Spending their entire lives at the same place, the SOS Village, the two had never thought they would leave the place as a couple.
Tear-filled eyes bid farewell to the bride, who left the SOS Village on a carriage. However, the bridegroom’s family was in joy and there were smiles everywhere.
SOS Village is supposed to be a temporary stay for those in difficult situations. It is a shelter in difficult times and offers support to the ‘abandoned souls.’ However, the ‘shelter’ went on to become a permanent home for the girl and the boy. “Whenever I imagine my home, it is this SOS Village,” said Muhammad Sadeeq.
When the 22-year-old Qurat-ul-Ain, nicknamed Ainee, was first brought to the village,
she was just five-years old. Sadeeq had been living in the village for almost two years then, in 1993.
Ainee had come to the SOS after her father had died and her mother could not bear the burden of taking care of the family. She had taken Ainee and her elder brother to the SOS where she had become a foster mother. “Sadeeq has always been a son to me. He was a very intelligent and a hard working child,” said Ainee’s mother.
Sadeeq was one of the very few first children brought to the SOS Village.
“When I came here, it was not so big and well-developed like it is today. The SOS Village was established in 1989 and I came here in 1991,” said Sadeeq.
Why did he decide to marry Qurat-ul-ain?
“She is a very good girl with a very pleasant personality and strong character. It was a love-cum-arranged marriage,” replied Sadeeq.
“He had made an application to the SOS Village committee and expressed his desire to marry our girl. So the committee met and unanimously accepted the proposal,” said Hoor Fatima, the Incharge of SOS life. His mother and close relatives had come from Hassanabdal, his native town, to take his bride.
Sadeeq was working as a finance manager in a private firm and was earning good money. He had also rented a house and was planning to open his own firm in near future. Sadeeq had done Masters in Business Administration and also obtained his Intermediate degree in Accountancy.
The ceremony was simple. All the children of the 20 homes of SOS Village and their foster mothers had made special arrangements for the day. For little children it was a day to cheer up and wear new clothes. They all appeared happy for their elder brother and sister.
Sadeeq’s father had died of illness soon after his birth. His mother had nothing to spend on the upbringing of her son and a daughter.
She had sent them to SOS in a hope to give them a better living, but refused to move with them to the SOS. Leaving her native village life was perhaps too difficult for her, said Atif, a childhood friend of Sadeeq.
Ainee and Sadeeq, both orphans, will begin a new life from a new home but not too far from the SOS.
“I had rented an apartment located very near to the SOS Village where we would be living,” said Sadeeq. “We will never be able to forget
the SOS Village. For Ainee, it will remain her Mehka (Parent’s home) and home to me,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2010.
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