Action For Orphans

Shifteh Honey's second annual visit to the children’s homes

In September 2005 Shifteh Honey made her second visit to see the children –

this is her report of her stay;

I had last visited the children in December 2004, since which time our family has grown with more children in our care.

Although I have been in contact with the children throughout this time and have been kept informed of their progress and the happenings in the homes, but to visit the children and see how they have moved on is an extra ordinary experience.

I spent 10 days in Kerman with the children, sharing my time equally between the girls and boy’s homes. Both homes are now up to capacity, I was interested to see how the children and carers were coping.

The girls have moved to a larger house very close to the boy’s home and are especially proud of their new home; they have done a great job putting their own very girly stamp on and keep their house super tidy. The boys on the other hand are slightly less concerned about the decor and tidiness and given the chance prefer to spend every possible minute playing!!!

Both homes are very well kept and the children are fully involved in the daily routine of running their own home. They all have assigned fixed duties such as:  making their own bed, keeping their drawers tidy, tiding their bedrooms, putting away their books, toys, clothes and so on. They also have assigned duties that they take in turns such as: setting and clearing table before and after meals, washing dishes, tidying the living room. They take their duties very seriously and Roya and Ali are never too far away to praise, help or have them do the jobs again if not done properly.

The elder children, Parisa our eldest girl and Mohamad our eldest boy are really looked up to by the younger children and they often use their wisdom, experience and authority to guide and help the younger ones. This for me was particularly wonderful to see as I think it encourages the sense of belonging, responsibility and respect between the children. I loved seeing how Parisa and Mohamad would pay attention to the other children making sure they are ok or even if there was a dispute they would do their best to referee and help the children come to an understanding.

I spent a good amount of time talking to each child making sure all was well with them and I am glad to say that the children without exception enjoyed their homes and felt happy and lucky to be living with each other and having Roya and Ali.

When I arrived the children were in a great spirit, they had not too long ago returned from a 10-day holiday in City of Esfahan. The children had traveled as the special guest of the Meyer of Esfahan, kindly fully paid for by the Mayor!

They had the time of their lives; they could not stop talking about it! For most of them it was the first time they had been on holiday and the first stay at a guesthouse! They could not stop talking about how amazing and awesome their holiday had been!

 I was absolutely amazed how far the children had come with their ability and skills to express themselves and I am encouraged and hugely relived to see how much their confidence has grown and the fact that the children saw themselves as normal and deserving like other children.

We had asked the older children write an account of how their trip to Esfahan had gone; Rahman one of our 10year old boys wrote the most moving and complete account of his experience. Rahman writes beautifully, full of inspiration, hope and honesty (an extract of Rahman’s account is published on the October edition of AFO’s news letter), this is from a boy who during my last visit had gotten into various situations not being able to control his aggression and anger, he then had told me: “I really want to be a good boy and I try but  I just can’t help being bad.”

The children had a very good sports activity during their summer holiday. All the children had been learning to swim this summer; some of them showed great talent. I went swimming with and showed then how to do handstands.  They couldn’t stop practicing! Our younger girls, Zahra, Sanaz and Akhtar found it hard to swim away from the edge to the deeper end of the pool. I have no doubt they all will be swimming effortlessly by my next visit! I had such good time swimming with girls.

Unfortunately, I was not allowed to swim with the boys, as the laws of the country do not allow female/male mixed sport activities too freely! But Ali swims with the boys and he is never to shy to let you know how proud he is of children’s progress and talent!

The boys had continued with karate and football through out summer all possible because a few wonderful and committed locals who have donated their time and expertise to help the children and they have made such a difference.

Sport and physical activities are a lot less available for the girls in Kerman, nevertheless the girls have been keeping busy improving their dance routines (they love dancing and are quite good at it too) they have learnt a few gymnastic moves that they really wanted to show me and before long they got me dancing with them and were very happy teaching me a few funky steps! 

The children had spent at least one hour daily throughout summer studying, revising and preparing for the current school year, they were ready and looking forward to going back to school.

The children have had a few visits from supporters from the UK, Switzerland and Iran, have been very impressed and are quite chuffed to know that they are important and all these people care for them. This is such a new, different world for them.

They also love receiving and writing letters to their sponsors and were very excited and proud to show me the letters and photographs that they had received.

I really loved and enjoyed my time with the children. I am very happy to let you know that the children are doing well. They simply are a bunch of happy, healthy, very kind and grateful children. I look forward to my next visit.