Shanela Haque talks about being inspired by children in Kashmir and the empowerment of girls...

Having never done any charity work abroad before I didn't really know what to expect. I had read the diaries of other MADE in Europe deployees who all had amazing experiences and so I knew we wouldn't be let down. I was told I would be teaching and carrying out other activities in schools in Kashmir which had been set up by a charity called READ Foundation (RF). After all the trouble in the region I was very curious to see how it was coping, especially after the earthquake. There's no better way of seeing how a society is progressing than looking at its children.

Our first session was in one of RF’s schools in an area called Chak.  It was difficult at first. There was a group of around 16 girls in their early teenage years. They were extremely shy to the point where I thought they might actually be scared of us! I was, however, overwhelmed by the amount of respect they showed us. They would not speak unless spoken to, stood up when we entered the room or whenever they spoke to us and always asked permission before entering the class. We played games such as Pictionary and Hangman to help them with their English. We also did some painting with them. I was very impressed by their artistic talents – much better than some work I’ve seen by professional artists!

The next day we walked to another school on the top of a steep hill. On our way there we got the chance to see inside one of the teacher's house. Around 5 or more people lived in this small cramped shelter (I could barely call it a house). There were about 5 small rooms including a kitchen which barely had any cooking equipment. They had to get drinking water from a well nearby. They also had their own livestock. I noticed that a lot of families had their own livestock in fact and I admired the kind of independence that brought them. A lot of families also grew some of their own crops.

We had to climb some steep land with no steps to get to the actual classrooms of the school and as we climbed we suddenly thought what would OFSTED have said about this school's situation. When we went inside the classrooms we saw that things were a lot worse. The rooms were dark sometimes with slight cracks in the roofs which were made out of corrugated metal. There was no light and there was a hole in the wall which could be covered and which acted as a window.

The next day we saw an assembly at the same school. The children lined up single file and faced the stage where the head girl and boy stood. The head girl (presumably because she had the loudest voice) did most of the presenting. Anything people say about girls being oppressed here certainly wasn't evident on that stage. As the head girl gave the children of the school their orders the children proudly stood straight and the teachers checked every student’s nails to make sure they were clean. A few children recited beautiful poems and songs.

On another day we walked to a school named 'Chota Gala' (meaning small road) where we received a beautiful reception. The children had dressed up in costumes they had made themselves and did a parade while singing a welcome song for us. We walked with them down to the lake and the children crowded round each of us volunteers and bombarded us with questions: 'Why are you here?' 'What school did you like best?' 'What do you do in England?' 'What's your father's name?' I had lots of questions for them too - I really wanted to find out what life was like for them and how different it was from ours. One of the much younger girls held my hand and led me through the rocky hills - I felt a weird kind of shame - as if I, as the older one, should be the one looking out for her! But I remembered that these children are used to walking through land like this. The children although very young seemed to have a strong kind of maturity about them. As I uncovered more and more about the lives of some of the children I found out that one of the girls had a brother in Canada. She told me he went there to find work. Earlier one of the teachers at a different school had told me about somebody she knew who had gone to England for the same reason.  I was only there for a few days and I guess the friendly and welcoming atmosphere did a good job of hiding how hard people found life out there. People were travelling to the other side of the world in search for a better life. People here have to, in effect, fend for themselves with almost no help from the government - one can only imagine how hard that must be.

When we were not at the schools we were taken around the most incredible natural spots on earth. Even the pictures cannot communicate how picturesque, peaceful and unique some parts of Kashmir are. As we walked down from Toli Peer (the highest mountain in the region) whilst the sun set on our last night in Kashmir I just hoped I would have the opportunity to see this beautiful sight and these beautiful people again. I feel indebted to them for all their hospitality and generosity and badly want to pay them back for it. The remarkable thing is I can and so easily. Others can help these people too with such small sacrifices such as donating some money or some time for their cause. We hear about what effects how charity can have but there is nothing like seeing it for yourself.   By doing so little we really can help so much.

By Shanela Haque