Ummah Children Academy serving orphans with devotion

PESHAWAR: About 1,000 orphan students had gathered at the main lawn of the Ummah Children Academy in Nowshera to receive the Ramazan food package and Eid gifts when this correspondent entered its premises.Clad in their school uniform, the beaming students sitting behind their tastefully decorated colourful packages told The News that they received Ramazan and Eid package every year. The distribution in the Ummah Welfare Trust organized event was unique as there was no disturbance or wrangling. The students remained silent waiting in queues like a disciplined force. It impressed the guests, who remarked that the credit went to their teachers.The organizers said the Ummah Welfare Trust has been distributing such packages among its students for the last 16 years. Mohammad Imran, a senior official of Ummah Welfare Trust, said Rs420 million had been spent to distribute the package among 42,000 families throughout the country.He said the students get their packages and gifts when they go home for holidays. Mohammad Imran said that the Ummah Welfare Trust, working since 2002, has established the Ummah Children Academy and prepared 9,500 gifts, which would be distributed among deserving widows and orphans across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that his organization was working for orphans in three countries.Soon after the distribution of the packages, this correspondent witnessed discipline among thousands of minor students on the dining tables at Iftar, which is rare even in civilized gatherings and functions. They are all were orphans and are getting education under the supervision of the highly qualified teachers and Ulema. They all entered in a queue for the Iftar dinner and sat around their tables.This, the organizers said, was a routine practice. They said the Ummah Welfare Trust equally treats the guests and students. “We all sit together and eat whatever is cooked. A team prepares delicious items in a well-protected and clean kitchen,” Mohammad Imran added. This correspondent visited various parts of the kitchen, where the volunteers were busy preparing food, and witnessed the preserved items in a clean atmosphere.Mohammad Imran said that though Maulana Idrees founded this huge trust and building but he paid from his pocket whenever he came and stayed at the academy. He said that he also paid from his pocket if he entertained guests at the academy.The humble and soft spoken Maulana Idrees, who founded the Ummah Welfare Trust, lives in London but specially comes to supervise and monitor the activities of the trust in Pakistan.Appreciating efforts of the Muslims throughout the world, he appealed to philanthropists to come forward for the welfare of orphans so that they could become useful citizens. He was satisfied with the performance of his team, teachers and volunteers and excellent results of the students in examinations and was confident the orphans would be among the best doctors, engineers and experts in all fields of life.He differentiated between orphanage and the Ummah Children Academy, saying the students were enrolled at the academy after taking an admission test. He said only deserving orphans were given admission. “We have established such a system where the funds meant for the orphans could not be used for any other project,” he pointed out. He was confident the children would become useful citizens and would assist other orphans and deserving children in future.A student, Mohammad Ahmad hailing from Charsadda, said his father passed away nine years back but he was given every facility at the academy. He said that he got food, clothes, education and healthcare facilities at the academy. He said that they were given Ramazan package every year for their families. Two other orphans, Mohammad Salman and Hasnain Ahmad vowed to make good use of the opportunity and complete their education with the support of the academy.

from The News International - Peshawar http://bit.ly/2VuUW7C