Shahin Shah has been at the House of Flowers nearly since its inception, arriving at the House in December of 2003 with his brother Zaher Shah. Their father had been killed the year before. Shahin Shah was barely 4 years old when we met him; he had a serious yet beautiful and cherubic face. He rarely spoke and rarely played with others, preferring to play with toy cars while standing alone by the window. We often worried about Shahin Shah, as he seemed withdrawn and isolated. He had a very strong, yet quiet and reserved character.
Once Shahin decided to slowly join the others and began to sit for lessons, it became evident that he was a very sharp little boy who learned extremely quickly – but was very quiet. Despite his quietness, his serious eyes and very sweet smile attracted the attention of every visitor to the house, and somehow he had a strong charisma for a very small boy who rarely spoke.
He slowly began to grow, and around age 5 he went through a phase of talking at great length, telling long, detailed and articulate stories. He became more cheerful and could be seen running from room to room, playing with stuffed animals. But what Shahin was famous for in the House at that time was his deep love for nature. In particular, Shahin loved butterflies, ants and flowers. He kissed the pictures of butterflies in books, gently picked up ants and held them in his hand, and treasured small flowers that he found on the ground, sitting quietly and holding them tenderly. It is his hand that is holding the flower in the picture on our home page from 2005, when he was about 6 years old.
Now in 2012, Shahin is in 8th grade and 13 years old. He goes to school with the others at the House and excels at all intellectual activities. He is very skilled at drawing and coloring; his skills and personality remind one of a potential artist or architect. He has expressed a wish to be an engineer, and he absolutely has the skills for it. These days he loves to tinker, and he takes apart old devices to make his own circuits with batteries and lightbulbs.
Shahin is still very reserved, very quiet and very serious. He usually can be found with Ramin, and they can be found sitting together talking quietly, maybe writing or reading or playing a game, or working on a new circuit experiment.
To see pictures of Shahin Shah over the years, click on a picture and scroll through, or…
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