| Perhaps the most heart-wrenching
stories from the earthquake are those of the Afghan
refugees, as portrayed by the retired minister of education,
Mr. Amanollah Askari, who had lost his own father and
sister to the earthquake. After obtaining medical care
for his injured mother, Askari led Tzu Chi volunteers
to visit his ruined home. It was a tiny and crowded
school, barely the size of a small kitchen by western
standards; most of it had collapsed. The bathroom was
overflowed with human waste from the septic tank possibly
due to the lack of running water and/or the earthquake.
Picking up scattered textbooks among piles of debris,
Askari could no longer hold back his tears. “Most
of the little children who study these books have perished,”
Askari said. A lifetime educator, Askari continued to
operate two schools after he officially retired ten
years ago. He ran the boy’s school while his wife
ran the girl’s school, which was left with a lone
locked gate, crumpled walls and no roof. This school
he built with a 45-million Riyal (U.S. $6000) loan was
completely ruined.
Askari’s father was a hard-working farmer who
had donated his land for the schools. He had rented
out his home to Afghan refugees who, after long journeys,
had finally found safety away from the war in their
homeland. Although they had survived the war, these
refugees had no answers for the earthquake that took
their lives.
The schools can be rebuilt;
but the children are forever lost.
Askari adopted the refugee children and educated them.
“I cry more for these children than for my own
father,” the heart-broken educator sobbed. When
told of Master Cheng Yen’s mission of education,
Askari vowed to mobilize all surviving educators to
work with Tzu Chi to rebuild the schools.
According to the Iranian government, approximately
10,000 students and 1,300 teachers had died in the earthquake.
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