‘Wall of Kindness’ helps poor get warm clothes

Leave what you don’t need or take if you need it

PESHAWAR: Sometime a small act of kindness by someone gets unexpected response from the general public and encourages more people to follow in the footsteps.

The “Wall of Kindness” in Hayatabad in Peshawar is one such gesture that is earning praise and is being backed by people from across the country.

When you enter Hayatabad from the University Road via the Phase-III Chowk, you find a small portion of the roadside wall painted with orange colour. It is named the “Wall of Kindness” (Deewar-e-Mehrubani). One also finds a couple of coats, two sweaters, a jacket and other warm clothes hanging in the hooks on the wall.

The clothes are dropped by people who do not need these anymore. These are meant for those labourers, homeless, orphaned kids or anyone who cannot afford warm clothes to fight the winter chill. The needy visit the place and take whatever they need.

“This is so amazing. It’s a small gesture but it will benefit a large number of deserving people every day without bothering anyone or begging,” said Safirullah, a Peshawarite who recently returned from UK.

He added that this idea should be followed by people in other parts of Peshawar and Pakistan.“A few small steps like this make you feel good about our Peshawar. People here need a little encouragement to do wonders,” said a passerby Shahid Ali.

He proposed that apart from warm clothes, people should drop food, books
and whatever they don’t need any more so that others who require these things could quietly take them away.

A couple of young volunteers had painted the wall of the government-run tube-well near the lone CNG station on Phase-3 Road on January 30 and named it “The Wall of Kindness” or “Deewar-e-Mehrubani”.

The idea was copied by Asad Ali and a couple of his friends from the similar initiative in Iran where a number of such walls were painted by the youth in Mashhad, Shiraz, Sirjan and other cities in a bid to help the needy Iranians. A similar wall was later seen in Liuzhuo city of Guangxi in China.

The “Walls of Kindness” got an unprecedented response in Iran and China. The idea was put into practice recently in Karachi by two women.The slogan of the “Wall of Kindness” is “Leave what you don’t need” and “Take if you need it”.

Passersby leave their jackets, coats and clothes on the hooks and those who need these things silently take them without being noticed by anyone.Wadaan, the volunteers who painted the wall in their Facebook message said the idea was recommended to them by friends in Iran.

“It is a small step, but it is a step indeed. We really appreciate the support of the people and this has been possible because of you, It was done with the help of the team from another body, Serve Mankind,” said the Facebook message of those behind the novel idea.