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Published: March 31st 2006
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Warm Smiles
The children were amazing Hello our Canadian Friends & Family!!! We are happy to report that we are safe, sound and fully showered! This past week Galib and I volunteered our time to assist at Camp Chitta Batta, an earthquake affectee relief camp due to the earthquake that occurred for 20 minutes and killed over 240,000 people on October 8, 2005. 7.5 million people were displaced. These past 5 days have been an unbelievable adventure for the both of us to say the very least. Galib & I have seen the unthinkable, the unimaginable, the unmentionable...we have many stories to tell you. I will attempt to convey some of them on this Blog through my comments and the pictures.
United Pakistan began with the vision of one person and the collaboration of many. We have been blessed to meet so many amazing people this week. Usman, endearingly named the "Camp In Charge", is a 26 year old Pakistani male who lost literally everything on that fateful day. His apartment building, the Margalla Towers, were the only 2 buildings that collapsed in Islamabad due to poor, if not illegal, construction. Fortunately, Usman was visiting his family when the earthquake occurred and he was not at
Mobs
The children would form a mob just to meet you his apartment building. Usman is the manager at Camp Chitta Batta, liaising with the camp staff, tentees, teachers, and various Ngo's such as Oxfam that visit the camp on a regular basis. The Camp consists of more than 1,300 people. That's a lot of tents. The Camp meets UNHCR (United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees) standards. There must be proper sanitation facilities, the tents must be a certain width apart, there must be fire extinguishers every few feet and specific kitchen facilities, etc. Since the Camp meets the standards, they qualify to continue receiving supplies.
Another fascinating person that Galib & I had the pleasure of meeting was Hafeez, a future Nobel prize winner I'm sure. Hafeez Bai, as we respectfully called him, is an engineer, a scientist, a former pilot, and a nationally recognized photographer, videographer, artist and writer. He is pleasant, soft spoken and humble man. He revealed his many talents after many long discussions into the evenings. Born in Pakistan, he cares very much for the people. He was the mad scientist of the camp. When he finished completing the tent city map and logisitics of the Camp, he was off building solar panels as a
Tent City
This is United Pakistan, but there are hundreds and hundreds more, but not as well planned as this one potential heat source. We were very fortunate to meet him.
Gulshan runs the office in Islamabad. Mum was from the UK, Noween was from Toronto, Waleed from Bahrain and many locals assisted at the Camp. Dr. Mahmoud from Saudi Arabia was one of the most hard working at the Camp. He is the only doctor on staff and the work clock doesn't stop...he served 300+ outpatients yesterday. Not only does he help people at the Camp, but United Pakistan has the only full service hospital within miles of any of the Camps. The Camp is also located on the craziest highway named Balakot Road, horns a blaring from busses and trucks and cars racing down the road. There are many accidents that occur right in front of the Camp. People walk and cross on the highway every minute.
Our favorite part of the Camp was the children. Ranging from a 4 month old baby to 15 years old...they were extraordinary. Most of the affected families were from the mountain areas (yes, also referred to as Tribal areas, but that sounds scary and the people are not), so these people have not seen Caucasians. I was nicknamed "Gori, Gori"
Volunteers
Hard to gather everyone up, but here is Galib, Dr. Mahmoud, Tim, Cin, Usman, Ejaz, Waleed and Majah, Fayek is on the bottom left, and then some children from the tent village which the young boys would tease and sing "White Girl, White Girl". The children spoke their native language of Hinko (Urdu is spoken in most of Pakistan). The 6 year old boys did ask my name, but they had problems with saying so many syllables, "Cin-na-mon", so I said, "OK, just say Cinnamon" and they repeated back, "juuuus-say-Cin-o-mahn"...so then I said, "Cin"...they just wrinkled their noses, smiled and said "Goooooora". Then they would giggle and run away...or come up, shake my hand, then ask me to take their picture. They loved seeing their faces on the little camera screen.
The little girls were astonishingly beautiful. Pale skin with green eyes, just like the infamous National Geographic photo, other girls with olive skin and big brown eyes. I greeted them with "Salaam alay kum" and extended my hand, which they eagerly reciprocated. Little ladies. They all wanted to hold my hand and not let go. I didn't know how to say "I only have 2 hands!", so I would take turns. After school was let out, they sought me out to be the first person to grab my hand and not let go. It was so cold, I wore gloves
Goat Herding Family
All in a day's work most of the time. I can't tell you how it warmed my heart to have an innocent little girl hold my hand and rub my fuzzy mitten on her cheek and not want to let go. No words exchanged, just smiles...holding hands and not letting go. This memory will stay with me forever.
Some of the volunteer activities that Galib & I participated in were buying medical and food supplies from Islamabad and transporting them to the Camp (we also brought all of the supplies donated by WJ Mouatt). Galib assisted Waleed with the Development Proposal. We also sorted various supplies in the Camp store, assisted with site visits of the individual tents (we caught a family using a kerosene burner in their tent...holy smokes...who could miss the 3 foot flames and the quick closing of the tent curtain, never mind the intense kerosene smell...there have been several tent fire tragedies at other Camps) and we also played after school games with the kids. Mum and I taught the girls their first game of baseball. Sometimes Galib & I just walked from Sector to sector (labelled A to E) and met with the fathers, mothers and children. Shook their
Beautiful girl
This was one of my favorites. She was on my baseball team. hands. The Camp management does not interfere with their domestic lives, they only ensure that everyone is complying with the UNHCR code. There was an incident on Tuesday, which involved a kerosene fire within a tent, a wife/mother was burned from the neck down, third degree burns, her skin was melting off and it smelled like burnt flesh, she claimed it was an accident, but we have reasons to believe otherwise. The situation here is no different than unfortunate domestic situations at home. At least we were able to treat her at our hospital and then send her to a major hospital, where we had to call in Dino, to talk to the doctors there (it's all who you know) into giving her morphine. After Dino arrived (we first met him in complete Army fatigues, yikes, but he is awesome)...the doctors were unlocking the morphine cabinet and she was injected in 9 different sites. She was so badly burned they nurses could not find a vein. She will continue to stay at the hospital for several months. Her husband shipped off their 3 year old daughter to stay with other family members from another area and he is now alone
Family left to return to the mountains
This family is left on the side of the road with all of their possessions. They have a long, uncertain journey ahead of them. in his tent. Each tent has a different story to tell.
The dreadful but inevitable news came a few weeks ago. The deadline is March 31st. As of this date, the Government will no longer be providing supplies and the Army will no longer provide protection for any of the Camps. The Government is offering nominal money to the tentees to move back to the mountains. But the terrain has changed, these people left the mountains because the terrain did change, water stopped flowing from the rivers because they were blocked and landslides make the areas unsafe to live. Some families walked for 4 days to find the Camp. This is 4 days of mountain terrain with all of their belongings that remained. Many women lost their husbands and are now widowed with 6 children. Who will care for them? Women do not work. The Camps have been supporting them. But, these people need to be able to sustain themselves. I guess the government is trying to ween them off their dependence. And we are not talking about a few hundred families. There are over a million displaced people. Galib and I went to the city of Balakot that
School girls
Green scarves was completely destroyed. No more hotels, bridges, markets or homes. Everything gone to rubble. We met a family that was literally dumped with their possessions on the side of the road. They were one of the first families to be sent back to the mountains. The father was trying to figure out how he would pay another truck to drive him for 8 hours to the side of the mountain and how his family would trek up the mountain where there are no roads, into the wee hours of the morning to get where they were finally going to set up their home (with no food and no supplies to build, basically no resources). 2 men would have to stay behind in Balakot with their possessions. It was devasting. The children had blank looks on their faces. The father was visually shaken. This traumatized them all over again. There was nothing we could do. And the government is sending them all back. All one million people with no homes. Of course they would go back if they could. But they can't and that is why they came down. Now what? These people are left with confusion and uncertainty. It's horrible.
Shabina
This girl, Shabina, has piercing green eyes, she was brave enough to come up to Galib & I, all by herself We wonder if this will be reported in the media or has everyone forgotten. I guess we'll see come March 31st.
The areas still need volunteers to take down the tent cities. The next month is uncertain. If one wants to help, please contact the United Pakistan website at www.unitedpakistan.org. Members from this agency will be involved in a new project focused on relocation and repatriation. People from the affected areas will need assistance in relocating to the mountainous regions. The new project is in the developmental stages.
This week has been unforgettable. There are more stories to share. We are grateful to have seen it with our own eyes. To hear the stories from their mouths.
We are blessed.
Please give your neighbour a warm smile, your co-worker a pat on the back, your friends a big hug and tell your family that you love them. Every day.
So to our neighbours: a warm smile.
Our co-workers: a pat on the back.
Our friends: hugs.
Our families: We love you.
Love Cinnamon & Galib
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Len
non-member comment
Hi
Cin, Got your email and by the way Amy got the job as a summer student and sends you a big hug. Len