PHM-Exch> Solidarity appeal from Pakistan

[Claudio Schuftan]

On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 11:40 AM, kausar.skhan <kausar.skhan at aku.edu> PHM
Pakistan wrote:

>
> The support you are mobilizing for us is very heartening. How we can avail
> from your efforts is a challenge for us here, as the task is so daunting and
> overwhelming that if we do not watch-out paralysis may slowly strike us –
> i.e.  those who MUST come forth to help.
>
>
>
> I take this opportunity to salute Tanveer and his team that has directed
> all its efforts into relief work, and that oo within a few days of the
> disaster that struck us. The magnitude of this  calamity took a few days to
> hit us. I was in the hills of Murree at a meeting  of a peace initiative in
> Pakistan,  and some friends from Peshawar informally  shared what was
> happening  amidst the heavy showers that were lashing at the land and
> mountains. – bridges collapsing; villages inundated; humanity beginning to
> move to whatever high ground could be found. During one of the sessions, a
> friend from Lahore got a call and with a shocked face he said: ‘I just got a
> call from Layya (a district in Punjab). They have asked people to vacate the
>  main city of Layyah …’ Since then we saw individuals, groups, organizations
> small and large scrambling to respond. Of course, some were quick to reach
> the affected, and some got entangled in preparing mammoth plans.
>
>
>
> Some of us in Karachi compelled by the need to respond have been visiting
> the camps in and around Karachi.  What struck us was the need to protect the
> dignity of those affected and needing relief in various aspects of their
> life. Distribution of relief goods has become a major challenge, for it is
> creating conditions where people fight for the goods, with the weak (women
> and old men) sidelined in the scrimmage for goods. A woman in the first camp
> we visited said, pointing to her arm,:’ they beat me with a stick as I tried
> to get the clothes…. Then somebody gave me a packet… and somebody snatched
> it from me”. She held her thick hair in her hand, and said: ‘they pulled me
> by the hair’.
>
>
>
> Health , as the focus on social determinants of health vividly declare, is
> about social determinants of health, and perhaps it has never been so
> challenged as today in Pakistan.  Medical care today is as critical as
> disease prevention  and health promotion. Community participation has never
> been as much in need as today, for this alone will initiate the process of
> helping people dealt with their trauma.  Beneath every trauma is the
> helplessness of those afflicted.  Wanting people to passively receive the
> relief goods is to have them experience another form of helplessness. (most
> relief work seems to indicate this charitable approach – ‘why can’t they
> make a line ! they must be made to make lines’, said a man  who has yet to
> visit a camp; ‘we tell them to stay in their tents and we shall deliver the
> food’, said a frustrated manager of a camp. In order to prevent  possible
> stampedes, one camp had devised a strategy . A small group, accompanied by a
> policeman and a few wielding sticks,  delivered the relief packets to the
> people waiting in the tents. Yet, in this same camp this strategy collapsed
> when dust bins were to be distributed for the camps. The frail policemen,
> and the volunteers with the trash cans were accosted by the youth in the
> camp and literally ran away with the trash cans, and some only with the
> covers of the cans . Having said this, I must add, there are those who have
> linked up with local organizations and their volunteers to help the  people
> affected by the floods to share responsibilities of distribution of relief
> goods.  There are some good practices emerging, and need to be disseminated
> so that more and more relief work could engage the affected in an active
> mode where they become equal partners in the relief work. This is doable,
> and can easily demonstrate the strength of the people in distress to begin
> to take control of their lives – provided, of course, those involved in
> relief work are committed to the spirit of community participation.
>
>
>
>  Better end here. More later. I’ll end by saying that if in the efforts of
> the small group with which I am associated  there is something to share on
> how we managed to ensure dignity of those in need, I’ll share it with you.
> This Sunday, we plan to visit a camp that now has 1100 tents, and with
> grossly inadequate food coming their way; and diarrhea and skin diseases
> beginning to raise their heads.
>
>
>
> Stay in touch,
>
> All the best, and thanks again for being there,
>
> Kausar
>
>
>
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