By Tabinda Sadiq, CARE International in Pakistan
It’s been almost 6 months since the deadly flood water played havoc and left deep marks in the hearts and minds of the whole nation and lives of millions. Affectees are afraid of mere sound of gushing water and still have not recovered. No matter what anyone does for them, the life they used to have cannot be brought back. They lost their long kept belongings, life savings, assets, livelihoods and above all, loved ones. CARE Pakistan was among the first few organizations that started its relief activities the day floods hit Khyber Patkhtoonkhwa.
Boistan Bibi
Boistan Bibi, 54 years old widow is one of the 2000 families in KPK who received 50kg of seeds for 1 acre of land each. She is heading the house. Has 9 children out of which, only one daughter is married, 2 are handicapped, 2 are working (one in Mosque and the other with NGO’s, on daily wages) and 4 are between 4 to 10 years of age. Her husband died last year and left a 3 bedroom house in Miadam, village Saatar. “That was all we had, no matter how tough the going gets, one knows that the roof is there and no one’s going to throw us out”, Says Boistan Bibi with a sigh. That house for her was not just a piece of land but a nest where she spent years with her late husband and brought up their children.
She is living in a relative’s house now, saving every penny that her son, who works with different NGO’s on daily wages, bring. “He’s the only wage earner in the family; the son who is an ‘Imam’ in the mosque brings wheat or rice only”. She has the documents of her property, but now only rocks can be seen on that land “I was astonished to see a plain white land full of sand and rocks, it felt it never had any population there”. She will soon go to the district office to get the demarcation of her land. Once she will have the demarcation she will try and build a house there. “Even if I give my children a one room house, I will die in peace”.
Due to delayed rain, locals are not expecting a good wheat production this year. The wheat they get from their lands is usually kept for their own use. They don’t have too big lands; mostly the production is used for the domestic purposes only. I asked Boistan Bibi what If the production is not good this year and her reply made me astonished, “look madam, I am an illiterate woman, looking after 8 children at this age, do u really think I will be able to build the house again? But I will keep on trying till my last breath, it’s my Faith in Almighty and the positivity that will help me get through” I repeated my question, “if it’s not wheat for us, it will be a feed for her, pointing at her cow, this is also a family”.
In KPK, CARE has distributed seed and fertilizer to 2000 families. Each bag of seeds (50 kg) and fertilizer costs approximately 5500 PKR which, according to beneficiaries like Boistan Bibi is a great help!
Talimana
Year 2010 brought many natural calamities. More than 236,000 people were killed worldwide in different natural disasters and 256 million people were affected by various types of disasters such as earthquakes, floods, tropical storms and landslides. Talimana is one of those 256 million people in the world and 18,074,250 in Pakistan who have been affected by natural calamity, floods 2010! This 45 year old widow lives in a small village called Chel, 54 kilometers from Mingora, Swat. Her husband died 24 years ago when her youngest child was only 1 year old. She has 4 children, 2 sons and 2 daughters. The older daughter is engaged and is going to go to Karachi after marriage. She had a 2 room house which she had spent almost all her life in. Floods swept it away.
She now lives in a relative’s one room house. None of her kids are educated for she never had any resources. “Right after my husband passed away, I started to work as a domestic helper “. Never in her life had she sat home but now, since everyone, where she used to live is a victim of flood and lost one thing or everything, can’t afford to pay for any help.
“When my son was only 6 he started to work at a local bakery and is working since then and earns 3000 rupees now”. The house was small but Talimana was living a peaceful and satisfactory life for she did not have to ask anyone for anything. She has been living in this village for 5 months and doesn’t know people around “every now and then people from different organizations and Government agencies write my name and many have taken the copy of my NIC (national identity card) too but nobody has helped me except for one blanket”. Whenever someone visits her place she thinks that help has arrived but every time she faces disappointment. I asked her if she has any savings for her daughter’s wedding “I requested a relative to call our relatives (her daughter’s in-laws) in Karachi to come and take her with them without proper ceremony as I have no hope of any help from people, I know Allah (God) will help me!”
Talimana is one of the women-headed households identified by CARE and its partner Initiative for Development and Empowerment Axis (IDEA) in Swat, KPK for 2 months house rent, ration and winterized kit. It’s been 6 months since the floods but seeing people like Talimana it feels that it happened only yesterday and people are still suffering and asking for basic necessities like food and NFIs. There is still a lot to be done. Reaching areas where people like Talimana live and can’t access help is one big challenge.
Personally, throughout this emergency, meeting and identifying Tamilana for aid gave me a sense of achievement like never before. For me, it wasn’t easy hiking a steep hill for 40 minutes to get to her but on my way back it felt that it was worth it!
CARE’s has benefitted total of 220,919 people in 5 months including 90,813 Children, 73,904 women and 56,202 men. CARE is supporting the sectors of Healthcare, Water and Sanitation, Non-food Items (tents, mats, Kitchen and Hygiene sets, mosquito mats, shawls, blankets, jerry cans etc), Cash for Work, Cash Grants and Food distribution. However, availability of some or all sectors in different areas is based on need and requirements of our beneficiaries.