At the first day of my engagement at JRS Community Development Centre (CDC), I took pity on the children in the IDP settlement, who continue to be deprived of opportunities conducive to their personal growth for the growth of the children.

Mustafa*, a nine years old boy in shabby old clothes is sitting on the floor of the classroom at the JRS CDC. He is surrounded by 32 other smiling boys, and sharing a history of displacement like the hundreds of other children who find a safe space for their holistic development and new hope for a better future.

The weather is cold, and the rooms of CDC, one of the few facilities within the settlement, have been prepared for the class. Mustafa says, “I will never leave my education, because this is my first chance to get education in my life after fleeing from our province.”

At the beginning of the classes, I asked Mustafa about his hope for the future. He lowered his head and with eyes filled with tears he said, “I wanted to become a doctor but now I am collecting rubbish and bottles on the streets to help my mom to bake bread for our family.”

Mustafa is among hundreds of thousands of internally displaced children who have recently come to Herat province from adjacent provinces because of political conflicts and of poverty. “Since we have left our house and come here, I did not go to school. I like school and have fun with my friends, but I couldn’t attend classes because it was far from our house. There was no school near my house, so my dad did not let me go to the far away school as I am very young.” says Mustafa with deep regret. Since the start of the JRS CDC, Mustafa loves to enjoy the safe space offered by it and to learn and have fun with his new friends.

“The JRS CDC has brought a new mind-set and structure to the children’s lives. I can see the changes since they started,” Ayub Khan, the community elder says. “With limited access to water and sanitation and few opportunities for stimulation in the camp, the JRS CDC have become the center of the children’s lives” he adds later.

 After one month of engagement with JRS CDC, I asked Mustafa again about his dreams and desires. Now, still wearing his shabby black coat but feeling confident about his future, he said “I want to become a doctor in the future”, in firmly grabbing firmly the notebooks he was given to him by JRS.

*Note: Names changed to maintain confidentiality of the people served.