PESHAWAR: Working in seven sectors with volunteers, infrastructure and equipment, Al-Khidmat Foundation has become the largest charity organisation fully functional in all parts of the province and newly merged tribal districts, said an office-bearer.
Having mechanism for disaster management, the foundation has focused attention on the wellbeing of orphan children, said Khalid Waqas, provincial president of the foundation, in an interview with The News.The organisation has adopted a two-pronged strategy under which the orphan children and their families are provided support.
In the first strategy, educational scholarships are provided to orphans so that they could continue their studies. A sum of Rs3,500 is provided to nearly 4,000 children in the province on a monthly basis for their educational needs and family support, he said.
Trainings are arranged for the mothers of the orphans registered with the foundation. There is also a training programme for the mothers of orphans. He said the second part of the strategy is more effective under which the orphan children are kept in boarding houses where they are provided with the education and other facilities.
Three orphanages under the name of ‘Aghosh Center’ are operational in Peshawar, Mansehra and Dera Ismail Khan districts where at least 245 orphan children are enrolled. The Aghosh Center, Dera Ismail Khan, with 95 orphans, is operating in a rented building. He urged the government and well-off people to provide the land for construction of own building.
He said that Member National Assembly Ali Amin Gandapur had promised to provide 5-Kanal land for the purpose, but the promise is yet to be materialised.
The office-bearer said another two centres are under construction in Lower Dir and Kohat, which would become functional soon.The foundation plans to open ‘Aghosh Home Centers’ in Mardan, Swat, Swabi, Charsadda, Bajaur, Mohmand, North and South Waziristan.
He said Pakistan had four million orphan children of whom one fourth belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the recently merged tribal districts. These orphan children and their families are in dire need of basic facilities, Khalid Waqas said.
He added that the foundation runs another programme for street children, under which informal education is provided to them. He said several children under the project had joined formal education and got enrolled in professional educational institutions.
Khalid Waqas said disaster is the main area in which the foundation is rendering services. He said it has set up a well-equipped ‘disaster management cell’ with some 7,300 volunteers, of them, 3000 have got trained in first-aid, along with 94 ambulances in KP alone to deal with both natural and manmade disasters.
There is a plan to set up a state-of-the-art disaster management centre in Peshawar. The Peshawar district government had pledged a 12-marla land three years ago but the pledge could not be fulfilled, he said.
The foundation runs 26 health facilities in the name of Al-Khidmat Hospitals in KP. Three more such hospitals will be opened in Bajaur, Mohmand and Buner districts.“In the Peshawar-based hospital, we have also set up a free blood transfusion centre for thalassemia patients. Presently, at least 200 thalassemia patients have been enrolled at the centre,” he said.
At least 31 education institutions are working under the foundation, where over 7,366 students are acquiring education. He said an Islamic microfinance scheme is providing interest-free loans in seven districts.
Under the community service programme, free wheelchairs, dowry, food packages are distributed and help extended to secure the release of those who are in prisons for being unable to pay fine.