All-smiles: Lost children embark on journey to find their long-lost families

Last year Edhi Foundation sent 55 children, out of which 48 children found their homes.

KARACHI: A total of 51 children, between the ages of seven and 15 years who have been living at Edhi Centre, boarded buses on Friday afternoon with hopes held high and smiles stretched over their faces, to find their long-lost homes.

These children have been staying for years at the Edhi’s Child Home Centre, Korangi, and at Edhi village at Super Highway with no contact with their families. The buses were stationed at the Edhi head office at Tower and headed to their first stop in Hyderabad.



Edhi shelters home has taken this initiative in the hope of uniting these kids with their families and spend Eid at home. Edhi spokesperson Anwar Kazmi told The Express Tribune that the organisation is taking the children, who vaguely know the address of their parents or relatives, to 14 cities, accompanied by seven volunteers. “We will do our best to unite them with their families.”



Kazmi said that the reasons why these families never came to pick up their children varies as some were poor to travel, or lived in remote areas, or had no clue where their children were. He added that this bus journey would take 20 days, and for the children who do not find their guardians, would come back to their second home - the Edhi shelter. He told The Express Tribune that last year, the Edhi Foundation had successfully sent 55 children on a bus journey, out of which 48 children returned to their homes in different cities. Kazmi added that there were around 200 children had no contact with their families, and the organisation would be distributing their pictures to various media outlets to help locate their families.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2013.