Daily Times

Every person has some special memories to recall after some time passes. Similarly, way back in 2015, I spent one of my best days in an orphanage with numerous children having no family but the orphanage itself.

As it was my birthday as well, I along with my father moved towards the orphanage to distribute gifts to the children there.

As we reached near the gate of the orphanage, a ray of happiness spread across the boundary of the orphanage. Those smiles were beyond any description for there laid natural feelings of those children.

Since my father had already visited the orphanage, the children had strong love for him for the compassion he had shown towards them. All the kids seemed to have taken their gifts but a little girl was sitting far from us and weeping. I went to her and said, “Hello!”

She did not respond. “So, the little angel is crying,” I said with a loving smile.

She looked at me and bowed her head down again silently. I happened to cry like her just to grab her full attention towards me and bowed my head down. She stopped crying and looked at me innocently.

“Why are you crying?” she asked in between tears. “Because you’re crying,” I replied. To cheer me up, she managed a brief smile. Her innocence during that one moment made my entire life so pleasant for I had never received such love from any other little girl ever. I hugged her tightly.

“I’m missing my family. Today, I saw a girl and her family from the window. The girl was behaving disrespectfully with her family but still they were showing great love to her. Are all children similar with their parents outside?” She elaborated the cause of her distraction along with the question of lack of affection by most of the children towards their parents.

“No dear. Sometimes, when we forget the value of our parents, we use angry words for them. But if they go just a little far from us, we get to know the real meaning of them. And there are children who bow down to their parents for they are well aware of their importance,” I told her.

“I wish I had parents like them,” she said lost in thought.

“What’s your name?” I asked to divert her attention.

“Zahra. My name is Zahra Ali,” she said.

I took her to my father who was sitting with the other children.

“Zahra, come here, why were you crying?” my father asked her. “I’m quite shocked that Ali Jan could bring you back to normalcy,” he added.

“Dad, I want her to be with us forever from now,” I told my father. Zahra stared at me shocked.

“Really? I have no objection,” my father said.

Later, we brought Zahra to our home and gave her the same love and care she had wished for. Gradually, she became a part of our family and from Zahra, she became Zahra Ali Maqsood.

We need to provide as many smiles as we can to others and always think of them as our own family. Why not to adopt a decision if we own the willingness and power to serve humanity? Mostly orphans get neglected when it comes to giving them a real reason to smile openly. Every individual must be responsible to serving humanity and giving much respect to orphans in specific.

The writer is a student at Turbat University and a part time teacher at DELTA. He can be reached at alijanmaqsood17@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, January 25^th 2019.