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 appreciate ATP keeping the intense focus on the need to act. You do a national service with this.
But I must say I do now think that people have the same spirit or even interest this time. No matter who you talk to is more interesting in talking about the politics of this and finding some way to make a political point for or against someone rather than actually focusing on the calamity and what to do about it. In 2005 with earthquake it is very different that way. This time there is NO solidarity nationally.
Everyone here is suffering from something. Still, the moment they see us, everyone scrambles to find a suitable place for us. Someone is trying to find a chair for us to sit down. Father Khuda Joti is insisting on giving us tea or sending someone to buy a cold drink. We are guests in his makeshift shelter, and he wants to give us the best of what he has. We cannot bring ourselves to take anything from him. He and his family have lost nearly everything they own.
They are victims of the worst floods Pakistan has ever seen, and yet they are trying to make us comfortable. That keeps happening everywhere we go. The day before, in a school-turned-clinic, a few ladies who had survived the floods handed me a “hair catcher” because they could see that I was sweating profusely, and they wanted to make me more comfortable. At the same time, the men kept fanning us with brightly colored hand fans. It makes me feel both ashamed about how much I have and don’t appreciate, and inspired by the kindness that is clearly being extended with no expectation of anything in return.
The source for the above is not relevant. The truth does not need references. These are the descriptions of the hard working, honest, decent Pakistanis. And they are the weak, the voiceless. Hardly anyone “gitter-mitters” for them. You will find similar descriptions anywhere you read; any source; any publication.
But the weak of Pakistan,
They have nothing. They had nothing.
They have no clean water. They had no clean water.
They have no medicine. They had no medicine.
They have no belongings. They had no belongings.
They have cholera. They had cholera.
They have malaria. They had malaria.
They have skin disease. They had skin disease.
They have no electric power. They had no electric power.
They have no one who listens to their plight. They had no one who listened to their plight.
They have no justice. They had no justice.
They have no equity. They had no equity.
Let me repeat: They are victims of the worst floods Pakistan has ever seen, and yet they are trying to make us comfortable. That keeps happening everywhere we go.
And these are the people who are “sold” again and again by the self proclaimed and equally bigoted religious nuts and the self appointed and equally bigoted liberal frauds. We have seen usurpers evil and enlightened and everyone one in between. We have seen all elected, usurped and appointed “leaders”.
All of them. None save Jinnah cared for Pakistan. The rest have been only interested in their own “legacies” and “relations”.
Shame.
Shameless.
Shameful.
And we continue to witness the theft.
And these are the kind of people the thieves of Pakistan rob from. And accomplice in this theft are the three jinns of Pakistan, I-Slammed-Everyone-Abad, Karachi and Lahore. They do not care who lives and who dies. They are only embarrassed that now the world will watch them die homeless; with cameras trained on them! The world will see their own opulence and the disparity of the weak. The theft documented.
Please do listen to the wailings of the elite. Pay attention to their words. They do not care about the poor. They just are worried that the terrorists will move in. They are just worried this will be recruitment grounds for terrorists. What kind of humanity is that? You only seem to care to keep your theft?
Humanity is the last thing on their mind. Humanity was the last thing on their mind.
What the weak of Pakistan have is decency, honesty, sincerity, hard work and faith.
The question is, will the “educated” of Pakistan, see the light and change their ways? Will they stand up for the weak and say enough is enough and ask for equity and justice. Will they seize the moment?
I pray they do.
There is yet a lot of good in Pakistani peoples. Good deep and wide. Good slumbered. The system is bad. Not the people. And Pakistanis are perfectly capable of fixing their own house.
I know Pakistanis will come together and do it.
I have faith.
I have the audacity of hope with fierce urgency of now.
We as a nation are so divided and so weak and cynical that I keep wondering if these floods will tear us totally apart. Just at the 1970 ones did from your last post.
Impartiality: Humanitarian action must be carried out on the basis of need alone, giving priority to the most urgent cases of distress and making no distinctions on the basis of nationality, race, gender, religious belief, class or political opinion.
This single declaration deems the UN charter (made by humans) superior to any religion (word of God).
Very good list. Many of my Americans friends have ben asking how they can help and I have forwarded this to some of them