About Trust Sulha

Trust Sulha is a charitable organisation that was set up in 2006 by a journalist called Marnie Summerfield Smith. The trust supports the education of young Afghan refugees who live in Quetta, Pakistan.

This site is new today, Monday September 28th 2009, and it will take time for us to create links to our information and the history of what the trust has achieved so far. If you can't find what you need here, the please email info@trustsulha.org.uk

Trust Sulha came about after Marnie visited the Afghan refugee camps of Pakistan in 2002.

Some of the Afghans had been there more than 20 years, having fled after the Soviet Union invaded.Others had arrived more recently for various reasons.

In Quetta, Marnie met Jamilla Abassy, a refugee. Jamilla was not a teacher when she arrived in Quetta in 1992, but she was so upset at seeing children rummage in rubbish for things to sell, that she decided they needed a school, and she opened one for boys and girls.
“Change will never come in the lives of Afghan people unless our women are educated,” said Jamilla. “A woman is the bearer of a whole generation.”

Jamilla believes that education will bring hope, opportunity, and therefore peace to Afghanistan.

“Rations, oil, money, all these things will finish one day. If someone really wants to help us, please educate our people. Spend your money on education, buy us books, provide us with schools, and we'll never be a burden again.”

Marnie also met one of Jamilla’s teachers, Rahema Sherzhad. A few years later, Rahema opened the Marnie Smith Middle School. Shortly after that Marnie set up Trust Sulha to help Rahema and Jamilla, choosing the word Sulha, which means peace in Dari, one of the Afghan languages, to reflect their belief that education will bring peace.

Between them, Jamilla and Rahema are now educating almost 2,000 children and young people.

So far, Trust Sulha supporters have bought seating, desks, uniforms, stationery, and paid for rent, electricity, heating and staff salaries, including teachers and security staff.

Two weeks ago, Trust Sulha received a letter from Marnie Smith Middle School student Suhela, who is 14. Suhela wrote, “My father was killed in Afghanistan and our lives were in trouble. We are refugees in Pakistan. I live with my four sisters and two brothers. My brothers are too young to work but my mother and my sisters work in handicrafts and tailoring. I am proud to get an education at the Marnie Smith Middle School. I want to be a mathematics teacher so I can serve my country.”