Just to paint a brief picture of the devastation and relief work done by some unsung heroes, two examples have to be quoted here. A friend sent a couple of video clips recently which he had recorded while on relief work through his family’s charity organization, Asifa Irfan Foundation, a trust that has expanded its philanthropic work ever since starting its operations especially with respect to flood relief work after the 2010 floods that ravaged much of Pakistan. The first one was a hauntingly apocalyptic video, spanning barely a few seconds made in pitched darkness with the sound of water ominously splashing about as if one was standing on a beach, enough to jolt an unsuspecting viewer into stunned silence while visualizing the enormity of the water body, reportedly forming a lake sixty kilometers wide in its breadth.
If the first clip seemed to resemble the prelude to a heart stopping scene form an Alfred Hitchcock classic for its sheer eeriness, the second one was just plain disturbing for the utter human misery it captured, again during dead of the night. People can be seen sleeping under open sky with nothing to protect them during the steamy daytime temperatures on both sides of the main road leading to Rojhan, district Rajanpur. Those people had been forced to converge on the only dry, elevated land for as far as the eye could see amidst now stagnating water, seeking refuge from the near-oceanic waves on both sides of the road. Those are some of the unlucky ones who couldn’t find a tent village set up by a number of charity organizations operating in the flood-ravaged parts of the country after finding their villages submerged within days due to incessant rains.
As the gigantic twenty two-wheel haulage trucks scream past charpoys of the displaced families camped perilously close to the path of heavy traffic, the only defence or warning signs are the tree branches placed next to the sleeping children meant for the drivers to notice and slow down without running over the sleeping human bodies. The scenes of destruction and the ensuing destitution caused by floods of Biblical proportions may have come at an inopportune time in the political calendar too, so to speak. Natural catastrophes when coupled with economic hardship are just a cruel hammer blow for any country, let alone Pakistan, struggling to avoid economic meltdown and consequent civil unrest.
Although painful to listen to and stomach all the details of woeful state of wretchedness the flood affectees are forced to live their lives in, yet the stories of relief work done by civil society and charity organizations set up by relatively less known and anonymous citizens are both reassuring and inspiring. Asifa Irfan Foundation is one such shining example but in a different way from some of the seasoned and well-known charities like Alkhidmat and JDC Foundation etc which are doing sterling work in disaster-hit areas. The difference, however, between charities that collect funds from general public and those which are run with the help of family and/or corporate help like Asifa Irfan is huge despite the fact that both render similar services like, hot meals, clothes, temporary housing, schools and even books.
Fascinatingly, the few and far between organizations like the latter do not have to make a pitch for donations since all the funds come from the pockets of their members and/or families apart from, more importantly, putting in the real human effort of being a part of the relief effort by devoting a few days from their lives to be amongst the flood affectees. This is perhaps something the corporate sector of Pakistan should bring into their culture, i.e., not only encourage donations from their directors and top employees but, most importantly, also introduce volunteering for a few days.
Another fascinating example which explains the resilience and strong and yet much under-rated survival instincts of Pakistani people in the face of adversity, is that of Meena, a yoga teacher/activist based in Islamabad. Her exposure to and connections made during the 2010 floods and relief work for the IDPs in the wake of Swat Operation has kept her motivated to send trucks of warm clothing, food items and beddings to her native Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Luckily there are people like her in their thousands who volunteer outside the organized charity sector and those who rely on the word of mouth from affected areas to send instant relief goods making Pakistan a ‘viable’ state which is not dependent on foreign aid.
Tariq Bashir is a Lahore based lawyer. Follow him on twitter @Tariq_Bashir