In 1999, Seema Ghani, opened an orphanage in Peshawar to care for children from the poorest places, many from the Jalozai refugee camp, well known for the atrocious conditions prevailing there. Seema funded the orphanage largely from her own salary in the UK where she had lived since her parents moved there to provide their own family with a secure environment. In May 2001, I traveled with Seema to Kabul, where she had decided to live again having been inspired like many of us with the dream of reconstructing Afghanistan. We wanted to be part of this historical moment, the genesis of a re-born nation where all the people would have access to basic services and fundamental human rights. With hope in our hearts, the orphanage – known as Khorasan House (Khorasan means land of the sun) was moved from Pakistan to Kabul so that the children could grow up within their own culture and country and be proud to be Afghan. Much has happened since that time. Seema was a prominent figure in the new Karzai government, having a crucial role as the Director General – Budget and working closely with Dr Ashraf Ghani the previous Finance Minister. When Dr Ghani left the government and became Chancellor of Kabul University, Seema, left too as she did not wish to work in the ministry without him. Since then Seema has worked as a consultant on various projects. Throughout, Seema has continued to support Khorasan, living in the same house as their mother, and with a handful of unpaid volunteers has striven to raise funds to look after her family.
Since 2002 and those hopeful days, security has worsened again and hopes are fading. The situation even in Kabul is now difficult for the children's safety and services are still bad with electricity erratic and costs of fuel and rent stratospheric. Major donors are not keen on funding small charities preferring to put their money into high visibility projects. This means that small 'homes' like Khorasan are often ignored and now that Seema is no longer 'high profile' she is not drawing the publicity for donors that some expect. Consequently we constantly struggle to raise funds to look after the children. They are 'our' children and come what may we will look after them until they are able to support themselves. Jeanne Bryer