On Sunday afternoon I joined a team from Church World Service and travelled five hours north to Khairpur. One of CWS’ local partners there - the Participatory Village Development Programme (PVDP) gave a presentation on their work so far with flood affected communities in the area and the next day we visited communities that had been displaced by the floods.
One community in the village of Agra had been ordered to vacate the school premises they were occupying so school could re-start. There were some thirty families and their livestock living in the school grounds. They said they had no houses to go back to as they had been destroyed in the floods. Some women were making craft items on sewing machines donated PVDP while two mothers brought their new-born babies to the health team. One was clearly undernourished. The health team saw 250 people in the course of the day.
We turned off the new road built on an embankment and bumped across pathways and fields towards another village, Tayyab Sheikh. It had been flattened when water two meters high had flooded their village. The community had evacuated to the road and lived there until the waters receded. About 50 families had returned and those who were able had begun to rebuild some kind of shelter from mud walls and thatched roofs.
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| The remains of the school at Tayyab Sheikh |
The villagers had organised a makeshift school for the children under a tree. The only sign that there was any activity were a few sheets of paper with the outlines of children’s hands strung up in the branches. This attempt to provide the children with a school was both touching and pathetic and shows what a vast reconstruction effort lies ahead. Previously the girls in the village had not gone to school but when we asked the children who wanted to study there was a shout and a forest of hands were put up. Just yards from the flattened remains of the former school the children of this marginalised community knew the importance of education. I hope their cries will be heard and that a school for boys and girls will be rebuilt in Tayyab Sheikh.
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| Children at the makeshift school |
Like the people in Agra they were Haris, landless peasant farmers. They were worried that the landlord would try have them evict them from their village even though they had lived there for generations. These kind of conflicts could be repeated all over Pakistan as the powerful try to take advantage of those with no land, little money, no power or influence. Property disputes, already a common enough feature in the country, are likely to escalate as boundary markers have been washed away.
Next we went to Sukkur where we saw non-food items being distributed to 500 families. The packs included kitchen utensils, mosquito nets, soap. I was struck by the organisation and professionalism of the team from PVDP and the respect they gave the people receiving the packs. These were people who had lost their homes and their belongings and been forced to move, but the young team treated these people with dignity, showing them the contents of the packs and efficiently recording the details of the recipients.
Many more people were outside but only those registered with PVDP and CWS would receive the goods. This was all taking place in the premises of a Diocese of Hyderabad hostel (supported by Church of Scotland). It is also the base of a coalition of local organisations that works with children from a nearby community who live in slums on the banks of the River Indus. The children receive formal and non-formal education and two meals a day. Later we visited the area where they live and we met a number of families who were grateful for the cooking utensils, soap and mosquito nets they had been given. One woman was delighted with the mosquito net and said, “We get a lot of mosquitoes here – this is great!” I was not surprised they get a lot of mosquitoes – the muddy river water was only a few feet away and every few yards was a plank of wood suspended just above the water with a rigging of rags providing a minimum of modesty for users of these most basic of latrines. These people live in wretched conditions and the only help they receive is from Riverside Slum Child Project. Manowar Gill, project leader, is keen to do more with the community and it would be great if he could get partners and resources to allow this.
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| Family receives non-food items in riverside community |
My last full day in Pakistan, was taken up with meetings with Rt Rev Sadiq Daniel, Bishop of Karachi, Rev Julian Justine, Acting Director of IBTIDA drug rehabilitation programme and with Church World Service. Each of these allowed for reflection on the current situation and opportunities for further cooperation in the future.
Pakistan is facing multiple crises and challenges. In the past 10 days I have seen how some people are trying to respond to some of them. Pakistan isn’t the easiest place to live, work and make progress but it is too important a place to walk away from. And there are some amazing people and organisations that inspire and encourage.
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| Children from the riverside slums having lunch at the Riverside Project |
A closing word about the impact of the worst floods in 80 years to hit Pakistan. It is a sobering thought that the destruction of houses and schools, the displacement of entire communities, the loss of belongings and the turmoil all of this brings to suffering people is being replicated in thousands of villages and towns in Pakistan. The scale of this disaster is almost incomprehensible with statistics and numbers rendered meaningless because of their sheer immensity. I at least have seen the faces of a few people uprooted by this disaster and I pray I won’t forget Yunas at Tarnab, Diwan Masih and Pervaiz in Charsadda, Sher Mohammad in Tayyeb Sheikh or Shaukat and his daughter and Elahi Buksh in Sukkur.
