Adil Najam
This post updates our earlier list of good ways to help flood victims in Pakistan.
The good news is that there are now many avenues through which support can be provided to them. We have listed and given links to just a few here but there are many many more. More importantly, the range of avenues and ways in whihc you can help has also expanded. These range from UN agencies (such as UNHCR or WFP) to international relief organizations (such as Doctors Without Borders or Save the Children) to Pakistani groups such as (Edhi Trust or Behbud) to more localized organizations (such as Karachi Relief Trust or SRSP) to knowledge efforts (such as PakRelief crowd-mapping) to expatriate Pakistani efforts (such as Human Development Foundation or Relief4Paksiatan) to individual efforts such as those TeethMaestro and OffRoad Club of Paksitan and, indeed, by thousands of families and individuals all over the country who are just rising to collect money and goods and get it to those in need.
Once again, we urge you to give. Give to who ever you think will do the best job. But give. No matter how much you give or to whom. Do please give. Because the need is great. I tried to make this case to American audiences in a recent NPR interview (listen to audio here), and the case to Pakistanis is the same, but even more urgent.
Mouj baRhay, ya aandhi aaye, diya jalaye rakhna hai
Ghar ki khatir sou dukh jhailain, ghar tou aakhir appna hai
On behalf of all of our readers, we have been sending donations from ATP to Edhi Foundation and we intend to keep adding to this whatever we can. We realize this is a small amount and insignificant in light of the challenges, but we mention it here (a) because it comes from our Ad revenues and therefore from you, and (b) because we wish to reinforce the point that everyone should do whatever little they can, because every little bit counts. Since the question has been repeated, let me repeat our response to those kind readers and past donors who have written asking that we should do a collection at ATP as be have done in the past (for cyclone victims, for earthquake victims, for IDPs, etc.). However, given how many other good avenues now exist we think it is better to just urge you to give wherever you can and whatever you can.
If you are sending goods in kind, please review our last post on the subject which has a good list of the things most needed. Also, please do remember that as the water recedes the needs will actually increase, not decrease. In particular the incidence of disease will rise and the need for hygiene as well as medicine will rise with it. So, please, do whatever you can. For all our sakes!
I think Adil, I think you forgot to mention one of the commendable effort that “Pakistan Youth Alliance” is doing especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Southern Punjab. This is a national organization of Pakistani youth who is doing relief effort headed by Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi and other youths.
Most of these youth are from large cities and they have been sitting in their homes watching the calamity on TV but they stood up and went to the worst affected areas , faced harsh weather, travelled in boats, killed snakes while providing relief via boats.
I know these days a questions has been repeatedly raised which is “How would I know that my donation money is being used in providing relief.
Even bigger organizations don’t have a way to remain connected with the donors and give them updates.
I would like mention that Pakistan Youth Alliance and Teeth Maestro’s Offroad Pakistan /SA relief which is a small group of inviduals but are far ahead in terms of providing transparency.
They have been using the available IT technologies to be as transparent as possible.
From scanning receipts of the purchases / to actual daily status updates on relief effort via Twitter and facebook, sending daily live pictures of this calamity. This actually enabled the donors to virtually travel with them and seeing the live pictures within minutes, providing their track on google maps. This makes a huge difference.
made them trust worthy and encouraged donors to donate more.
A perfect example of how IT infrastructure can be effectively used without any significant cost.
I would strongly encourage our readers to also donate to them and then follow them on twitter or facebook and be part of their daily relief effort.
Besides that, renowned TV anchors Syed Talat Hussain and Kashif Abbasi have created a joint account and they have been collecting donations as well. The link is http://www.aaj.tv/donation
great list!
u can add Humanity First as well. they are already on a go.
http://usa.humanityfirst.org/
http://www.humanityfirst.ca/
Did anybody realize that this was not merely a natural disaster, it is a national security crisis also, if you realize. Read more at: http://fmeducation.blogspot.com/2010/08/floods-are -in-effect-serious-threat-to.html
If you are in Pakistan, just grab food and water and go and give directly to those in need
it’s easiest and most effective
Thanks
very useful info