When you enter the Home of Hope in northwest Pakistan, you immediately sense a good atmosphere. The house and furnishings are primitive, but it is clean and the children and staff are welcoming. The Hope Home is a combination school and orphanage that the Danish European Mission collaborates with.
Across from me is Sanaya, the founder and director of the home. She is unmarried, has no biological children and has dedicated her life to helping disadvantaged children. "I feel that my life matters when I show love to vulnerable children," she says.
Why is it important that vulnerable children experience love, I ask her. "The children come from a very difficult background and have their own story. When they arrive, they're confused, they've seen so many difficult things and experienced many failures. They are very reserved. When they are with other children, feel how we are as a family and get chores, the children forget the difficult things. We've seen that children cry when they leave us after 10th grade. But we refer them to Christian educational institutions, such as a hospital with an education department and a technical school."
"We have a number of activities to help children out of trauma. We have a psychologist who comes every two weeks and spends time with them."
"Changaz needed a lot of trauma treatment. First his father died. His mother actually worked as a nurse but couldn't control her drug addiction and spent all her money on drugs. She was fired from her job and when she ran out of money, she sold Changaz to a Muslim man for 5000 rupees so she could buy drugs. This man sexually and physically abused Changaz. A local priest heard about the situation and together we made efforts to get Changaz released."
"When Changaz came to the Home of Hope, he was scared and mentally unhinged. He had been sexually abused many times. His physical condition was very bad. He needed medical treatment and was hospitalized as some of his internal organs were damaged. He was in the hospital for two days."
"The other children were very welcoming to him. They helped to bring him out of the trauma. We feel that God used the children to help him and that the seeds we planted in them bore fruit. They tried to include him in games, in conversations."
"He is now a good student in school. He also helps other children and leads his room."
How do you get the strength for this work, I ask Sanaya. "The Lord is my strength. It gives me great satisfaction to spend time with the children. Every day in the morning we have devotions where we share an encouraging word from the Bible. Jesus tells us to love children, he said: 'Let the little children come to me'. He is our role model."
Why did you start the school and orphanage?
"In 2007 there was an earthquake in Pakistan where Christian children lost their parents. The plan was to send the children to a Muslim orphanage, where they risked losing their Christian faith. So I started a Christian orphanage so the children could grow up in a Christian environment instead."
