This is an update from my friend Ben, sent to some of us who support (either in prayer or monetary contribution) the work his organisation does in Pakistan. It is from the horse's mouth about the relief work that is going on there.
Big Picture:
The UN has become more and more desperate in their appeals to major international donors- who are largely not responding.
And on the ground there are clearly many, many locations that have received little (a packet of biscuits each) or no aid.
But for the people?
One woman our team told us about is about 80 years old. She now has 12 grand children to look after- their parents were both killed. Half of them she sent to other relatives in a city and is looking after the older ones herself. She’s been living of the generosity of other hard pressed villagers. Ouch.
Another man was in the field when the quake struck and he heard his son start shouting for his help from the house. He tried to run over the shaking ground to his son but before he got there, the house collapsed and the shouting was no more. He dug out the boy’s body and then went to help do the same in other parts of the village. Argh.
Many people from higher up in the mountains, and places like Balakot (which was almost completely flattened) are migrating down to tent cities and make shift camps in the broader valleys near Abbotabad. With compassion fatigue in operation here in the UK it is sometimes hard to remember that they are traumatised and often terrified for the future. Again, not much aid reaches many of these- we have been able to help many without even going deeply into the mountains.
The country
The newspapers from that country waver between gratitude that some help has come and venom at their leaders for incompetence and corruption. It appears that the days of repentance were short lived for many- and there is now money to be made as the millions- not nearly enough millions according to the UN- but millions anyway, start to flow through the government- ie a good deal of it goes into pockets not the mountains.
Quite tragic.
Well, more something to be angry about.
So in the midst of all this, our appeal (which started out as a single PDF file created late at night in our kitchen, and emailed to friends) has something very appealing indeed- absolute transparency and accountability, almost no admin fees, and tangible results. 3 Weeks on, we have been able to help hundreds of people who had nothing or very little from any other aid source.
YWAM's national office, now handling most quake the donations, told us they have 60 thank you letters to write today - thank God it's not me doing all that particular work!
And I continue to get emails from places and people I've never heard of enquiring if we are for real because they are concerned about their money getting to help people. Good, it's about time that sort of enquiring donor attitude developed; not exactly suspicious, just being a good steward. It is heartening to be able to give them a report from the last 24hours as to how money is making a difference.
When is a bargain not a bargain?
The team over there bargained down the blanket extortionists from £18 to £11.20 (in the end from a wholesaler- bear in mind that these blankets retailed for just £12 before the quake so even this wholesaler was benefiting from the quake), and this week have been doing the same thing with dried fruit sellers and plastic sheeting.
"You are the real thing"
Last week I said that we were hiring buses not lorries- cheaper and less vulnerable to looting- more on that later- but the bus drivers had their own insights: When it came to load the buses with 400 blankets, the bus drivers did a double take- these were brand new blankets in plastic pouches, and not only that but they were good quality - warm enough to make a difference! It wasn't long before the reason for their amazement came out- they had done a number of other relief trips to the mountains since the quake and in each case, the NGO concerned had given torn clothes and dirty (soiled) blankets. The drivers said that these people got out, gave the villagers big bags of what was later discovered to be rubbish and took pictures of them giving them to villagers. Then they got back on the bus and drove back to their comfortable existence in the cities. The bus drivers said our team was the first one they had seen doing "pukka" relief work (Pukka is an Urdu word!). They have offered to work the following trip for free -we'll only pay diesel.
Their report is shocking isn't it! (is it about as shocking as the initial reports of violence etc from New Orleans?) The deception involved here is amazingly cruel. (NB I am not saying this is representative of what's going on everywhere- it can't be- can it? Nevertheless, some villagers our team met and helped had similar stories)
The team links up with people we know well in the quake area and they in turn recruited a number of other local volunteers. This was vital- in one village the bus was immediately surrounded and the situation started to look threatening until the local volunteers got off the bus and explained that these people were genuine and only have quality goods- they should be respected and honoured. The mood changed instantly- despite it being the middle of a day of fasting, the villagers lit a fire and brewed some of their remaining tea in a celebration of gratitude. (Later, these villagers stories of dirty underwear and torn blankets given by previous benefactors explained their initial hostility).
The genuineness of what we are offering is having an amazing impact on those who encounter it. Like the New Orleans thing, this disaster is showing up some of the unpalatable things that lie under that society.
Press appreciation...
This week another development- while driving hard bargains in the wholesale market for high energy foods (dried fruit and nuts mainly) the press got wind of our workers and started following them around- they have since been invited on the next trip north, (they have declined due to Eid but have called some colleagues in the quake hit area (we hope they will cover our work). So, publicity will again be good for the long term as well as the short term. I could email you the articles- but you'd have to be better at urdu than I am to get it.
... brings more support:
Following that publicity, a large medical distributor company called our people and said they wanted to give 50 quilts, could they be taken up on the next convoy. This shows real public acceptance and appreciation. Wonderful.
Current convoy:
The focus on the current aid convoy has shifted from mainly blankets and plastic sheeting to also include cookers (gas bottle ones and kerosene ones) high energy dried food. There is a limit to how far they can go off the main roads while using buses (they hope to acquire a 4x4 so that they can extend their reach) but the northern has been looking into which areas can be helped with this convoy, so it should reach people and do much good.
In the mean time, our first set of donated medical goods has gone by (free) air freight yesterday.
Again it would be good to pray for their safety and for the relationships that are now growing with the people there.
