Pakistan’s Great Flood: Thank You, Italy

Owais Mughal

Amidst all the talks of donor fatigue, what I saw in Italy myself has made me very heartened.

Last week I was buying coke in a store in Rome. A radio in the shop was blaring a pop song. After the song finished I heard the words of ‘Pakistan’ and ‘Emergency’ on the radio. Hearing these two words together of-course got my attention. The short speech was in Italian which I didn’t understand so I asked the shopkeeper what it was and in her limited English capacity she told me it was an ad for collecting donations for Flood victims in Pakistan.

I was indeed heartened.

Then some time later we were traveling in Rome metro when I saw this visual ad on train’s TV screen showing flood victims of Pakistan and asking for texting a number to do a 2 Euros donation. I noticed the frequency of this visual ad was every few minutes. I took out my camera and took the photo that is with this post.

I was heartened again.

I write this post only to say, ‘Thank You, Italy. We appreciate the help and the humanity.’