Resilience in Sanghar

Pakistan was yet again faced with floods this year that affected over 5 million people in Sindh. 22 out of the 24 districts in the province were submerged. With over 400 human lives lost, more than 200,000 rendered homeless and 80% of the agricultural crop damaged, the floods of 2011 were said to be far worse for Sindh than the notorious floods of 2010.

Zimmedar Shehri launched its Flood Relief Mission 2011 in order to mobilize people to provide immediate relief to the flood-affectees in Sindh. Our aim was to collect relief goods for 1,000 families. In a span of 8 weeks we successfully managed to gather: 1,000 10kg flour bags, 2 tons of sugar, 5 tons of rice, cooking oil, salt, lentils (channa and moong), laundry soap, washing soap, cooking utensils, quilts, tea, biscuits, miswaak and matches. All these goods were packed systematically into cartons to be handed out to each household sustaining them for a period of about 2 months.

Flood affected villagers seeking refuge on a dry patch in the flood-hit Sanghar district

“Our aim was to collect relief goods for 1,000 families”

We initiated the fundraising for the mission by personally visiting several educational institutions in Lahore, through social media and through word-of-mouth. Our team of volunteers also carried out a door-to-door fundraising campaign, spending hours requesting friends, family and the public to contribute whatever they could. Our representatives in various schools and colleges sold custom-made T-shirts, postcards and wristbands that went a long way in raising the money for our cause.

Once we had purchased the relief goods, our motivated team and volunteers spent days sorting goods into packages ready to be handed out. It was then unanimously decided, after consultation with local NGOs and the Army, that the area we would visit and distribute goods in would be Sanghar. This district was declared one of the worst affected and most dangerous areas.

After a three-day journey our team of volunteers arrived in Sanghar. We traveled the length and breadth of interior Sindh to get there. We saw the destruction caused by the floods first-hand and got a chance to interact with the flood’s victims. We found their resilience to be truly inspiring and were moved by their hospitality and kindness – even in the face of such adversity they managed to smile and offered us what little food they had.

“Even in the face of such adversity they managed to smile and offered us what little food they had”

Since Sanghar is subdivided into “chaks”, the Army had agreed to liaise with the local administration to help us distribute relief items. The Army also had contacts with influential chieftains in each “chak” and we were disappointed to realize that the local chieftain had only assembled people who were close to him, not giving the others a chance to benefit. It was then that we decided to conduct a survey of the local area ourselves to identify the neediest people. We visited houses and collected the ID cards of people whose homes had been destroyed, divided them into their areas of residence and asked them to assemble in an orderly manner to ensure that no area or family was left out of the process or was treated differently based on their relationship with the chieftain. By the end of it, we distributed ration and miscellaneous relief goods to more than 1,500 families.

It was quite saddening to observe the sociopolitical dynamics in Sanghar. We discovered that help seemed to be available to the locals based on their relationship with the chieftains and that various political parties distributed aid only to the ‘pyaaras’ of the local chieftain. We learned that the chieftain would hoard relief items and later sell them in the open market to make a profit. The locals were pleasantly taken aback by our efforts at helping them without having a political agenda.

Our next initiative is to build a school in Basti Ryndh, South Muzzafargarh, where the floods of 2010 washed everything away. Construction is due to begin this month and the school will educate the children from eleven surrounding villages. Currently the nearest middle school from Basti Ryndh is at a distance of 4.5 km, while the high school is located 8.7 km away. This is a concern especially for the young girls from these villages who wish to further their education. By building a school in this area, we hope to fulfill the deficiency of education and awareness these communities have been facing for decades. We have already raised six and a half lakh rupees which will help to sustain construction for at least three weeks. However, we need to raise another five lakhs to complete the construction of the school.

These causes have taught us that whatever differences we may have among ourselves, the spirit of building a better Pakistan cuts across all barriers. This very spirit of collectiveness, ownership, and unity is what we hope to inculcate in fellow Pakistanis; to work together with sincerity and with a common goal to change Pakistan. We know what Pakistan is capable of. Now is the time to put into practice what we have dreamt of and through our joint efforts make our country what it was meant to be.