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Yearly Archives: 2015

2257

November 3, 1600 Hrs. Pakistan Standard Time

ACT Pakistan Forum is hosting an online discussion with MR. GEORGE KHOURY, Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) In Pakistan, on the massive earthquake which hit Pakistan and Afghanistan on 26 October 2015. He will be talking about the current situation and the ongoing response. Furthermore, he will be speaking to us on the state of humanitarian action in Pakistan.

Six months after the devastating earthquake in Nepal, a powerful earthquake once again hit the region. The earthquake occurred at 2:09 pm Pakistan time on 26 October 2015. Pakistan Metrological department reported the magnitude of today’s earthquake as 8.1 (US Geological Survey reports it at 7.5). In Pakistan, it affected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), Gilgit Baltistan, Punjab and the State of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. As of 30 October 2015, the National Disaster Management Authority reports a total of 272 deaths, 2,123 injured and 25,364 houses in the country. Majority of the deaths and injuries (over 80%) as well as damaged shelters (62%) were Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

Members of the ACT Pakistan Forum (Christian Aid, Church of Sweden, Community World Service Asia, Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, ICCO Cooperation and Norwegian Church Aid) mobilized partners and resources to conduct detailed assessments. ACT Rapid Response Funds have been released to provide food and health services to the affected communities. An ACT Appeal is expected to be launched in the next few days.

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An 8 year old Kainat was spotted during our visit to DHQ Alpuri. She was injured when we met her as she was held by her father, who supports a family of nine including his wife, his father, two sons and four daughters. Kainat’s family are residents of the earthquake affected village Maal of UC Kuzkana, District Shangla.

“We were all sitting in the kitchen after having lunch when the earthquake hit with full intensity. We rushed and evacuated our house and gathered in the fields outside. I was looking around at the shaking houses, mountains and trees as the earthquake continued. Then, all of a sudden, our house started to collapse around me, giving me no time to move. A wooden beam fell on my leg while at the same time some pieces of stones hit my grandfather,”

narrated Kainat’s as she recalled her experience during the devastating earthquake.

Kainat’s father added, “Nearly fifty percent of houses were destroyed in our village but the neighbors whose houses survived showed great solidarity and immediately started helping those families affected. They  helped us to rescue my daughter and my father from the rubble and quickly moved them to the hospital. We reached RHC Karora in a state of emergency, where, after being provided with first aid, we were referred to the Swat Hospital, as Kainat’s leg was broken in two places and my father was severely injured. We received a thorough treatment at the Swat Hospital; my daughter was discharged but my father is still admitted there.”

Upon inquiring about the current needs of those affected by the earthquake, he replied that the affected communities are currently seeking shelter under polythene sheets in open fields as the other villagers help in providing them with food and comfort to the best of their abilities. The weather is becoming extremely cold. Tents, blankets and food items are most needed for families like Kainat’s to survive and recover.

2420

“I have nothing left to lose any more.”

Sartaj Bacha is resident of Village Syedano Kalay in Tehsil Barikot, district Swat and was living quite a content life with his wife and five daughter. Despite not earning very handsomely since he was working on a daily wage, his life in his three room mud house was comfortable. Every morning he walked to work.

“The pouring rain on the day of the disastrous earthquake proved to be a blessing in disguise for my family and myself as I was home with them since I could not go to work due to the continuous rain. As the trembling of the earthquake began, I ran to take my four daughters and wife out of the house to a safer location but in haste I forgot my youngest daughter, Sania, two and a half years, sleeping in bed.”

Sania was buried under the debris of the fallen roof and the panicked parents could hear her helpless cries from beneath the rubble. With the help of his neighbors, Sartaj instantly reached out to Sania after digging her out from the rubble. She was dug out of the rubble uninjured miraculously. “Had I been not at home, I would have lost any one of my family members,” expressed Sartaj, holding Sania in his arms. “I thank God for sending rains as my family’s savior”.

“Even though I lost everything, I have my family with me.” Sartaj and his affected neighbors are living with their relatives in their house in a nearby village. The affected communities in this area have not yet received any immediate support from humanitarian or government agencies.  Most of the community members are being supported with food assistance by their relatives from the winter food stocks that they were holding. That stock is also being depleted quickly since it is feeding more than its intended recipients.

Sartaj Bacha expressed that he has not yet thought of any recovery or rehabilitation plans yet. All of his family’s belongings have been lost with the earthquake. Earning opportunities in Swat have diminished greatly since it has been affected by disasters one after the other- growing militancy, military operation followed by 2010 devastating floods and now this massive earthquake.

Community World Service Asia’s team is currently doing the needs assessment in district Swat, Shangla, Malakand, Buner and Kohistan districts. The initial information received from the field team indicates that winterization support, food and health support are direly needed by the communities. Community World Service Asia will start its interventions within this week for the affected people to cover the gap identified during the assessment.

Collected by Waheed Murad, Community World Service Asia Staff

 

2425

The World Food day is celebrated as the day of action against hunger and commemorates the creation of UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) on October 16th each year. Its goal is to raise public awareness about the increasing hunger problem prevalent in the world. It aims at unifying people against hunger, malnutrition and poverty and to draw attention to achievements in food and agricultural development.  The objectives are to encourage and stimulate non-governmental efforts as a means of eradicating hunger, as well as encouraging the rural populations to take part in agricultural activities which will positively influence their living conditions. The theme for this year’s World Food Day is “Social Protection & Agriculture-Breaking the cycle of Rural Poverty”.

Community World Service Asia’s food security projects are aimed at improving the availability, access and utilization of agrarian communities. These initiatives may include emergency food distribution of agricultural inputs directly and through voucher schemes, establishment of nurseries, orchards and seed banks as well as providing poultry inputs. By improving agricultural practices, the communities are better able to utilize their resources to increase the quantity and quality of food, resulting in increased income, food security, and better nutritional status. Food security and livelihoods remain at the core of the organization’s recovery and rehabilitation activities with a particular focus on agriculture restoration. Our initiatives help disaster-affected communities meet their immediate food, non-food, shelter, health, and WASH needs while simultaneously establishing the basic foundation for resilient, longer-term recovery and development of lives and livelihoods.

When heavy monsoon rains hit different parts of Pakistan in late July this year, 10716 houses were damaged and 4111 villages were totally inundated by the resulting floods while many more villages were partially flooded affecting 1.5 million people across the country. These floods also severally damaged the infrastructure and the local livelihoods.  A total of 715 cattle perished in the floods, and more than 200,000 acres of agricultural land was damaged.

Sindh, positioned on the tail-end of Indus River, was one of the most flood-prone provinces. Need assessments were carried out by the Community World Service Asia teams to assess the urgent needs of affected communities and food Assistance was found to be the top priority for the flood affected communities.

The Sphere minimum nutrient requirements given in the table below were used to assess the suitability of general rations targeted towards the flood affected population.

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Adhering to the Sphere minimum standards, food packages were designed according to the nutritional requirement for average household size of six persons in Sindh. Community World Service Asia ensured that Sphere’s standard requirement of the provision of 2,100 kcals/person/day were met for the affected communities.

To improve the nutritional quality of the ration fortification of staple commodities, inclusion of fortified blended foods, and inclusion of locally purchased commodities were ensured to provide the necessary nutrients. Aside from the ensuring the adequate calorie content in the diet, consideration of protein, fat, vitamins and minerals in food planning was of key priority.

Impartiality was ensured as similar food packages were provided to similarly affected populations and population sub-groups. Community World Service Asia completed the distribution of monthly food packages to 3224 flood affected families who received monthly food packages. Additionally 2100 families are to be supported with monthly food rations for five consecutive months in District Sujawal of Sindh province.

Along with the provision of food aid, the Community World Service Asia has also been providing seeds to disaster affected communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan in order to protect their upcoming crops after disasters and to ensure the sustainability of their livelihoods and food source. Direct seeds distribution as well as distribution through voucher schemes is implemented through various Disaster Response and Livelihood projects.

Livestock restocking, provision of poultry inputs is another way of ensuring that the livelihoods of the affected communities are sustainable. In addition to the emergency food assistance provided by Community World Service Asia in times of various disasters and conflicts in the region, the organization is also involved in projects ensuring livestock productivity and decreasing livestock morbidity rate of the communities it works with. To learn more about such projects, view the latest infographic on one of the organization’s Vaccination and Deworming Campaign on our website at: http://communityworldservice.asia/enhancing-livestock-productivity-for-idps-in-kohat/.

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Kamla is a resident of Surto Oad village in District Umerkot.  Kamla’s father, Mr. Mukesh Kumar, is the sole earner for her family, and was scarcely able to earn enough to support his household of eight people.  Women in these villages in rural Sindh are largely dependent on male family members for financial and social support.  It is extremely difficult for them to overcome cultural and social barriers to earn an income.  For Kamla, who is living with a disability, those barriers are especially difficult: “A I’m a physically disabled woman, I can’t go out for labor in agricultural fields as most of the women do.”

In spite of these difficulties, Kamla is resolved to support her family and help them to build a resilient future free of any financial worries.  “I have the art of embroidery. I can do embroidery work at my home also, and I can help my family to reduce financial burden.”

She believes that lack of education, ignorance of health issues and gender discrimination are the major obstacles to women’s empowerment in her community. She stated that when she was informed that an NGO (Community World Service Asia) was establishing an embroidery center at her village, a ray of hope was rekindled for her. She already knew the art of embroidery, but her work was never acknowledged and she did not receive due wages for her laborious work.

Despite having no formal vocational training, she is very skilled in embroidery and produces high quality work.  However, as she has been unable to properly market her products, her work remained underpaid.  “After taking the artisans’ skill test, I was informed that I have qualified the test and team selected me for the embroidery learning center. I was really glad to hear this news and was highly excited that now my skill will be improved and my work will be recognized with fair wages.”

Kamla explained how participating in the project will support her to earn a real income from her work: “After a three-month course on embroidery, and then an additional three months for production, I will be able to get an idea about marketing those products and what are the rates of market.  Then I can assist my father in terms of contributing income.”

Her father will also be engaged in the project activities as a gender activist.  Kamla shared how he is working to promote gender equality in the community after participating in Community World Service Asia’s TOT workshop for gender activists: “Since the training, he is delivering lectures on a regular basis with my neighbors and my relatives and motivates them to educate their daughters as well.” She is quite hopeful that the difference between male and female which society has created will now be reduced; women are now talking about their health issues with their male counterparts.

For Kamla, the most important impact of the project has been that she is now empowered to support her family.  “Around the clock, I remained in tension, wondering when I would be able to do something for my family. Now I have trust in myself that I can also help my family financially. Despite my physical disability, I can also be independent and can contribute my due share for the betterment of both my family and my community as well.”

2247

Ms. Kainat is a teacher at one of Community World Service Asia’s Adult Literacy Centers, equipping rural women with basic literacy and numeracy skills.

  1. How did you become a teacher?

It was my childhood wish to become a teacher, so after passing my Intermediate examination I started teaching in private schools. Then I applied in UNICEF for an adult literacy project, where I started to teach adult women, who had never been to school. That was the start of my teaching experience.

  1. Why do you think it’s important for women in rural areas to have literacy skills?

It is commonly observed that women in rural areas are not allowed to go outside the home, whether it is for getting an education or to do any job, although they may want to.  I think it is important for women in rural areas to have literacy skills, because if they are literate then they can participate more efficiently in any development activities of their area, they can be able to read and write the basic literacy words and numbers which are also essential for their life. Not only this, but if they start their own business, this literacy skill can build up their confidence and help out them to keep the balance record of expenditure, profit and loss.

  1. Did you have any concerns before your first class? What were your expectations?

Yes, I had just one concern about what their response would be, as they are going to join literacy classes for the very first time in their life, but I had some expectations that by utilizing my experience I would try my level best to teach them.

  1. What teaching methodologies do you use? In what ways do the students find these to be effective?

I teach students through different activities like playing games and role plays. I bring them on stage or give them space for discussion to build their confidence level. I also motivate them by giving small gifts so that their interest level can be enhanced and they can be more encouraged.

  1. What progress have you observed in the students?

Before starting the adult literacy course, they were facing difficulty even in holding a pencil, in recognition and pronunciation of words. They were very shy in asking questions or coming forward, but after attending the classes they have become confident, they take part in different project related activities like the celebration of International Literacy Day. They are able to read and write their name, small words and sentences. Now they easily recognize their Computerized National Identity Card by the numbers written on that. They read the expiry date before using any medicine and are familiar with the basic concept of adding and subtraction.

  1. Has anything surprised you?

I was surprised when some of the women told me that initially their men were not allowing them to join the Adult Literacy Centre.  The men were discouraging them, but in spite of that, the women did not leave their hope to learn literacy skills and didn’t say, “Sorry, but we can’t join the ALC.”  They tried to motivate their men by telling them the benefits of the centre, and they continued their classes.

  1. What motivates you to teach these students?

These women have never been to school, but they know the value and importance of education. Whatever homework has been assigned, they try to complete it and also ask to extend the ALC classes to learn more and more. So their level of interest towards getting knowledge and learning to read and write motivates me to teach them.

  1. How do you hope that your classes will help them in the long-term?

I think that their level of interest for learning will help them to learn by themselves even more. Also, literacy skills will help them when they go on to use their vocational training [provided by Community World Service Asia] to support their livelihood.  They are also sharing the information and the knowledge which they learn from ALC classes with their children and family members.

  1. How do you think these classes benefit the community as a whole?

The community has become more aware of the importance of girl’s education.  The Village Organization has taken initiative to increase the enrolment of girls in the village school, women are now allowed to come for literacy classes from neighboring areas. The Village Organization is also planning to promote girls’ education in their surrounding villages.  In this way, the establishment of adult literacy is gradually bringing change in the community.

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Community women are presenting a role-play on vote casting

David Smith, Regional Representative, DCA SARO & Rita Dhakal Jayasawal, Head of Humanitarian DCA SARO, distributing shields for the Best Activist to Ms. Sher Bano as part of the International Rural Women’s Day celebrations

Children from village Phul Jakhro take part in the role-play on children’s education

Ms. Mital delivering her comments on International Rural Women’s Day and welcoming guests and the community members

A role-play on the awareness of child marriages performed by the community women and children

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