Rebuilding Life in Devastated Swat (Reconstruction of Schools and Health Care Facility)

The emergency in the North West Frontier Province last year not just caused one of the biggest displacements in the human history but also resulted in huge devastation in the areas. Major infrastructure was damaged fully or partially such as schools, houses, bridges, roads and telecommunication systems.

When over 2 million people who were displaced returned to their homes after suffering from months of displacement, the scene was totally different from when they left their villages. Houses that were taken over by the militants were destroyed, schools were damaged or destroyed totally leaving children with no place to go to study. Islamic Relief after assisting the IDPs in district Mardan and Jalozai IDPs camp moved its interventions to Buner and Swat soon after the IDPs returned. Malakand Rehabilitation Programme was launched to help the returnees rebuild their lives. Variety of activities are in the process of implementation such as; livelihood development, reconstruction & rehabilitation of schools, health care facilities, and water & sanitation schemes.

Little Junaid’s Dream

This was the case with young Muhammad Junaid who is so keen about his education and having a dream of becoming Doctor. Junaid is a resident of Dadahar district Swat, living with his parents and siblings; 2 brothers and 2 sisters. He was among one of those over a million children who were displaced last year due to the military operation in Swat. He said “my father is a teacher in a local private school and is the only source of income for our family. As the situation became from bad to worse my father said we have to leave our home and move to some safe place. We ended up in a school as IDPs in an area called Badwen. We stayed there for nearly four months which was a bad experience for all of us. I missed my village, my friends, my school and the kind of life I was living here during those four months time. My friends say I am most of the time quite since I got back home after the emergency is over.”

Junaid was hopeless when he came back home after it was declared safe to return home and to see the destruction. “When we arrived and soon as I saw my school building which was destroyed I asked my father why did they destroy my school? Where am I going to study now? I was so upset to see this and thought I think I am never going to be able to study now and thought I cant become a doctor now” Junaid said. He further explained “this was the case with most of my friends and class fellows. We were so upset, but one day when my father came with surprising news that an NGO called Islamic Relief is going to rebuild the school and the health center. I was so happy to hear that and started jumping because of joy and happiness. And within months time they [Islamic Relief] fulfilled their commitment; my school is ready now. The new building is very nice and clean; we now also have a hand pump for drinking water so we are no more going to have water shortage in our school. If they [Islamic Relief] did not build the school i think it would have taken years before to rebuild by other means.

Parent’s Worries Over

Where there were children loosing hope after seeing the damage, the elders were not so positive either about the future of their kids. Parents were worried about the education of their children after seeing the destruction brought to the local schools. Children had already lost a whole year due to the security situation and with the damage to the schools means they were not able to study for a long period of time. Syed Afzal Khan father of four children two daughters Shaista and Shazia and two sons Ismail and Abdullah was extremely worried about their education. “When I first time saw the school which was destroyed I could not believe as with the few schools that we have in this region we were already struggling and so with the loss of the school buildings I felt like my children will never be able to achieve what I had dreamed about” Syed said.

He further explained “we were already devastated by the displacement something we never imagined to experience and with the destruction to a building that has to do with the future for our kids it was heart breaking and disappointing.”

“We were not sure of how the school building is going to be rebuilt so that our kids could go back to school. They were impatient too and I was happy to see the enthusiasm but was sad too because I could not do anything. But one day when I learnt about this organisation [Islamic Relief] that they are going to rebuild the damaged schools and also the health facility adjacent to the school buildings, the joy that I felt that moment is hard to describe. I told my children that day about the reconstruction of the schools which was something they were waiting for a long time to hear.

“I have struggled in my life, I could not study and now I work as a labourer making meager amount of money to support my family. But I am not going to let my children go through the same experience, I will make every single effort to ensure they get the higher level education and secure bright future.

“I strongly believe that education is like light in ones life to help him find the right path. Therefore, no matter if I and my wife have to eat less or starve we will do but will support our children’s education.

“I can not describe how grateful I am to Islamic Relief for giving this beautiful gift to our children, to us and to our village.”