Stories from Allauddin Orphanage

My name is Walina and my father’s name is Mohammad Aref. I am 12 years old. I study in the 6th grade. I have been living for six years in the orphanage. One day when I was small, me and my family went to Shamalee area in the north of Kabul to visit our relatives. On the way our car was stopped by a group of armed and masked men. They shot and killed my mother and beat my father. He became unconscious but after a couple of hours when he came back to his sense, he buried my mother with the help of some local people. The armed men took our money with them. We did not have money to come back to Kabul. That is why we begged for 10 days and earned four hundred Afghanis. So with the money we returned to Kabul. Here we stayed for a couple of nights at an ordinary local inn. When we ran out of money, we did not know where to go. A man who owned a shop next to the inn showed mercy to us. He took us to his home and we lived for one year with him. Though my father was paralyzed, and the man was not very rich, so he brought me and my three brothers to the orphanage. One of my brothers is mute. I am happy here but still I feel lonely sometimes. I wish to have a friend with whom I could share my problems. And I also wish to become a doctor in the future.