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Asia Earthquake

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An Uncertain Future for Muzaffarabad's Orphans
22 October 2005


Injured Zowiyna Bibi lost her mother and five other family members

Screaming in pain, ten-year-old Zowiyna Bibi lies on a stretcher held down by relatives desperate to ease her suffering.

Her fractured leg is causing her immense distress and the anaesthetic is beginning to wear off.

She suffered her injuries when her house collapsed in the quake killing her mother and five other family members.

Now she lies outside the operating theatre at the Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital at Muzaffarabad.

The hospital is desperately trying to cope with the daily influx of injured. Many are forced to lie in stretchers in the open air as surgeons and doctors attend to others.

'Allah will look after her'

Amongst the many who lie in the hospital is seven-year-old Sana Bibi.


Sana Bibi lost her whole family

Her leg is in plaster as she sits all alone playing with a plastic bag. She was brought to the hospital by her uncle Khushal Khan.

Her mother, father and younger brother, Wasim, are dead. She will now be looked after by her uncle. She has nobody else left.

He said: "The house collapsed and she broke her leg. Allah will look after her. She will live with me now."

As she sits playing I wonder what thoughts go through her mind. Does she know that her mother and father are dead? Does she know she will never play with her little brother again?

I sit beside her and I try speaking to her but she is too shy to speak, instead she gives me a quick glance when she thinks I am not looking and she gives a beautiful gift: a smile.

It's hard to imagine what future now lies in store for her. Her parents no doubt had dreams and ambitions for their daughter, now she will have to struggle in life without the loving care that parents give to their children.

I am sure her uncle will do his best, but as I look at him it is obvious that he finds it difficult to make ends meet, and now he must find food for another mouth.

There are many children like Sana across Kashmir.

Supporting orphans in Kashmir

Before the earthquake, IR donors supported 182 orphans in Kashmir and the North West Frontier Province. Weeks after the disaster, there are still 58 that are unaccounted for.

IR aid workers are still searching for the lost orphans and registering children who lost their parents in the disaster. To sponsor an orphan, visit alyateem.com.

Report by Jamsheed Din, IR correspondent in Pakistan.



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