02:37
Unknown
Karachi
Through a dusty pathway in the middle of a crowded bazaar, past an Afghan woman clad in a fully covered burqa, and half dressed Afghan children nibbling on a piece of roti, Najeebullah, 10, walks into a door to enter a clean five-room welcoming school, much unlike its surroundings.
The Amanullah Khan Ghazi School is perhaps the most practical step taken by the civil society to repatriate Afghan refugees back to their home country with dignity. Located at the Afghan Basti on the Northern Bypass, the school gives students a matriculation certificate endorsed by the Afghan Board of Education. Upon returning, these students can continue their education in colleges and universities in Afghanistan. Even if they choose not to, they still have a certified education which can help them get blue-collar jobs.
The school works in three shifts, and is able to accommodate some 700 students. Najibullah attends the afternoon shift and is passionate about learning English. His tutor is Muhammad Ayub, a clean-shaven young Afghan boy, who studies commerce at the KASBIT University.
Ayub has been a teacher in this school for six years, about the same time the school was inaugurated by Dr Hanne Glodny, an 85-year-old German woman who gave her entire life to the education and well-being of Afghan refugees.
In a society deeply divided on the basis of sex, the western woman who does not wear a veil and mixes freely with men is well-respected by the elders of the community. The good doctor spends half her year in Germany and half in Pakistan with the refugees. “Dr Hanne has been the only civil activist who has stayed with us since 1979 when we first arrived in Pakistan,” said Abdul Haji, an elder of the community.
They have seen aid come and go, dignitaries stopping by, making promises and then forgetting them altogether. “After the Soviet War religious political parties would donate to us massively, serving us was a ticket to heaven, more importantly public support. Now we remain forgotten,” he said.
In 2011, the school was swept away by floodwaters. The German Consulate volunteered to help. They built the entire school again. “We do not have any direct link with the Afghan refugees. We only helped because Dr Hanne is a well-respected German social activist,” said Ali Akhtar from the German Consulate.
According to a survey by the Mary Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC), Karachi, there are about 52,000 school-going children in Afghan Basti, of them 32,000 are under the age of five. To cater to them there are only two schools, and about 25 madrasa. Away from home, the children sustain on mere tidbits.
A medical practitioner representing MALC, Mohammed Mohsin, who sits at the only clinic providing health services to over 4,000 families, claims that disability among children here is very high. “Polio is common because of the resistance in the community to get their children vaccinated. Special children are present because of malnutrition.” A survey he conducted this year reveals that 70 percent of the community suffer from anemia due to malnourishment. In such conditions, the absence of international organisations which claim to represent these refugees and attempt to repatriate them is felt greatly.
For the year 2013, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees vows to “provide assistance in 80 refugee villages in the health, education and water/sanitation sectors”, according to its report titled Global Appeal 2013.
Through a dusty pathway in the middle of a crowded bazaar, past an Afghan woman clad in a fully covered burqa, and half dressed Afghan children nibbling on a piece of roti, Najeebullah, 10, walks into a door to enter a clean five-room welcoming school, much unlike its surroundings.
The Amanullah Khan Ghazi School is perhaps the most practical step taken by the civil society to repatriate Afghan refugees back to their home country with dignity. Located at the Afghan Basti on the Northern Bypass, the school gives students a matriculation certificate endorsed by the Afghan Board of Education. Upon returning, these students can continue their education in colleges and universities in Afghanistan. Even if they choose not to, they still have a certified education which can help them get blue-collar jobs.
The school works in three shifts, and is able to accommodate some 700 students. Najibullah attends the afternoon shift and is passionate about learning English. His tutor is Muhammad Ayub, a clean-shaven young Afghan boy, who studies commerce at the KASBIT University.
Ayub has been a teacher in this school for six years, about the same time the school was inaugurated by Dr Hanne Glodny, an 85-year-old German woman who gave her entire life to the education and well-being of Afghan refugees.
In a society deeply divided on the basis of sex, the western woman who does not wear a veil and mixes freely with men is well-respected by the elders of the community. The good doctor spends half her year in Germany and half in Pakistan with the refugees. “Dr Hanne has been the only civil activist who has stayed with us since 1979 when we first arrived in Pakistan,” said Abdul Haji, an elder of the community.
They have seen aid come and go, dignitaries stopping by, making promises and then forgetting them altogether. “After the Soviet War religious political parties would donate to us massively, serving us was a ticket to heaven, more importantly public support. Now we remain forgotten,” he said.
In 2011, the school was swept away by floodwaters. The German Consulate volunteered to help. They built the entire school again. “We do not have any direct link with the Afghan refugees. We only helped because Dr Hanne is a well-respected German social activist,” said Ali Akhtar from the German Consulate.
According to a survey by the Mary Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC), Karachi, there are about 52,000 school-going children in Afghan Basti, of them 32,000 are under the age of five. To cater to them there are only two schools, and about 25 madrasa. Away from home, the children sustain on mere tidbits.
A medical practitioner representing MALC, Mohammed Mohsin, who sits at the only clinic providing health services to over 4,000 families, claims that disability among children here is very high. “Polio is common because of the resistance in the community to get their children vaccinated. Special children are present because of malnutrition.” A survey he conducted this year reveals that 70 percent of the community suffer from anemia due to malnourishment. In such conditions, the absence of international organisations which claim to represent these refugees and attempt to repatriate them is felt greatly.
For the year 2013, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees vows to “provide assistance in 80 refugee villages in the health, education and water/sanitation sectors”, according to its report titled Global Appeal 2013.
Posted in: Karachi News
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