Proposal for Orphanage in Gebriael, Injil District, Herat

LFT Donors, £24.80 to provide a good standard of education, a nutritious daily meal and decent clothing for an orphan who has no parent to care and love them

Background

Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with an economy that relies greatly on international aid. A steady influx of returning refugees and severe economic problems means the government is unable to cater to the basic needs of its citizens. A vast majority of the population continue to suffer from insufficient food and the infrastructure is in ruins. Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of illiteracy in the world with 54% of children of primary school age out of school.

Overview

Decades of wars and political unrest has left not only the economy in shambles but also countless orphans. There is an estimated 1.6 million orphans in the country and we are only marginally aware of the hardship that they have gone through, let alone what the future holds for them.  Many of these children have a burning desire to learn, to go to school but for many this is simply a far away dream.   It is an expensive dream as they simply cannot afford to go school as many have to go and earn money to feed themselves and in some cases their widowed mothers.

We would like to help some orphans secure a better future for themselves and their families in a small town of Gebriael, in the district of Injil, in the province of Herat.

Herat is a province situated in north-western Afghanistan and is said to be the second largest city in the country. Its geographical location by the borders of Iran and Turkmenistan makes it an important trade route.

Proposal

Afghan Poverty Relief through the generous support from Lady Fatemah Trust would like to bring the gift of education to the very poor children of this community by providing them with an educational institution where they can gain a basic education which will enable them to have foothold in society.  With a foothold comes hope for the future and ambition for the children as well as their families.

We would like support 60 orphans in Gebriael through this educational centre.  The town of Gebriael has been identified through our on the ground assessment of Injil – we have a good understanding of the poor situation of this town.  There are many widows and poor families in this area and there are limited sources of income –many of the women spin yarn; many embroider and many of the men folk work on the farmland as labourers, which is seasonal.  In some cases many of the men have had leave the village to seek employment in the city.

Currently, these orphans do not receive any kind of formal educational support and so are desperately in need of our support to give them a fighting chance of achieving a successful adult life.

Orphanage

The school is located near the central Jamia Masjid in Gebrieal.  We have had to rent an empty private house to provide this educational facility.   Therefore the school building comprises of 9 rooms: 1 big hall, 4 smaller rooms, 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom and 2 toilets.

The school would offer elementary education to these 60 orphans as classified at Classes 1-7 within the Afghani National Curriculum.   The orphans would attend school in the morning from 8 am to 1 pm for six days.  We want to the orphans to receive an education for ZZ years, ie until the age of ZZ.

The 60 orphans were identified by key community representatives, including Sakina Husseini and the local Member of Parliament, Ahmad Ali Jabraeli who strenuously appealed to us for support for these 60 children.  These 60 orphans do not have a parent to support them, and so are in a more desperate situation than the other orphans in this town.  

To enable these 60 orphans have a better chance in life, there are 7 Syed orphans and 53 non-Syed orphans. The age range is from 6 to 12 years.   To ensure girls get an equal chance the community representatives decided that 30 girls and 30 boys would be the 60 children to attend the orphanage

One of the initial tasks the Principal has to do assess the ability and aptitude of the orphans as many of them would have had no or little formal schooling. 

Each day the children will receive a snack in the morning of cake and milk and a hot meal at the end of the classes comprising of:

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• Saturday: meat soup with nan and fruit
• Sunday: nan, rice with meat curry and fruit
• Monday: nan, rice and beans curry and fruit
• Tuesday: nan, rice and vegetable curry and fruit
• Wednesday: nan, rice with chicken curry and fruit
• Thursday: nan, rice and dhal and fruit
• Friday: nan, macaroni with mince and fruit
•  

We would also providing food on Friday though there are no classes, as this way the orphans can have at least have a decent meal which enable them to be more healthy and therefore more alert for learning as reducing a little the burden their families have in providing nutritiously balanced meals every day. 

We have recruited a Principal who has 18 years of experience of managing the local Madressah teaching and also has the understanding of the emotional and welfare needs of these orphans; as well as local situation of their families.  The Principal has recruited another 2 teachers together they have 12 years experience, a cook and a security guard – together they will ensure the orphans are taught, fed and kept safe.    

The staff comprise of the following:

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• Sheikh Salman Amini - Principal
• Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Mohamedi - Teacher
• Abdul-Ahad Abdul Malik - Teacher
• Khadim Hussein Nawroz - Cook
• Syed Amin-Ullah Syed Mohammed Hussein - Security Guard
•  

Costs

It is vital that we provide a decent living environment so that the orphans feel that they are getting a real chance in securing a better future.  It is our Islamic duty to treat orphans as we would want to have our children, our grandchildren to be treated and not as lesser citizens of society.  The orphans are already at a disadvantaged start in life and wherever possible we should help them to minimise or erode the disadvantages that they face.

Given that we setting up this orphanage for these 60 orphans from a building that needs furnishing with kitchen equipment, carpets, blackboards which are all one-off costs.

We then have monthly costs of food, rent, utilities, staff salaries and then every four months we would like to provide a new set of clothes and every six new shoes and school bag to the children.

One off costs:

Monthly Running Costs:

Afghan Poverty Relief through the generous support of Lady Fatemah Trust would like to provide clothes for the children every 4 months and shoes with a school bag every 6 months.   Therefore, 4 months out of the 12 months there will be additional cost to provide for a set of shalwar kameez, shoes and school bag. 

The cost of supporting one orphan in a normal month is $36.48 (£22.80) per month per child and fractionally increases in months 4, 8, and 12.

Therefore looking at the total monthly support costs for 60 orphans:

It only costs £24.80 to provide a good standard of education, a nutritious daily meal and decent clothing for an orphan who has no parent to care and love them

Impact of orphanage

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• The gift of education cannot be over-emphasised as it gives the children the basic foundation for life empowering them to the possibilities and opportunities available to them.
• When these children are educated they will be able to understand better their immediate and social environment as well as being able to actively contributing to the rehabilitation of their community and country at large.
• Participating and learning opens the children to various opportunities and broadens their horizon.
• It is our responsibility both as human beings and especially as Muslims to remember these poor children who have been put in this situation through no fault of theirs.

Please help Lady Fatemah Trust to give these orphans a better chance in life