financial help from there. Azizullah, the accounts officer at Parwarish, informed that the institution sometimes faces acute financial constraints as they, too, depend on donations. He said, “At such times we are compelled to take loans for meeting our necessary requirements from some local affluent person but a loan has to be returned, too.”
The Pawarish school and hostel, comprising 16 rooms, a spacious lawn and a playground, is a rented building. The administration plans to acquire its own land but finding a suitable site and gathering funds for doing that are the main hurdles in their way.
Meanwhile the children there are being provided quality education with sports and boarding facilities. “I am very happy here, our teachers are very nice to us, and they never scold or beat us. My class fellows Wali Khan and Zaka are also very happy here.We don’t feel that we don’t have parents,” said the smiling 12-year-old Raheel Khan.
In the well-furnished dormitory we met 13-year old Kamran Khan. “I am from Kalam Valley. I was playing outside in the open field when the flash floods hit in 2010. I couldn’t reach home and almost drowned myself. Then I saw a helicopter hovering above. A soldier caught my hand and lifted me up. Soon I was at an Army camp where I remained for two months. I didn’t know what to do. I used to miss my parents a lot earlier but I guess I have got used to the Parwarish environment now,” he said quietly.
Another child, Shaista Khan, shared: “My father, a school teacher, was killed by the Taliban whose bushy beards still haunt me in my dreams. I want them not to ever come near Swat again.”
Mehboob Ali, the principal of the school, told Dawn that his team, comprising 20 dedicated men and women, wanted to make good, useful citizens of the children by providing them the best education and training that will also enable them to face the difficult challenges lying ahead in their lives. “Sincere and devoted well-off people can make a great difference in the lives of these orphans by donating for their future,” he concluded.
The writer teaches English at a public school and college in Peshawar.gypsykhan7@gmail.com