The House and the Staff
The House of Flowers is very fortunate to have found a number of caring and dependable adults who have dedicated themselves to the children. Eight adults run the House of Flowers. These staff members are very caring individuals who have built an environment where the children feel safe and secure and protected. The staff genuinely enjoy the children, and the House of Flowers is a place where laughter is heard often and where adults listen carefully to children.
These adults have expressed and shown how much they have learned about new ways to work with children. In Afghanistan there are seen to be few disciplinary alternatives to hitting children, but the staff of the House of Flowers has learned the power of peaceful discussion.
It is also our hope that the staff has incorporated this into their own homelives, and that their own children are also benefiting indirectly from the House of Flowers.
One of the greatest qualities of the House of Flowers is the love and respect that flourishes on all sides. Perhaps one of the best examples of this is when the children began teaching our cook, an illiterate woman of 40, how to read for the first time in her life. They encouraged her in the same ways they had been encouraged, telling her how smart she was, and celebrating her new-found knowledge with her.
Running the House of Flowers and How You Can Help
To provide 24-hour sheltering, feeding, clothing and care for 28 children is a challenging task, and in a place like Kabul it is even more so. Right now, the financial challenge is our greatest. Expenses in Kabul are extremely high, the economy having been skewed by the heavy influx of development and aid money over the past 4 years. Thus our expenses have nearly tripled since we first opened the House of Flowers.
To date (April 2006) our annual expenses are now approaching $50,000 to cover all costs such as house rent, staff salaries, food, house operation, educational supplies, and clothing for the children. These costs are only met through private donations. MEPO has no overhead costs, thus all donations go directly to supporting the lives of the children at the House of Flowers.
We hope that you too will help us in serving these children.
