KARACHI: Girls at Karachi’s Maskan-e-Shafqat, or Residents of Loveliness, light candles on Christmas Eve every year. But this year, the young women — who are mostly orphans or come from broken homes where single parents have trouble raising them — have made the candles themselves.
The initiative is part of a training program by Caritas Pakistan Karachi, a church group, to develop the girl’s entrepreneurial skills and prepare them for a “dignified life” in the future, said Sister Salma Rehmat, who heads the home.
“Our girls regularly get education and different kinds of training,” she said. “The candles we lit this year are made by our girls.”
Earlier this week, Caritas Pakistan Karachi held a daylong workshop on candle making at the home as part of its “Livelihood and Food Security Program.”
Candles made by orphan girls at Maskan-e-Shafqat in Karachi, Pakistan, on December 23, 2020. (AN photo)
Since 1982, when Maskan-e-Shafqat began operations in Karachi, hundreds of girls and young women have stayed at the home.
“Most of the girls we raise are abandoned children but once they enter this home, they feel at home,” Rehmat said, adding that 22 girls were currently housed at the home and receiving an education and training in vocational skills.
“We give shelter and a better life to the girls and women being rejected by society,” another nun, Sister Saima Pritam, told Arab News. “We keep them near ourselves.”
Maskan-e-Shafqat, a home for orphan girls and women in Karachi, Pakistan, on December 23, 2020. (AN photo)
One girl, Bushra Masih, came to the home as a six-year-old, with no birth certificate. Sister Salma’s brother had to adopt the girl, she said, following which she got the necessary documentation to be able to get admission in school.
Masih is now an adult and married with a daughter. She runs her own beauty salon and also trains other girls at the saloon.
“This is a chain of kindness, help and services for others,” Salma said. “Many like Bushra, who have lived and learnt here, now support us in training and educating our girls.”
Maskan-e-Shafqat, a home for orphan girls and women in Karachi, Pakistan, on December 23, 2020. (AN photo)
While Christmas has been overshadowed by the coronavirus around the world this year, at Maskan-e-Shafqat, the young girls staged a play, decorated the home, made cards for each other and hosted a party.
A card made by orphaned girls at Maskan-e-Shafqat, a home for girls and women, in Karachi, Pakistan, on December 23, 2020. (AN photo)
“On Christmas Day, we will be happiest at our home,” said one girl whose name the nuns requested be withheld. “I haven’t seen my home but if I had, I am sure it wouldn’t be as beautiful as the one I am living in today,” she added with a smile, bending down to add sprinkles to the cover of a Christmas card she said she was making for her hostel friend.
