Relief project for Pakistan
If you would like to contribute to the relief effort for Pakistan via Soufia's project, please contact sheila.partridge@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk and she will arrange a stipend deduction for you. Please title your email "Relief for Pakistan - stipend deduction".
Project: Building up a store of readymade, prepackaged, dry and instant foods that require little to no preparation and transporting them to target areas
Target Areas: Charsadda, Khyber-paktunkhwa and Muzaffargarh/Laal Peer/Kot Addu, Punjab
Mode of transportation: By road in trucks being sent regularly with reliable volunteers accompanying them
Affiliated parties: CARE Pakistan (Laal Peer), Pakistan Youth Alliance (Charsadda), brother (Kot Addu), classmate (Layyah)
Operative details:
1. Procure and transport food requiring little to no preparation to affectees in areas identified above as a means of quick relief prior to IDPs being transferred to safer areas where camps are being set up
2. This is being done in areas where there isn't adequate land or fuel to set up even makeshift cooking facilities. There are other parties transferring raw materials like wheat flour, sugar, oil, lentils, rice, etc. However, they target areas where people are being hosted on higher ground or villages left unaffected by floods. That is not the aim of this particular project.
3. The money I'm seeking to collect right now is for the procurement of such food items along with bottled water. I have a list of items that have to be bought in bulk to cater to both areas and a small group of volunteers who are assisting me with this project.
4. Right now, I am in contact with 4 people who are updating me on the situation of IDPs and food supplies in the areas where they're working. These include the constituencies listed above. Transportation and associated costs will be handled by representatives of the Pakistan Youth Alliance and CARE Pakistan. We're also trying to get all of these people to start tagging locations on GoogleMaps using GPS which will identify where camps have been set up and get regular updates from reps there.
Monetary Target: Initially, the aim is to generate 1 million Pakistani Rupees over the next 1-2 weeks. This will adequately cover the cost of providing readymade meals and other dry/instant foods to 400 people for two weeks, which is about the amount of time it's taking to shift people to safer areas. It seems like a small return for such an ambitious target, but seeing how ineffective national machinery is right now (fact reported in most national newspapers and on national news channels), most of the relief work happening in Pakistan right now is based on private initiatives with either local or foreign assistance. Thus, ambition is no longer an option; it's become a necessity.
Assistance Required: The items that need to be transported can be bought here. The real issue is funding. Therfore, this is a request for donations in cash, not kind. Western Union is an effective way to transfer money to Pakistan as every Pakistan Post office now functions as a WU receipt centre. I've recently received a transfer from a friend in Canada to support a localized fund intiative I'm running parallel to this one and it's worked smoothly. However, funds can also be transferred to a bank account here at the Muslim Commercial Bank, Faisal Town branch, the details of which I will make available as soon as I know people are on board and willing to donate.
Additional Sources: Although I'm reaching out to the Rhodes Trust and its associated contacts through this mail, I'm getting in touch with various other organizations and people I know abroad. These include friends at other universities in the US, family members in Canada and the US, members of the University of Toronto Alumni Association and others. I think if everyone pitches in, along with the people being appealed to here, we can meet the target and make some sort of difference.
This is the plan so far. I can update you as and when progress is made or details are altered. I'd really appreciate it if this could be shared with others so that action can be taken as soon as possible.
I also sincerely hope faith can be put into this appeal. I understand the Government of Pakistan has not proved itself too reliable time and again, which is why an increasing number of people are now skeptical about aid and monetary requests from the country. However, please consider this as an appeal from ordinary citizens caught in an extraordinary battle.
I look forward to your response and will gladly provide more details as required.
Soufia A Siddiqi (Pakistan & St Anne's, 2010) soufia.siddiqi@gmail.com
