Appeal for help: For a father’s wish to see his daughters live ‘a comfortable life’
Both girls are physically and mentally-challenged, family unable to meet expenses.
The wheelchairs that the girls use were provided by a local philanthropist after the 2005 earthquake.
ABBOTABAD:
When Dildar Ahmed had his first daughter, she could not walk or speak normally. Doctors attributed it to malnutrition and said she will be fine in a year or two. But when his second daughter, born a year after, started having similar symptoms, he fears began to take shape.
Seventeen years on, Ahmed says he has been to every major hospital in Peshawar and Rawalpindi and all the doctors have told him the same thing: that his daughters are physically and mentally challenged by birth and there is nothing they can do for them.
Ahmed drives a taxicab for a living, but as his wheelchair-bound daughters have gotten older and his wife is unable to take care of them on her own, he finds lesser and lesser time to earn. The couple has been burdened with loans and is unable to even provide food for their children, let alone meet their medical expenditures.
“For a while I kept holding on to the idea that my daughters are just malnourished and needed better food and care,” Ahmed recalls. “I have tried all I can but my dream to see them live a comfortable life is yet to come true,” he says.
The couple has appealed to the government, humanitarian organisations and philanthropists to assist them in the treatment and care of their daughters.
“My daughters cannot eat, drink or even go to the washroom on their own, so I have to help their mother shifting them inside and outside the room,” he says. Given their situation, he also fears for their security, which he says is another reason why he stays home with them most of the time. “Our social norms have been changed and nobody can be trusted when it comes to the security of your daughters,” he adds.
The wheelchairs that the daughters use were provided by a local philanthropist after the 2005 earthquake. But after years of use, the chairs have developed faults and Ahmed does not have the means to get them fixed.
He says he has been from pillar to post to get disability certificates from his daughters from the local government hospital, but despite that he has not been provided any support from the Baitul Mal or the District Zakat Department.
While his hopes of his daughters recovering from the disease have faltered, he hopes that they can lead a better life with the support of humanitarian organisations that specialise in the treatment of people with disabilities.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2012.
When Dildar Ahmed had his first daughter, she could not walk or speak normally. Doctors attributed it to malnutrition and said she will be fine in a year or two. But when his second daughter, born a year after, started having similar symptoms, he fears began to take shape.
Seventeen years on, Ahmed says he has been to every major hospital in Peshawar and Rawalpindi and all the doctors have told him the same thing: that his daughters are physically and mentally challenged by birth and there is nothing they can do for them.
Ahmed drives a taxicab for a living, but as his wheelchair-bound daughters have gotten older and his wife is unable to take care of them on her own, he finds lesser and lesser time to earn. The couple has been burdened with loans and is unable to even provide food for their children, let alone meet their medical expenditures.
“For a while I kept holding on to the idea that my daughters are just malnourished and needed better food and care,” Ahmed recalls. “I have tried all I can but my dream to see them live a comfortable life is yet to come true,” he says.
The couple has appealed to the government, humanitarian organisations and philanthropists to assist them in the treatment and care of their daughters.
“My daughters cannot eat, drink or even go to the washroom on their own, so I have to help their mother shifting them inside and outside the room,” he says. Given their situation, he also fears for their security, which he says is another reason why he stays home with them most of the time. “Our social norms have been changed and nobody can be trusted when it comes to the security of your daughters,” he adds.
The wheelchairs that the daughters use were provided by a local philanthropist after the 2005 earthquake. But after years of use, the chairs have developed faults and Ahmed does not have the means to get them fixed.
He says he has been from pillar to post to get disability certificates from his daughters from the local government hospital, but despite that he has not been provided any support from the Baitul Mal or the District Zakat Department.
While his hopes of his daughters recovering from the disease have faltered, he hopes that they can lead a better life with the support of humanitarian organisations that specialise in the treatment of people with disabilities.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2012.