About The Children at House of Flowers
From the beginning, both boys and girls have lived at the House of Flowers, growing up together naturally as brothers and sisters. We started with eight children in 2002 and have grown gradually over the years, with some children leaving when their families moved, and other children joining us along the way. As of April 2006 there are 28 children living at the House of Flowers. Of these, eight are girls and 20 are boys.
How old are the children?
Birthdays are not kept track of in Afghanistan, so no one knows the exact ages of the children, but our youngest children are Shukria and Amrullah , who are around 6 years old. Razia is the oldest; she is 13 – 14 years old. About a third of the children are 8 years old or younger, and the other children are generally around 10 years old.
Do the children have families?
Many of our children have one parent, since in Afghanistan ‘orphan’ means one parent has died. Their families are destitute, and there are a number that do not have either parent, or the parent is incapacitated. But most of them do have an extended family that they visit once every 2-3 weeks over the weekend. This keeps the children grounded in their own family ties as well as the rest of Afghan society, and it is also an opportunity for us to maintain contact with the families and help them when we can.
How did we find these children?
The children have come to us in a number of ways. Some families heard about us by word of mouth. Some were referred to us by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs or Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Some were sent to us by other agencies such as the Red Cross, or from UNICEF staff.
What is the future of these children?
Many people ask about the future of the House of Flowers and the children. Afghanistan is a very unpredictable place, and the government is not always supportive of the work of NGO’s such as ours. This makes it difficult to specify a time frame or time-bound goals for the House of Flowers. But MEPO is committed to running the House of Flowers as long as we can, as long as there is money to keep it open and the government permits us to stay open. In April of 2006 we signed a new 4-year protocol with the Afghan government, so hopefully the next four years are assured from the government’s side.
The futures of the children are of course hard to predict. Our hope is that those who can, will continue to study through to University and hopefully, aided by the strong inner foundation that they are building now in their youngest years, will mature to become sources of strength and guidance for their families, community and society. For those who may not have university studies in their future, we plan to begin helping them learn some vocational work such as carpentry, etc.
The Children's Education
Academic Education
The children attend the neighborhood schools but in the extremely weak educational system in Afghanistan, children only attend school for 2 ½ hours a day up to 7th grade. (The children from the House are attending 1st through 5th grades this year, 2006.) Thus, in order to provide the children of the House of Flowers with a strong and balanced education, when they return home from school they begin rich lessons and experiences in health, geography, science, English, cultural subjects such as calligraphy and poetry, and history. These are taught by our two teachers every day. They use Montessori techniques, projects and group work to teach the children and encourage the children’s explorations.
The children of the House of Flowers are very likely the only children in Afghanistan receiving this kind of rich and varied education. In the government schools, until 4th grade the students only study language, math and religion, and these are in classrooms that often meet in a tent and have only a chalkboard and not even benches. By contrast, the children of the House of Flowers have naturally thrived in a safe environment that provides stimulating activities and has supplies such as a microscope, paint and crayons, educational puzzles and Montessori teaching materials and dozens of books (all donated by caring supporters).
Education for Life
But education is not limited to academics, and the children are given opportunities to explore the inner world as well as the outer. They receive religious education in the tradition of Islam and Afghanistan, but have also learned about other religions. They write poetry, being inspired by great Persian poets such as Rumi and Hafiz. They have explored drama, acting out stories from their books.
Their exposure to geography is very important in order to raise their awareness of other countries and cultures and to help them gain a sense of love and appreciation for all human beings. They have shown an amazing understanding of the world and its inhabitants.
Financial education is also critical in a place like Afghanistan where poverty is rampant (and these children all come from impoverished homes). To this end, all the children receive a weekly allowance to gain experience with handling money responsibly. The children run a ‘central bank’ in the house called “House of Flowers National Bank” where they can deposit their money and make withdrawals. They also run a small shop in the house where they buy and sell snacks, school supplies and toys.
