'Gulistan-e-Zainabia' provides state-of-the-art facilities to the underprivileged. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: Furnished rooms, equipped kitchens, a newly-built and painted building on an 800 square-yard plot with more than 15 rooms spread over three floors, 'Gulistan e Zainabia' - an old age home - has been established by the Jafaria Disaster Cell (JDC) in Abbas Town.
The shelter house was inaugurated by Traffic DIG Amir Ahmed Shaikh, philanthropist Ansar Burney and TV actor Ahsan Khan on Wednesday.
'Gulistan-e-Zainabia', built to provide state-of-the-art facilities to the underprivileged and those who are abandoned by their families, has the capacity to give shelter to 54 people, including children and elderly men and women.
"On each floor, we have the capacity to cater to 18 people while closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have also been installed on each floor for security purposes," JDC general secretary Zafar Abbas told The Express Tribune, adding that the home will not cater to people outside of Karachi as there are many other shelter homes that are open for people not belonging to the city.
The rooms are air-conditioned and each has a separate bathroom and a capacity of three to four people, informed Abbas. There is a separate kitchen with refrigerators, freezers and all other things necessary for daily use on each floor, he said, assuring that the children in the home will be given good quality education and will not be left to feel that they are orphans.
The shelter house has nine servants, including maids, cooks and separate physiotherapists for men and women. "We [JDC] will be opening one more shelter home near the Northern Bypass, for which a 5,000-square-yard piece of land has been bought," said Abbas, adding that JDC vice-chairperson Muhammad Ali Yaqubi is financing the projects and is also looking after the expenses of the shelter home.
"It is not a happy moment that such places are inaugurated," said Burney. "But they are needed in the society we live in." He added that such old-age homes give a better atmosphere and environment to the people who have been rejected by their families because of various reasons than their own home.
Old people are an important part of society and should not be left on the roads to die, stressed Shaikh. "We have adopted the Western culture very badly, which is why places such as old age homes are needed," he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 23rd, 2016.
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