One of the orphan house in Islamabad. PHOTO: SHAZIA MEHBOOB/ EXPRESS
Such an example of motivation is that of Ahmed Mukhtar. With the help of his family and friends, he managed to establish 10 orphan homes in Islamabad, with an equal count for both girls and boys. At present a total of 60 children live there. “In each orphan house, six children live with a female guardian, whom they call mother,” he said. The guardian is usually a widow and if her husband is alive, he also lives with them and the children call him father, he added.
“The buildings of eight homes have been constructed, whereas, we have rented two houses. We have bought plots for them also and the construction will start soon,” he told.
Mukhtar used to take care of their education himself. “I worked in the office in the day while at night I used to help them with their education till about 1am,” he said. “I wanted to provide the same facilities and environment to these children that my own kids have,” he added.
The children from these orphan homes are pursuing higher education. “One of our boys is doing BSc Engineering, and three girls who completed their education have been married,” he proudly told The Express Tribune. They often come to meet me, he said.
Due to his deteriorating health, Mukhtar is unable to focus on the homes now. The trust is being managed by Al-Mustafa Development Network with help of Qidwai Welfare Project.
He still, however, manages to give time to Balochistan Education Project. Speaking about the project, he said in 2009 he went to Balochistan and realised there were people there who were more needy than orphans. He took on the responsibility of 35 children, and brought them to Rawalpindi.
Answering a question about what led him to get into humanitarian work; Mukhtar said he started relief work at the time of the 2005 earthquake. He arranged basic food items, and went to the affected area despite the fact that he had no money. “I took a loan of Rs19,000 for the purpose as I did not have that much money at the time,” he said.
When he reached Muzaffarabad with some friends, they realised a lot more needs to be done. So they expanded their operations and succeeded in setting up 32 relief camps. “The best one was in Thuri by the name of Al-Mustafa Camp. It was so well managed that various people visited it including Kofi Annan, Pervez Musharraf and Sehba Musharraf,” he said with a proud smile.
After the initial relief work, came the target of long term settlement. “I came to know that there were about 16,000 children who were left orphans by the tragedy,” he explained. “So I contacted my friend in Kuwait and asked for monetary help. With his help I managed to set up two orphan homes,” he shared further.
Speaking of his family’s support, Mukhtar was all praise for his mother, wife and children. “My mother and wife totally supported me when I discussed the idea with them. My children who were very young at that time, did the same,” he said.
Speaking of funding, he said he never faced difficulty in terms of money. He contributes from his salary and his brother and friends also donate. “However, if the scale is to be expanded, obviously more funds are needed,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 19th, 2015.
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