Pakistan
The Trust is committed to funding several very worthy projects
in and around the city of Lahore.
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CLAAS is the Centre for Legal Assistance and Settlement, an
organisation committed to fighting cases in the cause of Christians
persecuted and imprisoned on the grounds of their faith, particularly
those accused under blasphemy law. There is, however, other
valuable work that CLAAS do; they provide sanctuary for girls
and young women who have escaped their abductors.
Every year in Pakistan thousands of teenage girls are abducted
and forced into marriage. Most come from the poorest of families
and many are Christians, as Pakistani Christians are amongst
the poorest and are restricted to the most menial “sanitary
worker” type of job. With the marriage comes the forced
conversion to Islam. Some do, however, manage to escape and
are sheltered at ”Apna Ghar” (literally “my
home”) which offers them sanctuary in the heart of Lahore.
The girls are often in great danger and are likely to be killed
if discovered.
In addition to supporting the shelter, the Epiphany Trust has
provided, at the request of CLAAS, specialist training in counselling
for the “Apna Ghar” staff. To maintain our commitment
to these valuable initiatives, we do need your continued support.
Please contact us for more information.
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This school provides education and training for children with
learning disabilities and/or physical handicaps. It began with
just one child and now has around 50 students, some with quite
severe disabilities.
Training is given:
- In daily living skills
- In communication and vocational skills. This training is given
in accordance with the individual living situation of each child.
The vocational training and art work are based on the understanding
that creativity in art work can empower indiviuals with disabilities
and promote self-determination. In this way, the school works
on personality development through creativity in the arts as
well as through vocational work.
The school provides:
- Support for poor families who cannot afford to send their
children to school
- Counselling for parents
- Assessment of each child’s development and individual
programmes
- Referrals of children for medical or surgical treatment
- Proper equipment for physiotherapy
- In-service training so that teachers can upgrade their knowledge
and skills
Amir Alam first attended the TSA Special School five years
ago, sponsored by the Epiphany Trust. Amir has no arms but has
become extremely adept in using his feet, even managing to wield
a cricket bat by gripping it between his toes! Amir is now 17
years old and although still partly in education is also partly
employed by the school, photocopying and printing some of their
materials. Because of his disability and his eye-catching compensational
skills Amir is very vulnerable to kidnap and entrapment by the
beggar gangs, and so the school has agreed to employ him permanently.
Kamran at TSA Special School
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Children
of the Brickyards
One of the most heartbreaking programmes the Epiphany Trust
has been involved in concerns the children of the Lahore brickyards.
Children as young as four make bricks, alongside their parents
and grandparents, to pay off family debts which in many cases
go back generations. The debts are incurred for occasions such
as family weddings, but for the poor, repayment is a painful,
very long-term business. The whole family camps around the kilns
in makeshift shelters and miserable, unhygienic conditions,
working outdoors in temperatures as high as 40 degrees C. Often,
it is as much as they can do to keep up with the interest payments.
The children of the brickyard families are unable to attend
school because of their enforced labour, and their resulting
lacks of education further embeds them in poverty. In 2002,
through our partners in Lahore, the Epiphany Trust began to
provide schooling on one day a week for fifty children.
The lawyers of CLAAS have worked hard to challenge this unethical
practice and bring about change and have succeeded in obtaining
freedom for some children, who have been released from labour
and are now able to go to school. However, in other cases whole
families from the age of five upwards still work in the brickyards.
We are continuing to support CLAAS in their valuable work and
also to provide a basic education for those children still enslaved.
We would value your support for any of our projects in Pakistan.
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Choose an area of work:
Burma | D.R.C.
| India
| Pakistan | Romania
| Sri Lanka
| Child Action main page
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