I am presently in Islamabad after having attended a very interactive brain storming session there were over ~30 NGO’s present. Even Ali Asghar of the Omar Asghar Foundation. In these round table meetings there is an abundant ‘talk talk talk’ but I was glad to note that these teams are doing a great job on the ground while the government is busily dragging its feet.
The National Disaster Alliance which was created during the Earthquake on 2005 seems to be sleeping and the hard work done to get that unit prepared seems to be gone in vain as these NGO’s were alarmed at the lackluster approach by the government in trying to manage this recent catastrophe
Due to my own inclination towards digital activism during times of crisis there was a remarkable eagerness displayed to adopt technology to implement them in the NGO’s and we hope initiate some project within a few days and hope to implement it across Pakistan
Relief Collection Drive, by the grace of Allah was an initiative that was started on the afternoon of the 15th has reached a total sum of roughly Rs. 27,00,000 [Rs. 2.7 Million] and it continues to grow even as I write this blog post, a testament that the people in Pakistan are genuinely the biggest donors despite the low GDP
This IDP relief drive took shape merely because I was sick and tired of the political mud-slinging going on and no one willing to step up to take ownership of any solution to this serious problem. The government continues to tip toe into bed with the Army whilst our President and his son enjoys lavish accommodations in Washington, such stupidity makes ones blood boil with anger. Quite simply apart from political grandstanding our politicians are truly part of this problem as most of them have been instrumental in creating this mess in the first place.
Our effort to raise funds for the refugees in Seat kicked off on the afternoon of the 15th when we launched a Facebook page to start the collection drive. It was immediately well supported by a few generous friends who responded with some major contributions giving us hope that we might actually achieve something.
A genuine shout out to my wife Sadiqa who has been fully behind this effort and can be credited for raising / coordinating and collecting most of the donations coming in for this noble cause.
Specifics of the Fund
There are a number of contributors that have helped us cross to the 2.7 million mark and inshallah all will be acknowledged, if not for anything else but merely that they took part and made a difference in the future of Pakistan, it is also important to inspire others to follow as these are people who may have helped Pakistan survive this catastrophe.
Off the entire collected fund we allocated around 3,10,000 to medicines trying to maximize the food contribution. Two volunteers have already left Karachi, Faris Kasim has boarded a train for Lahore today and will coordinate the loading and stocking of the trucks from Makro (Ravi Road). Whilst Inam Khan has left on bus to Mardan with the goods donated in-kind. Our target is a village north of Mardan called Bagheecha Deri which is the home town of Inam Khan. Reports from Bagheecha Deri whenever I talk to people there is that aid is ‘not reaching’ the deep villages and most stop short at organized camps and collection points, whilst the conditions on the ground are bad close to starvation. Our intention is to reach Bagheecha Deri and distribute to the people who are still suffering.
We have deposited a total of Rs 23,32,500 at Makro Karachi which was immediately transferred to the Ravi Road branch which would issue the goods to us in Lahore. The irony in this urgent 5 day collection drive was that we could not pre-order anything as the demands [hamper requirements] continued to rise almost every minute. The negotiated hampers were initially priced at Rs. 2995 per hamper and with a little negotiations we pulled the price down to Rs 2875 and I am sure the Makro team has probably forwarded their best rates for this noble cause. Since we were not able to lock a quantity order in advance naturally they do have a varying amount of shortage on specific items forcing us to stock the items separately [not in hampers] and take the equivalent amount of food in loose items hopefully to sort them in Bagheecha Deri [if at all possible] a decision taken knowing the fact that there is utter chaos in the disaster area.
Ali Khan another friend and I will take Thursday to scout the area and prepare for the arrival of the trucks on Friday. If we are unable to organize a proper distribution at Bagheech Deri either due to lack of resources or merely the lck of volunteers we will fall back to a credible nearby NGO using their resources to physically distribute our relief to the people in that area.
The two trucks have been tentatively booked at Rs. 13,000 each which will be taken from the main fund. I personally am carrying a small portion of the fund just in case we need it on-site. Any remaining portion will at the end be used to acquire more food items and shall be distributed locally. It must be noted that none of this fund will be used by the volunteers and each is supporting his own self for this noble cause, usually this disclaimer is not needed and quite well understood for, but for the sake of transparency [and the rampant corruption in our society] I felt it must be specifically mentioned.
Mashallah I hear reports that more funds have been received by Sadiqa and we will submit the additional items in Makro Karachi tomorrow morning so that more items can be loaded on the trucks in Lahore.
Im all excited and motivated to take on the challenges that await us in the next coming days as usual I will continue to blog during the entire trip, armed with a Panasonic ToughBook, a PCMCIA Card connected to a Zong number, a Flip video camera and a trusty Blackberry Curve 8900 I hope to share the experience as live as possible. My Twitter account will be the source of instant update @DrAwab, sorting out the Blackberry to enable Live GPS tracking whilst some important pictures shall be uploaded as and when needed. Over ‘n Out
Comments
8 responses to “IDP Relief Update from Islamabad – 20th May”
Good luck and God speed. Thanks for doing this, man.
Its heartening to see people like you putting in so much effort for the cause of humanity. I wish to see our politicians inspiring people in the same way.
Anyway, Dr Awab its a huge responsibility, now that u have got people's trust in the form of money. May Allah give you the courage to complete the mission. Well done so far!
Well, the $$$ Pakistan Army and Zaradari Group is making should be enough to help pay for "Khoon-bhaaa", but our Generals, our politicians have other items on the menu.
Their hunger for wealth will never be over, after them their sons will rule us.
We are selling our lungs and kidneys to drink wine.
Bring it on!
Obama's Murderous Guest
by Fatima Bhutto
14 May 2009
Besides ruining my country, I believe my aunt's husband, Pakistani President Zardari, orchestrated my father's murder. Is Obama really going to offer him billions more when they meet today? Something rotten has arrived in Washington.
Today, President Barack Obama will shake hands and stage Oval Office photo ops for the first time with the man who many believe stole billions from the Pakistani treasury, empowered Pakistan's newly formed Taliban by imposing Shariah law without a vote or referendum, and whom I have publicly accused of orchestrating the murder of
my father, Murtaza Bhutto, an elected member of parliament until he was killed in201996.
My father was a vocal critic of both Pakistan's former prime minister,
Benazir Bhutto (his sister, my aunt), and her husband, current president Asif Zardari. He called Zardari and his cronies "Asif Baba and the 40 thieves," and spoke out against the targeted killings of opposition members and activists by the state's police and security forces. In the end, my father was slain in an extrajudicial assassination. The fact that he was seen, in a traditionally
patriarchal society, as the heir to the Bhutto legacy didn't make him any safer as Benazir's second government began to lose power and international repute.
Now in Washington, the man who helped this happen will ask for money and the chance to cling to his dwindling power. Obama, in turn, will ask for results. That's going to be a problem. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called the situation in my country a threat to universal peace. Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special envoy for Pakistan, has said our government is capable of fighting terror, but he also calls the region "AfPak" so he's probably confused. President Obama hasn't offered much of an opinion yet. He has noted that the civilian government has failed to provide its citizens with the most basic services. But he's also suggested that some hard cash might help the Zardari government through its problems. No, it won't.
Pakistan has been at war with its own people for a long time now— given the daily politics of persecution that t he state machinery inflicts on its own citizens, perhaps it's only natural that we move on to terrorizing the world at large. The Taliban is waiting at the gates. They are making inroads into the Punjab, the heart of the country, slowly but steadily. Swat has fallen. Buner district is
gone, airstrikes or no airstrikes. Now this government has to go. It's either them or Pakistan.
President Zardari is a man with a colorful history. He is known by many endearing epithets here in Pakistan: Mr. 10 Percent (a reference to kickbacks), Mr. 50 Percent, the First Spouse (twice), and President Ghadari, or "traitor" in Urdu. I might not be the right person to tell his story, given that I believe he was involved
in my father's murder. But, then again, I just might be in the best position to warn President Obama about him.
Last summer, as an odious bill called the National Reconciliation Ordinance expunged from his prison record the four murder cases pending against him—my father's included—as well as various national and international corruption cases, Zardari prepared himself for power. He did so not only by wiping his criminal slate clean, but
also by distancing himself from medical records that showed him to be "a man with multiple and severe physical and mental-health problems," according to the Financial Times.
When Obama meets Zardari in Washington, he should remember that he is
meeting not only with a dangerous man, but with an unelected offici al. Zardari never stood for elections in Pakistan. He has no
constituency, no vote of support from the people, no democratic
mandate. The "opposition," the Pakistan Muslim League, is run by Zardari's frenemy, Nawaz Sharif, also unelected—Pakistan, a nation of 180 million people, is at the mercy of two unelected men. President Obama has to decide this week whether he wants to foster democracy in Pakistan, or whether he wants to have a pliable government in power—a government, it bears noting, that is so inept it managed to grow a local Taliban.
Lest we forget, when Zardari took power last September, Pakistan didn't have an indigenous Taliban. Now, a year into his rule, the Tehreek-e-Taliban not only exists in Pakistan, but controls the Northwest Frontier Province, frighteningly close to the Afghan
border. The reason Pakistan's government cannot fight the Taliban is
not because Pakistan doesn't have the money to fight terror. We do, plenty of it. By my last count, we've received some $12 billion
in military aid over the last eight years. (It may not have gone where it was supposed to go, however. It might have ended up in someone's Swiss bank account—no names, but we can guess.) And it's not because Pakistanis are rabid fundamentalists elated by the arrival of an indigenous Taliban. That's not it at
all. Pakistan is a religiously diverse country—we have a
history of Buddhist, Sikh, and Hindu heritage.
The reason is the leader ship. It's just not working. In the year that Zardari has been president, Pakistan has become a third front in the war on terror. We are not safer, our neighbors are not safer, and we have not made any strides toward fighting fundamentalism.
As much as America finds President Zardari repellent, we in
Pakistan do, too. But you made him our president, and now you're about to give him billions of dollars in aid. We cannot foster any
democratic alternatives to Zardari while his government gets bucketloads of American money. Local activists, secular parties, and nascent opposition groups can't fight that kind of money—it's impossible to compete with a party that has access to billions of dollars. Pakistan is at a crossroads. We are either going to save our country from its descent into fundamentalism and lawlessness, or we are going to have Zardari as president, bolstered by American aid and support. The ball is in President Obama's court today. Let's hope he makes the right decision.
Fatima Bhutto is a graduate of Columbia University and the School of Oriental and African Studies. She is working on a book to be published by Jonathan Cape in 2010. Fatima lives and works in
Karachi, Pakistan.
Simply outstanding effort by you and your team Dr. Awab.
Vision21 is collecting donations of medicine and first aid materials for starting a mobile dispensary for the displaced residents of Swat and Malakand. Our team is visiting the pharmaceutical companies, medical stores and hospitals/clinics in Rawalpindi & Islamabad to collect medicine and contact volunteer doctors to work with us.
Please contact us if you want to give any of the following items, donate money or help in any other way.
1. Water purification tablets
2. Life saving drugs
3. Vaccines for malaria, cholera, typhoid, influenza
4. Pain killers including strong ones like morphine derivatives, tremadol, pethadine, kinz
5. Antibiotics e.g. tetnus, amoxil, gentamycin
6. IV cannulas
7. IV Drip sets
8. IV drips: normal saline, ringerlactate
9. Local anesthetics (injections)
10. Cotton bandages, cotton
11. Surgical instruments: e.g. needle holders, forceps, and tweezers
12. Suturing materials, Skin staples
13. Energizers for children and sick (dried milk)
14. ORS
15. Mosquito Sprays etc.
please visit the site for further details:
http://awaam.wordpress.com/idps-update/help-idps/
Firstly, my deepest and sincerest appreciation for the work you and your team are doing for the IDPs. Allah's blessings be with you.
Secondly – I must disagree with the comment regarding Zardari's role. The government is doing what it can at what is a terrible time. American aid, both political and financial, is crucial at this time and Zardari is guaranteeing it by fulfilling some very important and necessary PR work in Washington.
And as for the article by Fatima Bhutto – it's undeniable that while she was an excellent political writer previously and it appeared that she truly cared about Pakistan, as of recently, she has begun to use the media as a vehicle for her family's personal vengeances and politics. Pakistan's well-being has disappeared off her agenda. It is basically yellow journalism and as such, undeserving of attention or belief.
Great effort, can u plz tell us if any of the american youth wanted to volunteer (especially pakistan decent) how they can volunteer for relief effort.
Fatima, a great talent need to something new and relevant and same old trite accusations are not appropriate at this time. She needs to talk of present and not the past.