Amid the frosty days of a particularly pitiless Pakistani winter, Afghan refugee children, stirred by stories of devastation wrought by the Asian tsunami, were inspired to spread some warmth, cheer and humanitarian aid to other children they felt were in more dire circumstances than themselves.
In the days after the tsunami hit, it was clear that the Afghan refugee children attending 27 International Rescue Committee schools in Pakistan’s North West Frontier and Baluchistan provinces, were deeply affected by what had happened. No strangers to tragedy, they felt tremendous empathy with tsunami-impacted children.
The IRC decided to conduct a special training session for teachers to help them talk about the disaster with their students and as a result discussions about the tsunami were worked into the curriculum.
Pilar Robledo, the IRC’s education program coordinator in Pakistan, said the children were particularly concerned about the fate of Indonesian children who had lost parents and homes. She said they also had many general questions about tsunamis and earthquakes, since the disaster struck at a time when Pakistan’s northern regions were in the grip of unseasonable storms that had caused severe damage.
“When I heard about the tsunami, I felt sad because I know children are the hardest hit by these crises,” said 14-year-old Sara Raji, whose family fled to Pakistan when she was a baby. “I saw the condition of people’s lives in Indonesia and I wanted to cry because I had seen so many Afghans suffer as well. I prayed for the survivors, but I wanted to do more.”
Robledo said Sara was typical of the Afghan refugee children, who were looking to find ways to reach out to the children suffering in Indonesia.
“Many wanted to phone the children in Indonesia and tell them that they were thinking about them,” Robledo recalled. “They kept asking if the IRC could give them cell phones to make the calls. “
Instead, IRC teachers encouraged the students to draw pictures, write letters or say prayers for their young Indonesian counterparts. And while the children were not encouraged to donate money, they were told that they could give one rupee toward tsunami relief if they wanted to.
So in addition to providing comfort in words and pictures, the children threw their support behind the IRC’s tsunami relief fund for Indonesia, and started scraping together as much as they could.
“The money came to us in the form of thousands and thousands of coins in very small denominations,” Robledo exclaimed. “We were marooned by change – it was wonderful!”
Two months later, the IRC’s education program had raised $1,660 – an astonishing 98, 727 Pakistani rupees – from children, teachers, staff and Pakistani citizens who were moved by the students’ effort.
“This started as a small initiative, and our staff members were overwhelmed by the children’s response and largesse,” Robledo said. “All of the Afghan and Pakistani people who donated are in need themselves and live in difficult conditions. Most Afghan refugee children have never been on a playground. Most were born in the most basic conditions in refugee camps or lost their homes and families to years of war and constant displacement. Many must give up school and playtime to eke out a living as child laborers.”
Robledo says the drawings, letters and donations are being sent to the IRC’s child protection team in Indonesia’s tsunami-devastated Aceh Province. There, the IRC is providing non-formal learning activities in dozens of makeshift classrooms and “child-friendly spaces” as schools are rebuilt and new teachers trained. Child protection workers are also providing special assistance for traumatized children, including care and family tracing for those who have become orphaned or separated from their families.
“One of our students told her teacher that she knew first-hand the benefits of the IRC’s relief program and that she was sure tsunami-affected children in Indonesia would be looked after well by the IRC,” Robledo said.
