Helping to bridge the gap between multiple ethnicities and to raise awareness, Sana Orphanage founder Shughla Ahmadi participated in the Cultural Crossroads event that took place in early November at Crossroads Shopping Center in Bellevue. The annual Eastside multi-ethnic event hosted informational booths on foundations, organizations and provided resource material for Bellevue’s ethically diverse community. The event also included music and dancing.

The Sana Orphanage is one example of the difference one person can make. Ahmadi saw the pain and suffering in the eyes of the children in Afghanistan and was prompted to take action.

“No matter how bad it seems to be here in the United States, it’s one hundred times worse in countries where there’s war and suffering.” Ahmadi said. “Those children have no hope at all, unless someone comes to help them. They will be tomorrow’s criminals and terrorists – instead of tomorrow’s future citizens,” she explained. “We can make the future for ourselves better by helping all children grow up strong, healthy and educated.

She now travels from the Seattle area to Afghanistan twice a year to visit with the children in her orphanage.

“What if it was my child asking for a piece of bread because they’re so hungry, and all they have to wear is old rags and no shoes, even in the winter?” she asked herself. “So I took the step to start helping them without thinking twice about it.”

The devastating effects of the war in Afghanistan have left millions of children orphaned and alone. More than one million children in Afghanistan are suffering from untreated Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a fact that led Ahmadi to take a stand.

On Saturday, Nov. 22nd Ahmadi will be hosting the Sana Orphanage Charity Auction and Fundraising Event from 5 -10 p.m at the Demetrios Hall in Seattle. The auction is being held to raise enough money to cover the expenses of the room, board, and education of Sana’s children for the next year. It also will cover medical expenses and will allow the orphanage to purchase a small bus to take the children to school and back.

During a recent trip back to her homeland in 2006, Ahmadi experienced the pain and suffering of the children in Afghanistan first hand. Having fled to Pakistan as a young girl when the civil war broke out and later relocating to Seattle with her family, Ahmadi was haunted by what she witnessed during her trip.

In Afghanistan, a child whose father has died is considered an orphan whether they have a mother or not and factors such as high cost, logistics and red tape create many barriers for adoption in Afghanistan.

After returning home to her husband and family, she quickly decided to place her time and efforts in a new direction: to provide orphaned children in Afghanistan with a safe place to live and grow up.

Ahmadi is the founder and executive director of Sana Orphanage, a place for young children ranging in age from three to 12 years old to laugh, smile and just be a kid again. Sana is an Arabic word meaning praise or brilliant, commonly used in Islamic cultures when one is thanking Allah for His blessings. The Sana Orphanage now has 12 staff members and 42 children.

To raise the initial funding to open an orphanage, Ahmadi sold her wedding jewelry and used her personal savings to find a house, hire a staff, and purchase necessities. The orphanage welcomed its first children soon after, including those of family members who could no longer care for them. Other children found a safe haven in the orphanage after living on the streets, often malnourished and traumatized.

Ahmadi is amazed at the progress the children have made.

“I can see these children are growing fast now that they are in a very healthy environment. They had health conditions like malnutrition that are getting better with good food,” Ahmadi explained. “Some of the children have illnesses, but after providing them the health care that they need they are getting well.”

Sana Orphanage goes beyond providing a warm place to sleep at night. The children at the orphanage also are able to attend school where they can learn to read and write. Children at Sana Orphanage likely will stay there until adulthood. They will have the opportunity to complete high school and will be given guidance and support for attending college or trade school.

“The children study very hard — they are so excited just to have the opportunity to learn,” she said with pride, adding, “All of them want to become future doctors, engineers and teachers. Most of all, hearing their laughter as they play is telling me that this is the right thing to do.”

Today, Ahmadi hopes to relocate and expand the existing orphanage through continued contributions and by raising awareness of the need of the children in Afghanistan who may be orphaned but are no longer alone.

To learn more about Sana Orphanage visit, www.sanaorphange.org.

Lindsay Larin can be reached at llarin@bellevuereporter.com or at 425-453-4602.