phfadmin
Fazila is studying in one of the schools supported under PRM supported Program for Retention, Enrollment, and Protection (PREP-II) in Schools for Afghan Refugees and Host Community in Quetta. Mercy Corps is implementing this three-year program in 13 peri- urban locations of Quetta, Balochistan province.
In 2017, Fazila dropped out of her school in 7th Grade due to the financial limitations of her family. Back at school, she had to balance time – a clocked equilibrium for arts and academics. While being dropped out, all the hands on her clock were ticking only for the artist. “That’s the best thing about painting” with confidence in her eyes, Fazila states “no one can restrict your imagination. I could still imagine the colors that would be on the imaginary artwork of the walls in my house”. Surrendering to her ever-popping requests of watercolors, her father brought her a pack of three colors – it was all that he could afford as a 45-year-old sole earner of a family of eight members. She spent hours on her artboard of a wall – outlining, sketching, and coloring her forever imaginative painting on the wall. Then, the beauty of her artboard of a wall could only be found parallel to the intensity of her desires to more – imagine more, sketch more, color more.
Knowing of Fazila’s desires, one of her friends informed her of Mercy Corps’ PREP-II Project which was supporting dropout girls with re-enrolment and financial support. After successful mobilization activities of the PREP-II Team, Fazila re-enrolled in her school and was now back again to being both a cheerful artist and a freewill student. Mercy Corps team not only supported her to get re-enrolled in the school but also provided her uniform and stationary to help her study. In addition, like other students supported under the program, Mercy Corps also provides a monthly stipend to not only encourage the parents to send their children to school but also to support the family in covering some of the expenses.
In the three-hour time frame of the competition, Fazila drew a painting of a girl holding a globe, portraying the empowered message of “All Girls, hold their World, in their own Hands” – a message she equipped herself with during the life skill sessions conducted by Mercy Corps in her school.
As the concept of her image was announced, applause sheered among the attendees of the competition, and then, she was awarded the winning prize for her conceptual creativity. Fazila wants to embed the dancing colors of her imaginative artworks into embroidery – a skill that she is currently pursuing to learn after her school classes.
Mercy Corps supports 2,058 students in project supported 30 government schools (894 girls, 525 boys) and 16 Accelerated Learning Program Centers (409 girls, 230 boys) through monthly stipend. To further make the schools a safe place, Mercy Corps also conducts regular sessions on life skills and provides child protection awareness and services in the project supported schools including that of Fazila. Capacity building of teachers, rehabilitation of WASH facilities, provision of safe spaces, implementation of COVID-19 SOPs and awareness messages around COVID-19 prevention are also some of the activities being undertaken in government schools as part of the project.
