Kiwi UNICEF Worker Blogs from Pakistan: Blog #2

Tania McBride, is a New Zealander working for UNICEF as a Communications Specialist. She has recently been deployed to Pakistan, after severe floods have left 20 million people affected, including 8 million children.

Here she blogs, for the second time, about her experiences in Pakistan, after witnessing the devastation left by the “flood of the century”.

“We bumped along the broken dirt streets, the Suzuki van going at high speed with dust leaving a plume behind us as we raced after the lady health workers. The UNICEF supported Lady Health Workers programme has teams of women throughout the Sindh province, in Pakistan, who are involved in training communities in household hygiene education as well as distributing supplies for families around the Sukkar district – particularly ORS, diarrhoea medications and skin treatment. The fight is to mitigate the spread of illness before disease takes hold.

Despite a 50 degree plus heat and fasting for Ramadan, Mr Nizam Uddin Bharchoond, the project manager for local NGO Hands, looked cool and calm. He had his eyes closed in silent meditation.

“I have never in my lifetime seen a disaster such as this,” he tells me. We had spent the morning talking to women and children in Sukkar, who were being attended on the roadside camp by the UNICEF supported Mobile Health clinics. Hearing their stories and getting a real understanding of the extreme conditions that they were now living in was at the same time desperate and heartbreaking.

Nizam Uddin Bharchoond (right), the project manager for local Sukkar NGO Hands, with members of his extended family who fled the floods in their home village of Rarhi and sought refuge in Sukkar. ©UNICEF/Pakistan/McBride

Nizam and I had been on a futile mission to track down the lady health workers, as it wasn’t initially part of our schedule for the day. As more than 200 makeshift camps have sprung up since the floods hit Sukkar and the outlying areas, looking for these supportive ladies was like searching for a needle in a haystack. “I have a plan,” said Nizam, and being one for adventure, the mere whiff of a plan was enough for me to say, “let’s go!”

The van was enthusiastically driven by Alam, who was channeling Schumacher and prepared to put the beaten Suzuki through its paces. We passed over roads of sand, around half built mud brick houses, splashed through filthy puddles, cornering swiftly to avoid a herd of water buffalos and then powering through a valley of trash. Piled high on both sides of the road was a testament to plastic bottles and bags – as well as rotting carcasses – that had migrated across the stagnant ponds whose odor burned our nostrils.

Finally we emerged from the car at a large makeshift in a place Nizam calls the “Microwave Tower Camp,” in old Sukkar. Nizam was immediately greeted by the swarms of children who flocked around our transport. With a gentle and almost grandfatherly manner, he lead us through a small door and into a courtyard opposite the camp, which was filled with women, children and young men taking shade under flapping cloths from the intense midday sun.

“These people are my family, my brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. They are also flood affected people,” says Nizam. “I was in Sukkar and I heard that the floods were heading towards my village, so I called my brothers and at the last minute they managed to pack some luggage and escape on trucks. Their village of Rarhi has been completely swamped, houses destroyed, crops damaged, but at least they were able to save their families and animals,” he adds.

Once his extended family arrived in Sukkar, Nizam set about finding the weary travelers some land upon which to camp. However, it was clear that even though these people had the benefit of being forewarned and had bough some provisions, they would need many more supplies – including tarpaulins, cooking utensils and food and water. From his own pocket, Nizam purchased these supplies, met with local government officials to have land allocated and mobilized his small team from Hands to organize the planning of the campsite. More and more flood affected people heard about Nizam’s generousity and began arriving at the camp.

Within days, the Hands team had set up a small camp to accommodate over 300 people who had fled the floods in Nizam’s village of Rarhi. Forty seven children have been allocated a space for learning and for recreation. Education is highly valued amongst the families in the “Microwave Tower” camp, although one of the small boys tells me that his preference is still for playing games and cricket, which causes laughter to erupt from the adults and children gathered around.

Local Lady Health Worker, Reshman, herself flood affected, works with more than 300 displaced people in the makeshift camp "Microwave Tower". Trained and supported by UNICEF, Lady Health Workers carry out household hygiene education, particularly focussing on safe personal hygiene practices and basic immunization. ©UNICEF/Pakistan/McBride

Nizam introduces me to the local Lady Health Worker, Reshman, who has come to the camp with her seven children. Widowed four years ago, she has been working in the UNICEF supported Lady Health Workers programme since this time, visiting families and communities in her district. Since she lost her house in the floods recently, she has dedicated her days to moving around the camp and teaching sessions on hygiene awareness.

Local Lady Health Worker, Reshman, herself flood affected, works with more than 300 displaced people in the makeshift camp “Microwave Tower”. Trained and supported by UNICEF, Lady Health Workers carry out household hygiene education, particularly focussing on safe personal hygiene practices and basic immunization.

Reshman tells us that many of the children in the camp have skin diseases, eye infections and diarrhoea. The key to stopping the spread of disease, she continues, is making sure that mothers and children do the basic: wash their hands with soap before eating and after defecating; and ensuring that children (and their clothes) are washed regularly.

“Look at this boy,” Reshman laughs as she grabs her son Mousa by his shoulder. “He hasn’t washed all week. He doesn’t listen to his mother at all!” She explains how all children in the camp would love to have new clothes for the Eid festival (that signals the end of the month of Ramadan), due to start at the end of the week; however, sadly enough, this year it will not be possible.

Nizam and I walked back to the Suzuki and contemplated the makeshift camp before us. Young boys were swimming in the pond at the foot of the camp, some of them riding on the backs of the water buffalos who were also taking refuge in the cool waters. Beside me stands a man who has truly shown a humanitarian spirit. A man who from his own pockets, dug deep and lent a hand to his fellow villagers, encapsulating the name of the NGO he works for. He is happy to see Pakistani people literally lending a hand to their own.”

If you would like to help, please donate to our Pakistan Flood Emergency Relief Fund.

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Read Tania’s first, third and fourth blogs from Pakistan.