Yearning to find home
Nine year-old Salman still searching for his father after they were separated last year.
FAISALABAD:
A nine-year-old boy who was separated from his parents one year ago has reached Faisalabad in search of his parents for the fourth time.
Nine-year-old Salman got separated from his father while they were visiting Data Darbar in Lahore on October 15, 2009. The child kept searching for his parents in the Darbar and later on the streets until he was recovered by child protection services in Lahore. Salman told the child protection bureau that he lived with his parents in Faisalabad and that his father was a driver.
“He hasn’t been able to give us any details and this has made it nearly impossible to find his family,” said child protection services worker Shabana, adding that Salman did not even know his father or mother’s name. “He has mentioned that he has a brother and two sisters and that his father worked as a driver in Faisalabad,” she said.
Child protective services official Kashif Raza said that they had been searching for Salman’s parents for over a year but had been unable to locate them. “We have made several trips into Faisalabad with Salman and have scouted areas that were familiar to him but it hasn’t been of any use,” he said, adding that the boy was not adjusting well to living in Lahore.
“We roamed the city several times and took him with us to identify places he remembered. We approached his fathers’ previous employers but they had no idea where he had gone as he left their employ last year,” said Shabana, adding that she had been taking care of the boy for the past year. “He has been shifted back and forth between the Lahore and Faisalabad bureau offices but he prefers to stay in Faisalabad,” she said.
“The boy has been unable to adjust to life at the shelter. He keeps crying to go back home and we have tried our best but it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” said Naseem, one of the volunteers at the bureau office.
The child protection bureau offers children schooling and boarding and Salman has been living at the Faisalabad office for the past six months. “I want to go back to my family and I have asked my teachers to help me find them. I asked them to put an ad in the paper but we haven’t found my father,” Salman said, adding that he got lost a year ago when his father brought him to Data Darbar after he was sick. “My father brought me here to pray for my health as I had been very sick for a month. Then we got separated and I kept looking for him for days,” Salman said.
“There is the possibility that Salman was abandoned by his father and this is not uncommon. Especially at shrines,” said Kashif, adding that he was surprised Salman’s father had not waited at the shrine to look for him. “A day after the incident we made scores of announcements from the shrine speakers about the missing boy but no one came to claim him,” he said. A worker at the child protection bureau said that the organisation got a lot of funding but was unwilling to extend its budget to print a missing person’s report. “The report should have been printed a year ago, it won’t be of much use now,” he said, adding that it was the bureaus duty to help reunite the boy with his family.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2010.
A nine-year-old boy who was separated from his parents one year ago has reached Faisalabad in search of his parents for the fourth time.
Nine-year-old Salman got separated from his father while they were visiting Data Darbar in Lahore on October 15, 2009. The child kept searching for his parents in the Darbar and later on the streets until he was recovered by child protection services in Lahore. Salman told the child protection bureau that he lived with his parents in Faisalabad and that his father was a driver.
“He hasn’t been able to give us any details and this has made it nearly impossible to find his family,” said child protection services worker Shabana, adding that Salman did not even know his father or mother’s name. “He has mentioned that he has a brother and two sisters and that his father worked as a driver in Faisalabad,” she said.
Child protective services official Kashif Raza said that they had been searching for Salman’s parents for over a year but had been unable to locate them. “We have made several trips into Faisalabad with Salman and have scouted areas that were familiar to him but it hasn’t been of any use,” he said, adding that the boy was not adjusting well to living in Lahore.
“We roamed the city several times and took him with us to identify places he remembered. We approached his fathers’ previous employers but they had no idea where he had gone as he left their employ last year,” said Shabana, adding that she had been taking care of the boy for the past year. “He has been shifted back and forth between the Lahore and Faisalabad bureau offices but he prefers to stay in Faisalabad,” she said.
“The boy has been unable to adjust to life at the shelter. He keeps crying to go back home and we have tried our best but it is like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” said Naseem, one of the volunteers at the bureau office.
The child protection bureau offers children schooling and boarding and Salman has been living at the Faisalabad office for the past six months. “I want to go back to my family and I have asked my teachers to help me find them. I asked them to put an ad in the paper but we haven’t found my father,” Salman said, adding that he got lost a year ago when his father brought him to Data Darbar after he was sick. “My father brought me here to pray for my health as I had been very sick for a month. Then we got separated and I kept looking for him for days,” Salman said.
“There is the possibility that Salman was abandoned by his father and this is not uncommon. Especially at shrines,” said Kashif, adding that he was surprised Salman’s father had not waited at the shrine to look for him. “A day after the incident we made scores of announcements from the shrine speakers about the missing boy but no one came to claim him,” he said. A worker at the child protection bureau said that the organisation got a lot of funding but was unwilling to extend its budget to print a missing person’s report. “The report should have been printed a year ago, it won’t be of much use now,” he said, adding that it was the bureaus duty to help reunite the boy with his family.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2010.