Children Learn Solace in a Warring World

A North Carolina based non-profit - Solace for the Children, heals injuries of children from Afghanistan. The children learn to heal there hearts.

17-year-old Zaman Rashid puts it best,

"In America, I'm learning every day. I'm learning every day in Afghanistan just, I'm learning war — how to kill a person."

He is just one of the many who have made the journey from war torn Afghanistan to America, thanks to the healing hand of [b]Solace for the Children[/b]; a Charlotte (North Carolina) based non-profit organization. Solace for the Children is a life saver for war scarred Afghani children like Zaman, whom they bring to the United States for medical treatment. The non-profit was started by Dick Wilson, a retired insurance agent and his wife, Patsy, a real estate agent in 1996. Their original philanthropic mission was providing medical care to children from Belarus who were affected by Chernobyl’s fallout. The Afghanistan crisis is like the second chapter of their work. The remarkable fruit of their efforts with the Afghani children has been to see the change in attitude once the healing got over. The heart heals with the wounds… Afghanistan’s tribal culture has very different mores. Tribal rivalry and animosity is the rule rather than an exception. It is the nature of this harsh land that its people have had to fight to survive. But here in America, happily, the healing touched not only their injuries but also their hearts. The old adage – children will be children was amply demonstrated when they decided among themselves to drop their last names, the mark of ethnicity. The animosity further evaporated under the tutelage of the organizers. And with that has flowered their lost innocence. Rashid’s is a just one case to illustrate the healing touch of the heart. Nearly deafened by explosions and traumatized by killings around him, he has gained a new insight by being away from the violence. He is trying to share his experiences with his country folk. He sent a letter with a batch of departing children and requested it to be read to his countrymen.

“Don't think who's Shia, who's Sunni. We all are brothers. We should love each other and we should start from here.”