Quetta, Balochistan, 6 September 2010 -During the past three weeks, over 400 Internally Displaced People (IDP) fleeing from floods in Balochistan and Sindh have been hosted at the Headquarters of the Balochistan Boys Scouts Association. It is estimated that half of these desperate people are children.
Children suffer the most in any emergency and restoring a sense of normalcy often helps them to cope and build resilience in any crisis. Temporary Learning Centres provide opportunities for traumatized children to process what they have experienced in a safe and protective environment. With the support of trained teachers, they experience a sense of normalcy in what are usually abnormal circumstances.
UNICEF Balochistan, with the collaboration of the local Government, has established a Temporary Learning Centre for flood affected children. To date, 150 students have enrolled and been organized into two different age-group classes : 3-5 years and 6-11years. UNICEF has provided children with a School in Box kit, containing basic learning materials - mainly note books, color pencils, contingent school bags, erasers and sharpeners - amongst other supplies. A trained team of teachers has been mobilized from Pishin, the nearest district, in order to facilitate learning and recreation activities through child friendly methodology.
Farzana
 |
| Nine-year-old Farzana, from Jacobabad, Sindh, draws with other children in the temporary learning centre set by UNICEF and local partners. ©UNICEF/Pakistan/Panezai |
Nine-year-old Farzana is from Jacobabad, in the Sindh province, and during the flood she was residing with her parents in Rojhan Jamali, in Balcohistan. Before the floods she was a student in the 2nd class at Government Girls Primary school, Goth Ahmed Mia Somoro, Jacobabad, Sindh - her place of origin. She loves drawing and was excited to be able to restart this activity by using the supplies provided by UNICEF through the School in a Box kit. She was drawing pictures of flowers. When the floods came she was at home and her family members were asked to immediately quit the village.
Farzana has three brothers and four sisters. Her father is a laborer working in Rojhan Jamal, Balochistan. The floods hit Rojhan Jamali suddenly and her family and other villagers fled. Farzana's family couldn’t go back to her home town, which was already heavily flooded, and the roads from Balochistan to Sindh were already washed away. The only alternative was for her family to move towards Quetta, Balochistan. The Boy Scouts Association, one of UNICEF’s partners in the area, have mobilized their volunteers and accommodated around 400 IDPs.
While she is pleased to be safe, life under a tarpaulin is not easy. “There are mosquitoes and we are all cramped together," she says quietly, eyes cast down towards the ground. “I was scared,” she whispers. “Really scared.”
Like others in the UNICEF supported Temporary Learning Centre, Farzana is desperate to return home. “The first thing I want to do is see my best friends and my school teachers. I can’t wait to go home.”
Abdul Qadir Ali
 |
| Eight-year-old Abdul Ali, from Jafarabad, is now benefiting from the UNICEF-supported temporary learning centre, in Quetta, Balochistan. ©UNICEF/Pakistan/Panezai |
Eight-year-old student Abdul Qadir Ali is from Jafarabad, Balochistan. In the confusion and chaos that ensued when he ran with his sisters and brothers to escape the floods, he stumbled and grasped a live electrical wire, which caused him to suffer an electric shock and burn his right hand.
For seven days his wound remained untreated and infected, causing a very intense pain. Fortunately, the Balochistan Boy Scouts Association arranged for first-aid services to treat Abdul and now the throbbing pain that kept him awake at night has smoothen down. With a little smile he holds up his UNICEF school bag, filled with pencils, notebooks, erasers and a ruler. “I am going to have to learn to write with my left hand now, “ he says. “I am going to be a doctor one day, so if this happens to another boy, I can fix him quickly,” Abdul adds.
Education for displaced children affected by Pakistan floods
Education for displaced children affected by Pakistan floods
