Chinese volunteers help young Afghan refugees

ISLAMABAD — As winter descends in Islamabad, five-year-old Khaula, living in a refugee camp in the Pakistani capital, is worried by thoughts of going to school every morning in the cold weather without any proper clothing until she got a set of coats and jumpers from Chinese volunteers.

Khaula and many kids of her age are living in dire conditions in the refugee camp in which their clay-and-stone houses are not enough to provide them warmth and protect them from the freezing cold.

Many kids, whose fathers are laborers in Islamabad's vegetable market, and whose mothers are housewives, have to miss school in winter due to illnesses.

Chinese volunteers were no less than a blessing for the kids shivering in temperatures slightly over 3 C, when they gave the woolen coats to them.

"We keep coming to the refugee camp to help them with supplies used in education, as we believe that education is the most powerful tool for them to improve their living condition and financially empower them in the future," Ma Bin, a focal person for the China-Pakistan Youth Exchange Community, says.

He adds that the warm clothes were donated by people from China for the students to make their lives easier so that they can focus on their studies.

Housed in the refugee camp, where thousands of refugees are living, the four-room school is the only hope for a better future for the refugee kids who have seen extreme poverty since birth.

Sahib Shah, headmaster of the school, says 220 students from grades one to five are studying there, and after completing their education they will join the Pakistani government-run schools for higher classes. He says the kids are from poor families that are unable to provide them with warm clothes, so the help by Chinese volunteers is timely.

"It is a very commendable activity and we are so happy to receive help. They are very poor and the season is very cold," Shah says.

"They help with clothes, food items, uniforms, stationery and other things. It shows that they feel the kids are close to their hearts and always try to help them," he adds.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are over 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan.