Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI)

2012-01-01T10:50:00.001-08:00

New Year Wishes from PDI!

2012-01-01T06:44:00.001-08:00

Photo Post on PDI and Oxfam WASH Initiatives for Monsoon Hit Families in Umerkot

2011-11-10T20:34:00.001-08:00

Thar Under Water, Floods have never been seen or expected in this part of Sindh!

Villagers reading the Accountability Charts before the distribution of kits by PDI and Oxfam

PDI team explaining the Accountability Mechanism of Flood Relief Distribution to Women in Umerkot

Listening carefully and enjoying the discussions from PDI team

PDI team doing the demonstration of Usage for the stuff provided inside the Hygiene Kits

Waiting my turn with PDI and Oxfam token in hand

PDI team organizing the token owners for receiving their Hygiene Kits

Receiving the Kits!

After receiving the Kits

Just received a Hygiene Kit, Water Cans and Peer Learning Session from PDI and Oxfam!

A Happy Family!

I know now the importance of a soap and dettol! :)

Waiting for her turn with her token for Flood Relief Hygiene Kits by PDI and Oxfam

Another Villages Under Water in Umerkot

PDI team sharing about the Accountability Mechanism in Distribution of Relief to the Community at Umerkot

PDI team explaining the Accountability Mechanism of Flood Relief Distribution to Women in Umerkot

Listening Carefully

PDI team sharing about the Accountability Mechanism in Distribution of Relief to the Community at Umerkot

A Peer Learning Discussion on Hygiene Promotion for Women in Umerkot

PDI team member doing a demonstration of Hygienic Hand Washing

"We never thought for a second when we washed our hands" they said, "but now we think clearly because not even it is fun but it makes us feel clean to wash our hands thoroughly"!

Happiness that doesn't speak about sorrows, A lady sitting in the peer learning workshop on Hygiene organized by PDI and Oxfam

Another Year, Another Disaster, But Yet, Another Hope....

Deja Vu Disaster: A Glance at PDI and Oxfam's IDP registration to Hygiene Promotion in Nawabshah, Badin and Umerkot

2011-09-29T00:37:00.000-07:00

A girl waits in line for her turn to fill her water cooler at PDI and Oxfams water distribution in Nawabshah. PDI team began districbuting water in about 30 temporary camps in the flood effected areas since the day people started to arrive in the cities

"We never even dreamt of this much of water", they say, Umerkot District Sindh

PDI team at IDP registration in Umerkot District, Sindh

A little boy waits as PDI team helps fill out water bottles at Water Distribution in Nawabshah

PDI team helping to fill water bottles at water distribution by PDI and Oxfam in a school camp at Nawabshah

PDI team trying to cross through flooded village to get to people inside their homes who refused to flee to camps in Umerkot

A woman passes through a vulnerable bridge in Nawabshah after the overfilling of Sim Drain to fetch water from a hand pump on the other side

PDI team giving a hygiene session in Nawabshah. PDI and Oxfam have joined hands to promote hygiene and sanitation at camps in Nawabshah and Umerkot

PDI distributing Soaps to women after hygiene sessions supported by Oxfam here in Nawabshah

A happy girl after receiving a session on "The Power of a Soap" and a soap kit for her family

A boy waits in line for water at PDI water distribution in one of the camps in Umerkot

Shoes of children gathered gathered around PDI team as they register IDPs in a camp at Badin

PDI team registration of IDPs in a College-Camp Badin District Sindh

A happy girl at PDI water distribution via tankers in the city camps at Badin.

Waiting to go back home. A girl in School-camp at Nawabshah

A sick goat being taken to Nawabshah town

PDI team at Flood Assesment in Umerkot District of Sindh

Living the past in Pakistan when the same time of the year in 2010 20 million population was affected by Pakistan Floods while another of 5.44 million population is effected by heavy monsoon rains

Pakistan Floods 2011: Re-Living the Past

2011-09-23T03:18:00.000-07:00

Views fromPDI team on the ground

More than a month have passed now, whatstarted as seasonal monsoon rains, prolonged to become Pakistan’s secondgreatest disaster within less than a years’ time. Pakistan is once again thevictim of heavy rains and flooding which have affected about 5.4 million ofpopulation by now, with 1.8 million displaced (51% female) according to UN OCHAthe total number of temporary settlements isestimated to be 6,000 including spontaneous sites.

PDI team making their way towards the flood effected
villages in Umerkot for registration of flood victims

While in addition to areas those wereaffected last year, new areas have also flooded. About 22 out of 23 districtsof Sindh have been affected; districts which hosted millions of people fleeingfrom their homes in the past floods are now under water and in need of urgentsupport.

While most of us believe that the past floods2010 were the most disastrous we are almost forgetting that this year thechallenge is far greater than that, Government and civil society have beencaught off guard when new districts became the victims of this year’s monsoon,while millions of people who were trying to recover from the past year facedthe worst blow.

The team of Participatory DevelopmentInitiatives (PDI) which was on the ground from the day flooding began invarious districts of Sindh, has been actively engaged in early warning, rescue,relief and recovery of the families affected by the floods 2011. Fromcooperating with DDMA and Metrological department for early warning to rescuingthousands of families in flood affected areas, PDI team spread around the districtsof Umerkot, Nawabshah, Dadu and Badin for immediate action.

The reports that come from PDI team show usthat Pakistan perhaps never recovered from the past flood, the millions ofhomeless families from the past year are now suffering significant challengesin the floods.

“One of the serious challenges of this yearare the nonstop rains”, says one of the PDI’s team member active in the rescueof families in Badin District of Sindh,” Apart from the flooding that effectedthe people, the continues rain have made it a lot difficult for our rescue andrelief activities as well as taking families away from the high risk areas”.

PDI team giving a hygiene sessions to women inside a
school-camp in Nawabshah before distributing Hygiene kits

In Tharparkar and Umerkot District of Sindhwhere the rains would have been a blessing at other times, shook the dessertareas in great sea-like waves displacing thousands of population and forcing themto feel from the district they lived all their lives on.

“People in Tharparkar and Umerkot see this(situation) as perhaps the biggest disaster to the in their whole lives apartfrom the years long draughts”, Says PDI team member engaged in reliefdistribution in Umerkot District of Sindh with the support of Oxfam, “alongwith the first ever migration due to heavy rains they are also suffering fromthe loss of their crops”.

UN Reports 1,595,050 acres of cropped landaffected by the recent flooding; About 72.6% crops damaged or destroyed while 36.2%livestock is lost or sold Along with that 67% of food stock has been destroyed.(UN OCHA) This not only proves for great economic crises in the country butalso shows the sign of food security issues for the coming years as the landpersists to be under water.

“The cotton fields standing beautifully inNawabshah ready for harvest are now under heavy floods”, says one of the PDIteam members working in Nawabshah district of Sindh with the support of Oxfam, “attimes we are required to use boats to go to various villages for rescueoperations”.

Sakina one of the residents of a destroyedvillage in Nawabshah shares her grief over her loss of crops, which accordingto her were going to pay for her daughter’s wedding in the coming month. Shenow lives with her small family on the road side of Nawabshah city.

PDI team is still on the ground and issending their updates everyday on their rescue and relief activities, pleasefollow us on our twitter account, www.twitter.com/PDIPakistan , our facebook page,http://www.facebook.com/pages/Participatory-Development-Initiatives-PDI/172928581820 our blog: http://pdipakistan.blogspot.com/

A recent report from UN shows the followingdiagram:

2011-09-22T03:20:00.000-07:00

A family stands outside their camp in Thar desert in Sindh, Pakistan. The blessing of rains that turned into a nightmare for these families is bringing challenging issues of diseases and great economic difficulties.

Helping poor farmers to overcome flood miseries

2011-07-05T04:33:00.000-07:00

Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) a non-government organization is targeting most vulnerable small farmers of Thatta district providing them agriculture input to overcome their miseries of flood devastation and paying way for their sustainable livelihood.Haji Gul Mohammad Mendherio is small farmer hailing from Thatta district taluka Jati village Ibrahim Mendherio Union Council Gul Mohammad Baran. Before flood devastation poor small farmers of UC Haji Gul Mohammad mostly cultivated crops of rice, cotton, sugarcane and sunflower and said UC communities badly affected and flood water washed their homes and crops. Gul Mohammad Baran is one of the most flood affected UC and majority of communities are being deprived from basic facilities of health, education and other civic. The costal belt communities of Sindh are mostly living their live under the extreme poverty level and flood water compounded their miseries.Mendherio, a small farmer beneficiary of PDI and Oxfam, Community Based Early Project who have an 8 acres land shared his memories of flood with PDI team Thatta. Gul said that before hitting of flood he was living along with two adopted children. He told that in his 8-acres land before hitting of flood cultivated crop of rice and mostly his family dependable on earning of rice crop.He said that initially local administration informed their communities in UC that they are safe from flood water wrath. When flood hit Kashmore, upper district of Sindh Pakistan we were relaxed. He said he mostly remained ill and stayed in his home. To amuse myself in elderly age I had spent time with my children and on radio listening songs and after sunset, met with my friends who mostly assembled at my home to inquire my health. Communities including myself were too much worried when we were suddenly informed by local administration to leave the village following breach in Kot Almo. We were extremely upset and decided to shift from our village to safer place.“I have spent three months in Golarchi Taulka in flood relief camp along with my family and later on decided to leave it to rehabilitate my family in my own native village” he said. To my utter shock, when first time I entered in my village, I saw everything washed away in flood water including my muddy and wood homes and livestock.A whole area was submerged under the flood water and its big task for being a poor community farmer to recover myself from flood water devastation. PDI team members met with communities and registered my name and motivated me to cope with challenges arising out of the floods. They guide us to pump out water from our village as well as encouraged us that communities peoples could built their homes and we are not alone and would soon overcome over miseries of flood devastation. PDI team provided me agriculture input, seed of sunflower and fertilizer and their team guided me to cultivate the crop of sunflower. After pumping out water and building my home it was very hard for me to cultivate any crop on my small area of land. But after getting agriculture input support from PDI, I am confident that my flood sufferings would be gone away and I would again resume my pre-flood life.After getting PDI agriculture input and cropping sunflower in my land I would care my small family’s health and nutrition needs and spend earning of sunflower crop on their livelihood.

PDI Legal Aid Committee enable poor woman farmer to get land

2011-06-24T00:36:00.000-07:00

This is a tale of courageous woman of Sindh Government land granted farmer beneficiary who had been allotted land by Sindh government under the Land Distribution Program but after allotting land by Revenue Department she faced litigation case but Participatory Development Initiatives ( PDI ) Legal Aid Committee won her case and she regained her allotted land . Zulekhia 41 year old hailing from Umerkot district one of poverty stricken district of Sindh Province Pakistan and where majority of women peasants are engaged in land labour and striving for their economic empowerment to improve their livelihood. In male dominated society in feudal structure its blessing for women to get land and cultivate crop to improve their livelihood. PDI with Oxfam not only helping these types of poor women to move forward them for sustainable development but also helping them to create awareness among to get land from the Sindh Government Women Land Distribution Program which was being launched by government aimed to financially empower poor landless Harris in Sindh province of Pakistan . PDI legal Aid Committee won many cases of poor land allottees who are facing litigation cases after allotted land by Sindh government. In Sindh rural areas where feudal culture and mindset is too much dominated and majority of poor rural women folk along with their spouse from early dawn to dusk mostly spend their times in doing hard labour in local land lord or growers to feed their family members . After winning litigation case with the help of PDI Legal Aid Committee Zulekhia shared her feelings with PDI team. Narrating her story to PDI team Zulekhia said that she mostly spent time in doing hard work labour in the land of local wadera along with Pohra .(Her husband name) Zulekhia told the PDI team that local wadera gave only four thousand rupees per month and it was very hard for their family to survive in said amount. She added that after having dinner she in dusk went to house her friend. During my chit chat with my friend she told me that Sindh government is distributing land among female landless Harrias. During my chat with her initially I did not pay heed to her advice.“When I get up early in the dawn and I had discuss with my husband regarding Sindh government Program to distribute land among poor women but initially he also discouraged me that how could a possible that a poor woman like you get a government land” she described. But later I make up my mind and enrolled myself in the registration process of Sindh government women land distribution program. After fulfilling all the requirements to get land I was eagerly waiting for holding of open Kutchery. She added that when open kutchery was held at local revenue office and her name was taken by local revenue official that I had allotted 3.7 acres land I was extremely delighted and I never forget that announcement day . When I returned from kutchery and hearing news of getting land I start future planning in my mind to overcome miseries of my family. She shared with PDI team that after short spell of a time postman delivered an envelope at her home, I rushed to my neighbour to read that letter. He in sad voice told me that its notice sent by local revenue official in which mentioned that against your allotted land, Basheeran w/o Zulifqar had filed litigation case and challenge your land allotment order. Its nightmare for me and at once my face gloomed after hearing this news and whole night thought about how could it’s possible that I can afford fees of a lawyer to contest my case in local revenue official . Suddenly in evening a group of team met with me and inquired about my allotted land. They introduced me that we are Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) a non government organization members and our top agenda to help poor women landless Harrias who have been allotted land but later facing litigation cases. After getting all bio-data of case when next morning another PDI team met with me and encouraged me that no one has dare to snatch you from your genuine right to regain your allotted land and they told me that advocate Arjun Das PDI legal Aid Committee would contest your case .In few hearing I won case with the help of PDI Legal Aid Committee and recovered my allotted land and local revenue official after hearing argument announced verdict in my favour. PDI Legal Aid Committee not only helped me to win my case but also provide me legal support to get form Seven, a legal land document of a land ownership. After getting form seven and winning case of litigation they met with me and said that PDI believe in economics empowerment of poor landless Harrias and I pledged with PDI team that I would enroll my children in school and buy more land and to secure my family members from economic shocks and provide them better safety network of food security to cultivate crop on my land and from crop earning also buy livestock .

Helping flood-hit families to earn livelihood

2011-06-02T03:59:00.000-07:00

This is a tale of poor widow peasant Marvi of Thatta, one of the most flood affected coastal district of Sindh province, Pakistan. Marvi is supported by Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) with collaboration of Oxfam GB providing her agriculture input after the post flood devastation. The widow peasant who before hitting of flood was living along with her son and doing hard work on her two acre land in Haji Gul Muhammad Nohario village, one of the poverty stricken village in Thatta. The flood compounded her problems. When flood initially hit the upper districts of Sindh, there was confusion among the villagers and even local authorities regarding evacuation plan for safe places as no early preparations were made in this regard. As a result, there was total chaos in the village and every villager was confused. Under these circumstances, Marvi took decision and along with her kid and father moved to safer place to save her family from the deadly flood waves. “It was very difficult decision for me to leave my native village,” she said.

Initially she moved towards safer place and subsequently took shelter in relief camp setup by government and civil society organizations in taluka Golarchi. After spending three months in the camp, she decided to return her native place. To her shock, Marvi saw that entire village was submerged under three to four feet heavy flood water and her two acres in which she cultivated crop of rice washed away in flood water. “I was extremely worried and it was nightmare for me that how could I again rehabilitate my family,” she said. As she was totally dependable on the income of rice crop. In order to help her, the PDI, an NGO, working along with Oxfam GB registered her name. Initially when I have seen flood devastation in the village.Marvi’s sense of despondency was acute. “I thought that how could I rebuilt my damaged home because large scale flood devastation shattered my all dreams,” she said. Her life was devastated after seeing large scale flood devastation in the village. “A poor farmer like me never dreamed about rehabilitation so early from the flood devastation but after holding meeting with PDI team, it gave me hope and encouraged me to get rid from worst days of flood memories,” she said. The PDI not only guided her but enabled her to cultivate sun flower crop on her two acres land. “I never forgot a day when PDI team visited my home after pumping out flood water from my land and provided me an agriculture input,” she recalled. PDI team also provided her 5 KG seed, 150 KG Urea and 100 KG DAP fertilizer for cultivation of sunflower on her two acres. After getting agriculture input from PDI team, she said she was excited and her hardships and sufferings which she had undergone were eased. “Now I am dreaming for my upcoming future and resumed a new journey of my life and move forward towards self empowerment,” Marvi said, adding that she was no more dependable on any government or local official but doing hard work in her land to earn better income from cultivated crop of sunflower.

“Happy Women’s Day Jiji”

2011-03-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

Wrinkles have taken over her face now, especially when she smiles the folds gather around her mouth giving away a feeling of warmth and affection. While her frail body have refused for her to move around much now but her hands constantly rise up in prayers for her grandchildren, for her family and for all the human beings. That is why she isn’t called Jiji (granny) just by her family but everyone who knows her calls her Jiji.

Jiji belongs to a small village called Mehon Khan Khoso outside of Johi Tehsil in District Dadu, Sindh, surrounded by her family of about 28 members with countless little children who are always gathered around her, listening to her stories from long ago, stories that belong to her own childhood which according to Jiji was the time when Sindh flourished with endless beauties. When problems seemed to be the last thing to arrive and where, summer, winter, autumn and spring were seasons of celebration.

In those times of great cultural empowerment and merriments Jiji with her family lived a content life working on landlords lands that surrounded their village.

“When I was a little child merely 8, I used to follow around my mother to make sure I do as she says”….Jiji explains. “All those days when I did the smallest of chores I saw my mother running around from dawn to dusk doing hundreds of tasks”….. Jiji stops for a second as if contemplating on her words and says: “I used to wonder why anyone doesn’t ever praise her for her abilities because to me she had hundreds”.

Jiji took after her mother’s abilities and like all the girls in her community she was married off in a very small age to a family who was a hundred times larger than hers and where she like her mother ran around whole day to fulfill her duty of being a woman.

This wasn’t new for Jiji, her fate was like thousands of other girls or perhaps more, who too followed the circle of deprivations not only in decisions that affected their lives but even in eating their daily meals ….because like all families Jiji and the other woman of the house were supposed to eat after all the men in the family ate. And that was perfectly normal for her.

Jiji soon had her own children, time went by and Sindh began to change, a box called TV was seen speaking in each house and people began to talk about health, education, electricity and other essentials, but of course not yet for women and girls because when you listened close they were talking about “schools for boys”.

“One day my husband came home and informed me where he wants our girl to be married”, shares Jiji, this also was perfectly normal for me as my decisions had too been made by my father and not by my mother”.

Marrying her girls off, soon her sons brought home brides and it wasn’t long when little stars began to shine in the surroundings of her home, laughter of little children started to ring through the walls and little feet began dancing in the house premises….these were the years when Jiji began to lose her strength as old age dawned on her, her struggles began to lessen and all that she usually did, was taken up by her daughter-in-laws….while life went on.

But when Jiji’s grandchildren started on their feet, then is when the usual circle of her life was shifted, rather “twisted” from a side when Jiji decided to send her granddaughters to school, combing their golden brown hair each morning, Jiji started to make her own history.

Right in this time of Jiji’s life when it moved like a wheel set on speed, on the 16^th of August 2010 Pakistan Floods broke in the district of Dadu, things changed from all aspects. In the matter of hours their whole village residents fled out of Johi as gusts of water climbed on top of the brick houses, breaking through the tall meadows taking the whole area in sea-like waves. The family traveled on already stuffed vans to a long distance in camps of Johi.

“I had never in my whole life seen so many people at move”, shares Jiji “People were running around, clutching their loved ones, some even lost and many women without shoes and dupattas”.

Hot weather, lack of clean drinking water, non availability of adequate food and most of all the suffocating conditions of camps led Jiji to a poor health condition, soon the color in her smiling face drained out and her body already weak from age became almost unable to move.

In 2 months when waters receded, Jiji and her family moved back to her village which had become a sight of complete disorder and the once lively atmosphere had vanished leaving behind fallen walls, washed out belongings and broken tree stems.

That is the time when the team of Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) with the support of Oxfam arrived for the aid of Jiji’s family along with 8,000 other families in Dadu providing recovery support as well as regeneration of the lost lifestyles by providing cash for work, Clean up campaigns, Winter Kits, Hygiene Kits, establishing latrines and laundry spaces, repairing water sources (hand pumps) and providing cash grants of 12,000 rupees to 3000 families.

Eventually clean-up campaigns began in Jiji’s village in which women, men, boys and girls took part, filling the pits and holes, cleaning the veranda’s, placing dry dirt on clay packed earth, throwing away washed in waste and putting away scattered bricks from fallen walls. Hygiene sessions were carried on, demonstrations on washing up and cleaning up of self were done, sessions on brushing teeth, cleaning nails and keeping the cloths clean were carried out before distributing the kits. People were selected out to be provided 12,000 rupees of cash grants and the construction of toilets and laundry spaces soon began while hand pumps were repaired.

PDI team kept on with all these activities in about 50 villages in Dadu district, keeping the routine visits going where mobilization and other activities were under process.

On their recent visit to her family, Jiji amazed the PDI team by asking if PDI could re-construct the schools so her grandchildren can start on their education once again…..and may this have been Jiji’s blessings or the great luck of those little girls in Dadu that PDI and Oxfam have recently launched their Education Rehabilitation Program to improve the primary education especially girl education conditions in Dadu as well as to re-habilitate a number of schools starting from February 2011!

Sharing this to Jiji was like answering her most needed questions and while she is as happy as others in her community, PDI looks forward to this initiative as a successful endeavor for the lives of little girls and their educational empowerment.

Jiji turned 85 this year; each year that passes steals away some of the strength in her body but her affection still glows far across that village where she lives and today as the world celebrates women’s day in various forms, we at PDI send our heartiest wishes for Jiji and all those women like her who choose to make a dent in the universe, may that be any size: Happy Women’s Day Jiji!

Govt urged to speed up repair of canal banks

2011-03-03T00:04:00.000-08:00

SHIKARPUR: The government should speed up repair of canal banks and Indus embankments to protect people of Shikarpur from future flood threats.
The slow process of repair will add to the misery of flood-hit people who are already facing problems due to inadequate health and education facilities. This was stated by journalists and representatives of civil society at a media workshop on “water related issue” organised by the Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) and Oxfam at press club here on Friday 25, 02, 2011. The Begari canal between Shikarpur and Jacobabad districts, which developed a breach during floods, has not been repaired yet. They urged the government to set up a body to monitor the repair of irrigation system and post-flood rehabilitation work.

Participants of the workshop demanded from high up of a Sindh government that before disturbing seeds among the growers of a flood hit talukas , should check the fertility of the soil and water and should take measure to functionalize the water and soil testing laboratory in the district which is non functional since years in the district . They urged the main stream national media to highlight the post flood water and rehabilitation issues of flood victims in the district especially Kutcha areas flood hit victims. Participants of workshop lauded the role of non-government organizations, NGOs and IGOs for their quick response to save people as well as helping local administration during pre and post flood situation. They urged upon on interaction among civil society groups including NGOs, media to highlight the post flood issues of the flood hit communities in national and regional media.They demanded from the government that before making planning policies regarding rehabilitation of flood hit people should input the suggestion of the civil society groups to save people from any possible future disaster. They praised the PDI installing hand water pumps as well as providing sanitation facilities in flood hit villages constructing toilets in the villages. Shikarpur Press Club President Zahid Noon, senior journalist Rahimullah Soomro and PDI Media Communication officer and others office bearers of press club and journalists spoke in the media workshop.

End.

Monitoring of dykes, embankment repairs must to avoid future disasters: experts

2011-03-02T22:45:00.000-08:00

The Participatory Development Initiative (PDI) and Oxfam organised a workshop here at Press Club of Kandhkot district on Sunday 27,02,2011 with media on ‘Water-related issues in flood-stricken areas of Kandhkot-Kashmore’.
Visualizing the situation, the workshop observed that the government should set up a watchdog body, involving the civil society representatives, for monitoring the ongoing repairs of dykes and embankments to avoid any upcoming natural flood calamity and to save lives and properties of the people of the district.
It was also suggested that the government should depute specialized dermatologists to prevent skin and health diseases among the flood-hit masses, as these were spreading among the rural and urban population of the district. Local journalists and civil society representatives urged for involvement of civil society representatives to monitor the development works initiated by the local administration and with sub-standard materials. They observed that such imperfect work would prove disastrous and the people of the district would have to pay the price for negligence and malpractices. They mentioned that the people were already struggling for their survival after the devastating floods as the agriculture and ecosystem of the district.

They also demanded of the government to provide health facilities to the flood victims to save them from water-borne diseases. They noted that there were reports of more than 100 deaths of children, women and old citizens due to gastro and other water-borne diseases in the district. They also noted with dismay that not a single high-up of the Sindh government and its health department visited the affected areas of the district to gauge the health issues that developed after the flood devastation.
Participants of the workshop pointed out to the government that the model villages it was establishing for the flood victims were being constructed without any viable planning and depriving them of sanitation and water facilities.
They added that there were still a large number of children, women and senior citizen were facing skin and water-borne diseases in the most-affected flood-hit areas of Kandhkot and Tagwani Talukas.

“A New Beginning”

2011-03-01T23:31:00.000-08:00

PDI Success story from Pakistan Floods 2010

In February 2011 I was on my usual reporting tour around Sindh province of Pakistan to share updates on the lives of flood survivors that we at PDI have been working with. For some reason I didn’t fell to much enthusiasm at the idea of riding down to the villages which have once been under water and where the flood survivors after months of hardships have gone back to...”it would just not be the right time”, I thought. The very thought of walking down to the houses where the still-wet earth would have dried mud seethed piles, where belongings would have been lost in mound of filth, where walls might have fallen and where tearful looking eyes would stare for a small token of support. All this in mind, I did start with my first of the travels, the first destination being Shikarpur district where PDI with the support of Oxfam have been supporting 10,000 families right from the emergency relief to recovery phases and to my great surprise things were the reverse of what I thought they would be.

The tires of our small red Cultus squealed slowly at a halt as dust spread like the shower of first monsoon rains upon it, children had gathered in groups around the car, now peeking from my side of the window and deciding what kind of a creature they would like to call me. This was the fourth village I was stepping in to where Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) and Oxfam have worked from the day villagers stepped back in their villages and helping them provide cash for work, Clean up campaigns, blanket making, Women Kits, Winter Kits and Household Kits.

Even had visited three villages in a row it was still a challenge to believe if we would keep seeing clean beautifully shaped villages further ahead, but looking around me on the open clear areas surrounding the village, rows of lined up bricks that might have fallen off houses and holes for gathering waste, white marks used to make roads marks in the village and cots placed in a row where women sat making blankets which PDI purchased from them while at a distance groups of men were working on building toilets that they were being paid for by PDI and Oxfam. This was village Kalati.

“We had come back to our homes with much sadness and loss”, says Khairunisa (one of the villagers) “and when we found the mounds of clay and destroyed houses laying about this area all of us realized that perhaps our lives were not going to be the same again”.

It wasn’t long before PDI team had reached out to them, gatherings took place, hygiene sessions, cleaning sessions and recovery plans were held. Men were mobilized to work around the village and re-establish what they have once lost; women were given blanket material to make blankets which were being purchased from them. Hand pumps and washing spaces were established, toilets constructed, Days and days of cleaning campaigns were held where children took part with much excitement and pleasure and before the time of even 3 months, Kalati was transformed to what we saw it today.

We made them feel once again the ownership to their homes they used to feel before, shares a PDI team member, it was definitely a hard step but as days passed and influence became stronger to the point that things CAN become what they were is when things started to happen!

Creating belief is not an easier thing and belief which actually motivates people to take charge when they had recently had a drastic catastrophe is a challenge worth taking. Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) and Oxfam took this as a challenge not only for their own but as a matter of bringing change in the disaster struck society of Pakistan and soon was the time when people were paradigms were transformed, villages were cleaned up, constructions began, life moved on and A New Beginning became a possible reality for everyone~

PDI and Oxfam – Novib Workshop on post-flood water related issues held in Dadu

2011-02-24T06:32:00.000-08:00

Civil society and media representatives demanded from the government that, before harvesting in any crop in the flood hit district Dadu or launching any water scheme in the district should check the fertility of the soil and should aware flood hit districts people about usage of clean potable water to save them from water borne diseases.

They recommended it in a media workshop entitled "Post Flood Water Related Issues in Dadu" jointly organised by Participatory Development Initiatives and Oxfam on 24 ,02,2011 on Thursday . Participants of the workshop suggested that traditional sources usage of water ponds, canals and irrigation system badly affected by the flood water and sewerage water mixed with flood water and in many areas still not drain out by the local administration.

Riaz Sohail BBC reporter , Dadu Press Club President, Nizamudian Sheikh local journalist, Wali Mohammad Lund, Akhund Rahmatullah, Raja Atif Abbasi, Mohammad Azeem Bozadar, Abid Khushak, Gulan Bhund, Masood Chandio, PDI project officer, Ishak Soomro and others spoke in the media workshop. They feared that due mixing of containment water with potable water, still in many flood hit areas cases of gastro are reported and in local administration if local administration should not take appropriate measure it would be caused of a spreading hepatics B and C diseases.-

End.

PDI legal committee pleads woman land allottee’s case

2011-02-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

This is a story of a poor peasant woman; Sakina hailing from village Khamoo Chandani, Union Council Mehar Deh Jharandi Taluka Ghora Bari of District Thatta who was allotted 8 acres state land in second phase of the Sindh Government Land Distribution Program but she is facing litigation case in the revenue court of a Thatta. Participatory Development Institutes (PDI) Legal Aid Committee is pleading her case.

The PDI Land Right Team which facilitated Sakina for filling her land acquired farms and also provided transport facilities as well setup camp during holding of open kutcharies in office of revenue officials. Narrating her story to PDI Land Right team, she said that it was climax of her happiness when PDI team visited her hatch house and encouraged and motivated her to get state land. She said she was surprised when she saw that both female and male PDI team members holding load-speakers were asking poor women to come forward and become owner of the land. “I was extremely delighted when I got land,” said Sakina. She said after getting order of land allotment when her husband, Mohammad Yousuf went to the Revenue office to get form-7, he was informed by the clerk there that a person named as Wilayat Shoro has filed litigation case against the allotted land. Sakina said she was feeding her five children at home when her husband returned at evening and appeared in pensive mood. She said she also become upset when she heard the story as her dreams was being shattered. The PDI team members Saima Hassan and Sattar Zangejo visited her hatch house and told her that she should not worry as their legal aid committee would plead her case. PDI team members informed her that it was her first right to get the State land since she has been living in the village since decades while Wilayat Shoro lives in another village. Sakina is now confident that she would retain the allotted land with the legal help of the PDI committee.

Call for quick rehabilitation of flood-hit people

2011-01-31T21:41:00.000-08:00

Government should utilize all available resources for speeding up the process of rehabilitation of flood stricken people of Balochistan as thousands of affectees were still homeless and need help in restoring of their source of income. It was observed by the speakers and participants in a seminar held here on Thursday, 27,01,2011 on Challenge in Pro-Poor flood Recovery and Rehabilitation in Balochistan organized by Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) and Oxfam- Novib.

Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd presided over the seminar while Minister for Revenue Engineer Zamrak Khan Piralizai was Chief Guest. Participants submitted various recommendations for accelerating the rehabilitation work in the flood affected areas Jaffarabad, Nasirabad and other districts of the province that badly hit by heavy rains and floods. They suggested that National and Provincial Disaster Management Authorities should be made financially sound as both institutions remained fail in rescue and relief operations in the flood stricken areas of Balochistan. “Flood disaster should be considered as an opportunity to rethink on the traditional approach towards disaster management and the government should come with pro active stage of development process.

” It was suggested in the seminar that a separate minister of Disaster Management should be set up and a 10 year perspective plan for “Safer Balochistan” should be prepare to make the province completely disaster resilient from future disaster The Balochistan Finance Minister, Mir Asim Kurd while speaking at the seminar said that provincial government has provided Rs, 500 million for the rehabilitation of flood affectees of Balochistan while federal government was requested to provide maximum funds for the rehabilitation of the flood victims. He said that army had called immediately for launching rescue operation in the flood hit areas of Balochistan while provincial government had sent relief goods for providing shelter to the people rendered homeless as their houses washed away in the worst every flood. He, however, said the Balochistan government had provided tents, rations, clean drinking water and medicines and even cash assistance to flood affectees. He said the provincial government had requested to Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to issue notification to implement his promise of giving subsidy on electricity bills of agriculture tube-wells in Balochistan who were affected due to floods and long spell of drought.

Balochistan Minister for Local Government Eng. Zamarak Khan lauded the Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps for launching a comprehensive rescue and relief operation in flood-hit districts of Balochistan.
“Provincial government used its all available resources to help flood victims of affected areas,” he claimed and added that government was making all out efforts for the rehabilitation of the flood stricken people of Balochistan. He said the provincial government had pinned hope that Prime Minister Gilani would implement his promise to establish two power plants each in Loralai and Khuzdar districts respectively as fruits gardens and standing crops in the province had dried up thanks to prolonged power load shedding.

A senior journalist Siddiq Baloch recalled that Balochistan had suffered six major disasters during last nine years including drought, heavy rains and floods. He criticized role of disaster management authorities in dealing with recent flood disaster as saying they could not carry out proper rescue and relief operation in the affected regions. He said international donors had denied giving financial assistance to Pakistan to launch rehabilitation in flood-affected regions. He, therefore, urged the parliamentarians of Balochistan to allocate their development funds for rehabilitation in the flood-hit districts of their province. Bijar Khan of Pakistan Red Crescent Society Balochistan said land of Balochistan had suffered multi-hazards disasters. He warned that recent earthquake of 7.3 magnitude of a red signal that our Disaster Management Authorities should remain alert to deal with any possible disaster related situation. Professor Nadeem Malik of Balochistan University, Khalida Brohi and Abdul Qayyum also spoke in the seminar.

Hospitals Depress Me

2011-01-11T22:22:00.000-08:00

Hospitals depress me

They remind me of prison cells

Its where, frowning people in pain

Sleep on tube framed squeaky beds

A heavy scent of aspirin

Greets you on the door

Far away in a corner

A baby’s shrill cries echo

Like thunder rolling from a heavy cloud

Hospitals depress me

They tell me what is dying and death

Fluid-like through the creaks of the window

Slow as the shadows of the setting sun

Hospitals make me angry

And I

Pout about and declare

No, not at all

I am not getting an injection!

But cruel, shrewd and witty people in white

May force you,

Drag you,

Hurl you in a corner

To inject what they call is “medicine”

To me a needle that is made to hurt

Hospitals depress me

Its where I remember

What pain is

What are

sorrow’s

And what being fortunate means

Which is when

You walk about the world

Smelling

Touching

Feeling

Tasting

Hearing

Speaking, or yet still

Singing!

You know you are rich when

You touch a thing and feel its softness

Drink from a glass to taste the deliciousness of nature

Open your mouth to speak

And you can

Listen, and you can

Hospitals depress me

Even when the early morning beams shine through heavy bright curtains

On a shiny marble floor

Even when nurses wear beautiful hair-clips

And put on a 24 hour smile

Hospitals depress me

They whisper

About times

When money had been the price to live

About people

Who sing lullabies to their dying children

Hospitals depress me

Where a single silent gesture tells thousand stories of disease, of illness

Of sickness

Of loss

Of a loved one….

Until silence spreads

Far and wide

And there is only quietness

And far away the sound of the baby crying

-----------------+-------------

PDI helps senior citizens to become literate

2011-01-05T21:40:00.000-08:00

This is tale of two senior citizens, 55 year Hasal Khan and Dur Mohammad 58 year, villagers of Shakarjee, 36 KM away from Khuzdar district in Balochistan province. They have become able to write their name first time in their life with the efforts of Participatory Development Initiatives [PDI], which persuaded the local administration to open first literacy center there.

The PDI is a non government nonprofit organization, struggling against the illiteracy, motivating the indigenous nomadic population using different advocacy tools involving local people , government officials and notable especially elders citizens of the area , enrolling them in Education Literacy Center established by National Commission for Human Development (NCHD ) in the village. Balochistan is the largest, least populated, and least developed of Pakistan's four provinces. The province covers 347,190 square kilometers, making it about the same size as France, but it has a population of only 6.5 million (1998 census) out of Pakistan's total population of some 140 million. With its small share of the national population, Balochistan received very little of Pakistan's already low expenditures on education.

Delivering quality education was made more difficult by the sparse and scattered nature of provincial settlement. More than three-fourths of Balochistan's residents live in one of about 9,000 small rural settlements. Villages are separated from each other by an average of 30 miles, and most have no paved roads, telephones, or electricity. Only one major highway connects Balochistan with the neighboring province of Sindh. Transportation must rely on dirt roads, which wash away during the monsoon rains every year, leaving many villages totally isolated from other parts of the province.

The province's diverse population is another challenge to improving education. Many ethnic groups reside in Balochistan, and three major languages are spoken in the province, are Balochs, Brohi and Pashto although Urdu is the national language and the medium of instruction in schools. Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI), a non government organization using local indigenous and religious tools motivated even elderly people and enrolled them in Education Literacy Centre . PDI is working in Shakrjee settlement (Village ) since two years and PDI staff always in forefront helping indigenous people whenever any natural disaster or calamity struck in the area . Its mission and motto is to fight against hunger and poverty and build up network of the community and imparting training them to cope any natural disaster with community help. Enrolling elders community members in Education Learning Center is part of the PDI strategy that spreading education among all the genders without any creed, color, race and age helped community people to aware them about the rapid climatic changes as well as motivated them to fight any natural disaster by using indigenous mode.55 years old Hasul Khan and 58 Dur Muhammad never admitted in literacy centre due to non-availability of school or Madarsa in their village.PDI held meetings with local administration officials and did advocacy, which resulted in opening of NCHD Literacy Center in the Shakerjee area , around 35 children, both girls and boys are benefiting from the centre.

Hasul Khan said with mobilization of social mobilizer of the PDI, Shaheen Brahui, they also decided to learn at the literacy centre with support of the teacher, Jamil Ahmed.

Hasul Khan expresses his happiness when he says that after 55 years, he has become able to write his name. There are hundreds of elder citizens who wanted to become literate but owing to lack of initiative by the government, they could not realize their dream. But with opening of the first literacy centre in the area, one hopes that more and more senior people would get basic education there with the efforts of the PDI.

Give a Nonprofit a Mobile Phone

2010-12-29T02:36:00.000-08:00

At this time of the world when online advocacy as well as mobile activism is booming at global level, Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) and Oxfam are jointly together in the usage of these sources. From making impactful use of online tools such as facebook, twitter, blogger and others, PDI believes in the mobilization of strategic tools like SMS, Mobile Calendar, MMS, video clips and photography from cell phones for awareness raising, advocacy and importantly for better communication. In December 2010 Oxfam GB granted me a Nokia C3 for this purpose which after about a week’s curious examining and experiments I am now using in the following activities while still figuring out some more.

1. Short Message Service (SMS)

Using the technique of SMS along with the new QWERTY key set of Nokia C3 I am using ufone as one of the major actors in sending out hundreds of SMS within a week which mainly include information to the PDI staff regarding important events as well as daily updates to keep them informed. I am also sending organizational updates and Greetings to our partner organizations which work as keeping them aware of PDIs activities as well as advocacy messages are sent to broader audience.

2. Keeping track of my organizational appointments

With the awesome calendar built in with my Nokia C3, I keep track of where I am supposed to be and when if I am out and about. I also use it to organize my daily tasks and balance between the days throughout the week like making sure I complete two to three most important tasks everyday along with a number of other appointments and never double them off.

3. 3. News on the Radio

Having a very tough schedule, most of the time I am unable to read newspaper daily but using the most active radio stations on my mobile phone and the headphone set that came along with Nokia C3 I keep myself updated with the situations around Pakistan, especially in Karachi where the movement of my organization team is rampant.

4. Listen to audio books:

One of the most wonderful things I could do with my mobile phone is listen to audio books in chapters. I have identified various websites which offer free audio books including http://librivox.org , http://www.podiobooks.com , http://www.openculture.com/freeaudiobooks that I share with my mobile phone via PC Suite software and listen to while I am working or doing other things.

5. Recording Views.

My work as a communication manager requires constant traveling and meeting up with our beneficiaries, where I try to write as well as talk to the women but Nokia C3 have made things easier for me, now I only talk and interact as much as I can while I record what these women are saying to later write them up in detail.

6. Getting Inspired:

Finding myself alone for a while or just before a meeting is about to start, I never forget to listen to audio speeches of famous leaders around the world to get inspired, which I download from here! http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html

7. Taking Notes:

I am one of those who tend to keep writing while they drive to office or wait for something. Using the system of typing up notes in my mobile I work on reports, case studies, narratives or even composing emails while I am at it which I later transfer to my computer as Word files.

8. To-do List

As a manager communication, I find myself surrounded by hundreds of small tasks that I need to do, like emailing someone on time; have a phone conference, a skype schedule or anything as such. I keep track of all this in my to-do list inside my phone. According to the systems I set to the list, my phone also reminds me of certain tasks which are important or which I may forget otherwise.

9. Keeping track of Stakeholders,

Nokia PC Suite along with the Ovi Suite gives me a chance to not only keep track of phone numbers of people we interact with but also to submit their whole address, fax numbers, alternate numbers as well as email addresses inside my mobile and PC. This makes it easier for us when we are organizing an event and need to send mail invitations to everyone or when I need to send a sneaky greeting gift at our partner’s door!

10. Info-Activism,

Using the communities section of my Nokia C3 I update the links to twitter, facebook, even blogs on blogger. I also receive my emails on my mobile and respond to urgent matters at ease. Using google service is one of my great interests and my mobile phone have solved my problems of being away from this service. Also having twitter along with me now I can share the greatest perspectives of people that I meet daily like indigenous women speaking something about their lives or urging the government.

11. Contacts at Fingertips,

I have grouped down various people according to their concerned projects or issues like Climate Change or Women Rights which I contact via SMS and calls in my mobile phone. This makes it easier to send them updates regarding their center of interest. The Home screen system of Nokia C3 have also made it easier for me to keep the people on top that I contact frequently which appear on the screen of my mobile and are easy to contact.

12. Photography:

I use my mobile camera to hunt down special moments during my travels around the rural Pakistan like Children playing in water, dogs sleeping in front of mud houses, women cooking and cleaning, its all there at the click of my mobile camera.

13. Countdown Timer,

For no reason at some times we are not very eager to do things that we ought to do, well to pump up the motivation and keep myself going I use countdown timer to give myself a quick deadline to finish my tasks.

14. Making Calls!

And of course, I make calls from my mobile phoneJ Isn’t that wonderful.

Things I am still trying to figure out:

1. Using Skype/gtalk on Mobile for international calls

2. Reading Pdfs on my mobile phone

3. Using Ovi Maps on Nokia C3 (Inside Pakistan)

4. Listening to TED talks on my phone

“Celebrating Human Rights Day From The Eyes of Poverty”

2010-12-10T13:00:00.000-08:00

"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control”

-Article 25, Universal declaration of Human Rights

Hot and sweaty summer days in Karachi, the passing cars on a busy road with their desperate drivers roar past under a flyover recently built in the posh area, there under the shade of one of the giant pillars of the flyover sits a man with a huge round bowl made of hard stone in front of him while his hands frantically move up and down holding another heavy stone crushing green herbs to sell as local medicines. Oblivious of the busy life surrounding him, oblivious of the burning hot weather, he sits their crushing and mixing together herbs, makes a small pouch of it and sells it for 10 rupees worth cents. His arms do ache with waves of pain sizzling down to his fingers but he continues for another pouch and life goes on.

Passing through the main roads of Sindh towards Balochistan, near the borders of wadh, district human shadows kneel down on the unpaved path, breaking rocks for the establishment of this road. There are times when women and children join this crowd of workers and they bend towards the hard earth sweat dripping off their faces but an invisible strength keeps them going, the strength to be able to earn at the end of the day. And they do, which is sometimes 24 PKR worth dollars or 50 if they get lucky. Miles ahead them stands the road to be established and the rocks to be crushed and with their small tools they carry on, and life goes on.

With tired eyes which sometimes refuse to open when the first shine of dawn flickers past the window, majority of women in Jamshoro, Sindh forcing their painful joints, strengthen their stiff knees and open their sleepy eyes before the clock strucks 5. They milk the goats, clean the home, make breakfast, wash dishes, wash cloths until its time for making lunch for their family. But before they do they quickly take out their kits and sit down to sew with their worn out fingers giving birth to beautiful patterns on the piece of cloth until they sell this embroidery to a very keen middlemen for 25 rupees never knowing he then sells it off for 700 and life goes on.

The world has evolved in millions of ways till today, globalization standing at its heights now declares that everyone and everything is in reach to anyone around the world with the mere click of a button, rapid growth in free trade have shrunk our borders, media is ruling around us, Money discussions only talk about billions, In a way we are in a state of a booming world, we have taken a rapid flight towards growth and prosperity.

But let’s just stop for a while, stop this chase and run of development and look around us...we might not be able to see it at first since we tend to realize only things around our own shell, but focus, look clearly and you shall see in the big hazy world of our own there where the sun still burns as a piercing hot fire, where days aren’t as short as we think where at nights some small hopeful eyes with tears of hunger leaping down their innocent faces wait, they wait and they wait until the one and only hope comes home empty handed because while fighting with the mighty lion of our economic structure he had surrendered and the power of market have once again took over his attempts to sell the small mud pots which the middleman gestured as useless and waved the poor guy back....This world exists, and continues to grow rampant until the generations and generations of this man lives on. He dies but his poverty does not and when the world changes, nothing changes for him, he remains the same, stuck between the fast trends of growing markets, stronger completion, lack of awareness and exploitation.

Poor people are not idiots, nor or they completely disabled or lazy but they are unaware, they lack the concrete knowledge which would enable them enough income generation and even profit. Injustice in the form of poverty rises because of lack of awareness and thus exploitation of the poor. The first steps towards an enabling environment where we ensure the rights of poor people is to raise awareness, awareness of the growing markets, awareness of changing trends, of handling completion, of innovation and of value addition and awareness of cooperation which would definitely lead them towards much higher profit and less costs when it comes to accessing the market. Although we can’t reach out to all those millions in Pakistan who earn less than their efforts but what we can do is to step in and start with one, single approach. To shake hands with one at a time and to ensure we are really reaching out.

Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) a nonprofit organization in Pakistan with the support of Oxfam GB have started the sphere of those efforts, to analyze where the faults are lying which cause such an increase in the poverty and how do we ensure that the people themselves come forward to solve it. With a plan of establishing 3 producer organizations of small holders in Sindh Province this project would be the core start of a platform where local farmers especially women farmers come up and create an enabling environment for themselves and their future. Oxfam and PDI plan to do advocacy on behalf of the poor farmers who are far from the circle of fair trade and buried under the unjust policies of the country and cannot increase their income while the project also includes establishment of farmer organizations to provide for their needs of training and basic support in legal as well as economic support providing the poorest of poor families with agriculture packages and fighting the cases of women under litigation who were granted lands in the Sindh Government Land Distribution Program.

There should be steps taken to ensure the article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights while the Article 3 stating “right to life” is already being met because poverty is full of life, its self-helped with the skill of survival because each day having had spent the whole day in efforts to earn but still without anything to eat, thousands of empty stomachs stay alive and wait for the next day, hoping perhaps the new rising sun brings with it the rays of change and betterment.

Sindhi Topi (traditional cap)

2010-12-10T05:02:00.000-08:00

Sindhi Topi

An Abstract Poem

In the crisp moments of my thoughts yet another memory fights to arise

With bright blinking day light and earth shinning moon

My thoughts simply fight together

They gather on a sturdy noon

Green as waves of the darkest sea

Sweeping through the heart of Sindh

The meadows once I took pride in

Without them I had thought where I would be

Dust flew in shredded breath

Rumor has it which chased the beautiful breeze

Or that I know the breeze chasing flying dust

Where the shadows become tall trees and the grass becomes a dazzling carpet

The knight of my thoughts whose footprints I see

Once walked with dignity over this dancing sea

Waving the stick and gestures of blow

He ripped through the meadows herding the cow

For it was dusty, yet bright blinking too

But I thought I saw it and never blinked back

Red, yellow, round and colorful

The cap was a Sindhi topi that he wore

Bright lit bangles once did jingle I have heard

A modest shy gesture hid behind the muddy walls

Far away in my thoughts another memory whispered

There is more to it she said, more then you heard

And it danced, danced until I told it to stop

Tell me I said, what more is there I haven’t heard

The eyes with hope as a guest of honor

Searching the fields until the knight made its way

But before he comes the rain did came

Drip, drip it fall soaking the earth, wetting the leaves, smiling to wind and whispering to me

Come dance to the rhythm of an untold beat

Come dance, come dance on the land of Sindh

My Sindh I gain my dreams from you

My land I weave hopes in your heart

Not a day of pain may ever befall on you

Forever you remain the land of tradition, of Ajrak, of Topi, without any sadness without any woe

Until Hope Walked In.....

2010-11-23T21:24:00.000-08:00

Story of your support to Salehan Bibi

They are not wrong when they say, “Hope is a good thing”. It’s a life saver, a tiny rope to hold on when falling off a cliff and sometimes a salvation from bitter diseases. Hope just like that for Salehan bibi of District Thatta became the reason to live, to continue to struggle for basic needs and important of all wait with a shine of hope in her heart. This here is the story of a Salehan, the woman who lived through a life where problems came with the passing time but who chose to be patient and believe in the betterment of her days.

In Sindh the road to Jati, Thatta district twists and turns with a lot of pits and dunes, a lot of small houses pass by, houses made of wood, thoroughly structured together. Sometimes dark old palm leaves dangling from the roof with paved front porch where children in dirt packed cheeks and hands play marble. One can always say that life in this coastal area of Pakistan stands still, where nothing moves ahead, nothing goes farther and time halts.

But then again a few things HAVE changed here, now instead of the wooden houses each sides of the road greets the passerby with desperate conditions of flood survivors, living in small tents, sleeping on the open lands and children as usually playing….but in this time in flood water. Among these tents on the left side of the road towards Jati is the one where Salehan lives with her 23 Family members.

Salehan wife of Anwar Shah is a 62 year old woman belonging to a small village called Allah Dino Mallah, in Tehsil Jati of District Thatta of Sindh Province which is at about 45 kms from where she is now. To anyone Salehan is another flood victim, generalized enough to be among the needy families in Thatta and forgotten after giving a pack of rice. But Salehan when having to sit with has a story to tell.

Her story begins in that small village called Allah Dino Mallah, Where Salehan lived with her parents, sister to 3 brothers and 2 sisters, one of which is abnormal who now lives with her. While the others like her brothers married and are now living separately. She too was married and sent off to a new home, a new family where once again poverty and rising inflation caused them with a lot of problems, right when they used to have 3 to 4 cows and goat’s now only one cow was left while others sold out to provide for needs.

“This life here (after flood) doesn’t surprise me at all; my life has always been filled with struggles, sad moments and hardships”. Salehan says.

As a child Salehan had seen her parents fighting severe kind of poverty, which came like the cultural Jahez (dowry) in her life as well, as each day after her marriage her husband walked distances to go to the landlords land to work on small wages, she belonging to a syed (cast-wise strict system) family was supposed to stay in parda (veil)
but as times became a challenge and for the survival of her children she chose to step out of her home with her husband in search of daily wage labors.

When marrying off 4 sons can be a reason to celebrate for a few, they had been an initiative to grow the hardships for Salehan, sons already struggling with poverty and lack of jobs and each one of them with 4 to 6 children now had about 23 stomachs to feed. Due to rising poverty three of her sons chose to live go separate ways with their families while one still lives with them with his 7 children.

Soon, old age became another problem when moving her legs to walk about a mile would send her off in pain back to the house, her frail hands couldn’t accept the work of everyday and her son along with his wife took over the responsibility to bring enough money for daily needs.

Life went on for Salehan just like that until she along with the other womenin her village heard about the land distribution program of Banazir Bhutto by PDIs FM Radio Initiative for awareness raising.

“I couldn’t believe it at first, we never thought anything like that happened. But since everyone else was applying I too applied for a patch of my own land”, Salehan shares.

Holding her breath until the time of Katchari when the distributed land was announced she had prayed for her own land until it happened. Her hopes and dreams did come true when her name was announced and she was given off eight acres of land. But as Salehan says hardships are a part of herlife, another problem jumped forward with the advent of this celebration. A family from a different tribe in her village who were well off enough claimed the land and declared Salehan as an illegal possessor.

The team of Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) and Oxfam approached her and she was assisted to appeal for filing of a case against the certain person. Different types of Media such as press, FM, tv channels, posters, banners were used to campaign against illegal occupation of land by the opposing party and before even the case could be filed Salehan and her husband came to know that the opposing family is surrendering.

But what Salehan didn’t knew was that this surrender was rather a trap where the opposition party decided to keep her quiet and stay out of danger of going to the court and declared that that land would be given to her but kept on using the land for theirown benefit and months passed by.

And right when PDI was about to take the matters to the court, Pakistan Floods took the villages of Thatta off guard as the Soorjani Band brokeforcing half a million people to migrate within the night. Salehan like others departed from her village and faced another round of helplessness, poverty and problems.

“We rushed away from the village renting a truck that cost us 20,000 for all of our family members and a few possessions. my grandchildren were in bad conditions”, She says, “we lived in a small school in Badin where the heat and diseases attacked us all”.

Salehan and her family were soon forced to leave that school after a month, having nowhere in mind and knowing their own home stood in water they had no idea as where to go. And then is when they hired another vehicle to come live on this road side with no food, water, shelter or money.

They have been living here for two months now, Eid-Ul-fitr that’s the biggest celebration of Muslim countries was celebrated in the small school while this Eid that is after two days, Salehan still cant provide for anything for her grandchildren. The little children when cry and ask her for new cloths and bangles, her heart mourns at the thought about her own childhood when she desperately wanted new things on eid and now her grandchildren too are deprived of it, but she isn’t hopeless.

“We will still fight for our land because winning it back is really important for me, she says, it will help my family not even now but later in their lives and provide for their small dreams”.

Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) where promised to fight her case in the next months is also going to reward her for her continues hopefulness and for her uplifting thoughts. For the next months PDI is going to provide her family with recovery package of household kits, hygiene kits and monthly rashan for their recovery initiative. But then again PDI won’t forget that all this is not just from their behalf because it’s a gift from the people from around the world…

And we at PDI Thank you for making this possible for us~

__________________________________________________________________________

PDI is helping 1000 families just like Salehans in their recovery after the Pakistan Floods and we need YOUR help to make this possible. Help us help them by donating online here at Global Giving http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/help-pdi-in-relief-and-recover...

To know more about PDI email us at info@pdi.org.pk or log on to www.pdi.org.pk ;

What flood left behind?

2010-11-04T22:09:00.000-07:00

By sajad Ali Kandhir

To build a new house is like a dream for them, they can’t decide, from where, start should be taken. The current wave of flood has changed their means of whole life into a collection of soil and rubbish. Their lands are under water, livestock facing hunger, females wait for assistance, and children suffer from diseases. In spite of that they have compromised with sad and sorrows.

Speaking to PDI team, the villagers of Village Ali Bux pahore of district Shikarpur told that they were listening from neighbors that the water flow is very much high but they are far from and safe, suddenly they saw flood water in their feet with heavy voice and they could only saved their lives. They passed 2 months in different relief camps which would be a memorandum for them. While visiting the village, nothing was seen in satisfactory condition. 90% of houses were collapsed and living in rest of houses is life risk. Villagers told that for 2 months there was 5 feet water which have fully damaged to their houses, water sources, animal shades. Few villagers sold out their livestock in compulsion on a very cheapest rate, since they were required transport. But it did not happen only in a single village, thousand of villages are in same position.

The people are badly needed shelter and drinking water facility; though the weather is changing day by day and cold season has started but helpless IDPs still passing their lives under open sky. The tin boxes which were being used to keep traditional “Sindhi Rili” are now empty, nothing is to keep, and their mud boxes which were used to save wheat are now disappeared. Though the water was stagnant in their villages for few months but its losses will take a long time to accomplish, till that the innocent eyes and little hands are stagnant on assistance especially for shelters.

Let us come and play our role transparently to help them where they are needed On other hand, Participatory development Initiative has started its intervention in villages with the support of Oxfam GB and the people of this village were provided with NFIS items as well. The IDPs were feeling pleasure to receive the Non Food Items from the first Organization who has reached on their doorstep for their assistance.

Three months of Pakistan Floods: Beginning of the REAL disaster

2010-10-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

“Why does suddenness brings urgency and importance? Isn’t human sympathy sustainable when it comes to natural disasters”? Asks a flood survivor in Thatta district as relief fades away along with the days that pass. Now when the flood survivors are going to see the REAL disaster government agencies, civil society, media and other concerned agencies feel like their part of the job is already finished? Is it true that another wave of deaths or another disaster is needed in order to stir aid once again?

Three months have passed now when the grand flood disaster struck Pakistan, effecting about 20 million of population in the country. The time when a chaos spread over the normal human setup in the affected areas and led to spread that same chaos among the government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, media and international departments working in the country. Organizations showered upon their relief support for the flood victims but now when some time passed away and the waters are finally receding and people are moving back to their lives, there seems to be an existence of utter fulfillment with the same agencies once ready to help. They now think their job is done but this in truth is the time when the REAL disaster is going to strike, when millions of helpless people stand alone to gain back the lifestyle they lost to unwarned waves.

We at PDI Pakistan operate in the very districts where floods almost took away everything along with the hopes of people living there. Our relief efforts are now turning to recovery and in the very moments we are witnessing huge number of families coming back to their villages, but life certainly isn’t the same…

I could almost feel my heart throb out of my chest as I glanced around the surroundings where I once proudly stood and declared as my home. My house, my small patch of land and everything that I owned vanished with this disaster….I might as well not have come back if this piece of land where I lived wasn’t so dear to me….because there is nothing left….nothing at all…

~Sidique, head of the family recently migrated back to their village

There are days when we wait for a flour sack to be provided just so we could feed our eight kids, says the mother of small children from a camp in Tando Jam, making something to eat along the raw bread is out of question. No one comes to our help, and now I and my husband go out of the camp till night to search for people sympathetic enough to feed us and we hardly find help.

Passing through the highways that links the main districts along the Indus river, it’s a scene where most of us would want to stop and think again if our perception towards relief support are accurate enough? Because out there are people lonely, helpless and without any support to start again what they lost. A family like the thousands who ran away when floods struck is unable to go back to their village as they don’t have money to provide for their transport as they share:

Our children watch longingly to the vehicles that pass along this road, some cry constantly to be back to our homes and our dear lands but we are helpless. We are stuck where nor can we get something to eat, neither can we own the place we live. We are lost….

But the question yet to be asked is simply who is accountable? Because if aid comes when people actually see what’s going on with the flood survivors then Media seems to have stopped and found other “interesting” issues and things to highlight, or if aid comes when interested parties want to provide support and there are authorities available to deliver that aid then NGOs are back to their own agendas. Or if aid comes when government is willing to invest, then in regards to Pakistani government we might as well not have any comments, providing the right support for the flood survivors is out of the question in that case.

The final questions stands out to you all, are YOU as an individual ready to accept that support only means to provide immediate relief? Or you are willing to extend your help till people gain back control on their lives when they return back to homes. You are our final hope to seek sustainable assistance for flood survivors, please donate your support today for the flood survivors on this link or share this article with your network and become the light of hope for some searching eyes that still wait.....

PDI team

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To know more about PDI Pakistan log on to www.pdi.org.pk or read our blog http://pdipakistan.blogspot.com/

Story of a Child in Balochistan

2010-10-21T02:10:00.000-07:00

This is a story of talent child, Saeed Ahmed 12 years old, resident of a remote village of a Khuzdar Shakarjee. Saeed Ahmed God gifted talented guy deprived from the education, he made sculptures of animals in his house with the mud.

Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) setup CCBS in the village to build capacity building of the community people in the area. PDI had initiated program among the community imparted them about the education of community based risk management and livelihood program in drought.As other rural areas of Balochistan, Saeed Ahmed village is also deprived from the basic facilities of transport and electricity.

PDI team met with the talent Saeed Ahmed and encouraged him to get admission, National Commission Human Development School (NCHD) .NCHD had opened school in the village with the collaboration of PDI. He was reluctant to get admission in the school because of poverty. PDI team encouraged Saeed Ahmed and told him that getting admission in the school further improve his art skills and after getting education he would one day famous in the world as best sculpture . PDI enabled Saeed Ahmed to get admission in the school and boost his courage that he can beat poverty with his will and getting education. Saeed Ahmed daily goes to school as well as make toys of, animals, birds with mud.

PDI holds three day Poultry Training with Fisherwomen

2010-10-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

Participatory Development Initiatives with the collaboration of UNHABITAT has arranged “Three Day Training Workshop of Poultry Training for Fisher Women” held at Poultry Production and Research Center Karachi.
The Three Day Training Workshop was opened on 21August 2010 and ended on 23 August in which Poultry Production and Research Center Department of Sindh government experts and large number of costal fisher women participated.
In her welcome address Dr Naheed Israr lauded the efforts of the PDI holding poultry training workshop for fisher women saying that it’s not only enhance the knowledge of fisher women regarding poultry but also move towards their economic empowerment on their doorstep.
he added that there are two kinds of poultry farming prevail in the Pakistan one is domestic and other is commercial. She added that the most important thing to start poultry farming at domestic level is , the feed and the management . She added that farming place for poultry farming should be located in clean place.
She suggested that initially in house, fisher women should start from smaller poultry farming and it should be gradually enhanced. She added that the layers of Potatoes, onions, carrots, spinach are useful for feeding. She added that that water is important ingredient for chickens and clean water should be provided to chickens.
Talking on the location of poultry farm, she added that it should be built in airy and clean place, saying that for egg hen it should be consisted on 2320 centi- meter wide and for meat hen it should construct 930 centimeter wide. She suggested that wide of a poultry farm should be located towards North and South because it saved chickens from the rays of a sun. She added that during the brooding phase, chickens should be vaccinated on time .
Dr Khaskheli , in his lecture , on housing and management said that poultry farm should be located in airy place , in summer season it should cool internally that sun rays should not be entered , rain water should not enter in the farm and chickens should save from the hunting of birds , rats and wild animals , he suggested .
Dr Khaer Mohammad Khaskheli delivered lecture on disease prevention and vaccination, added that there are different kinds of diseases found in the hens. Diseases from the bacteria, virus, parasites and fowl cholera are common diseases in the hens. He added that chickens and hens should be vaccinated properly and farm houses should be cleaned to save chickens from the above said diseases.
Other poultry expert also talked on different topics and later participants of a workshop visited research center and last day of the training certificates were distributed among the fisher women , PDI team member , Sauryia Talpur ,PDI Evaluation and Monitoring Program Manager , Noor Buledi were also present on this occasion .
End.

PDI and 350 Celebrating 10/10/10 in the Midst of Moutains of Balochistan, Pakistan!

2010-10-07T03:18:00.000-07:00

We at PDI Pakistan are preparing along with 350 for the first ever celebration in the valley of mountains with the local tribes of Balochistan for the Climate solutions along with the world on 10/10/10!

Its been years of drought, sudden flash floods, cyclones and various natural distastes which are killing the knowledge people most relied on. The indigenous knowledge. Climate Change was visible far ahead in Balochistan before its impact reached any other area of Pakistan. Bordering with Afghanistan and Iran this province have been facing severe kinds of weather each year now and the indigenous tribes living there cant even recognize the land as their own.

To bring ahead the appeal of fighting climate crises and to stand in solidarity with the world to celebrate climate solutions, PDI Pakistan and 350 jointly are celebrating survival through a cricket tournament with the local communities of Khuzdar Balochisan. Its going to be a first of its kind event but its impact is going to last long.

You are all invited. Lets make this 10/10/10 a day to remember and most importantly a day to ensure survival of our climate!

To know more about PDI's work on Climate Change and DRR please email us at info@pdi.org.pk. To support us in our work please donate here on Global Giving: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/help-pdi-in-relief-and-recovery-of-1000-families/

Survivors continue to deal with the effects of the floods.

2010-10-07T02:39:00.000-07:00

The floods in Pakistan account for the worst natural disaster of the decade and cases of malaria, Diarrhea and other diseases are growing across the flood zone. It is impossible to articulate the full scope of the devastation.

It has been two months since the largest displacement occurred by natural catastrophe in recorded history of Pakistan. One survivor Jaffar Ali s/o Allah Bux resident of village Ghari sayyed/ Bhudal Ghari tehsil khanpur narrates that who has lost his everything in flood, His guardian father and a 10 month old little sweet daughter has died. He further told, he is a farmer cultivating 15 acre to earn livelihood for his family which is consists on 10 member, he has six children 3 sons and 3 daughters , mother and father, out of his 6 children 1 daughter named zaheera 10 months old died due to diarrhea because of he has no money for medication to his beloved child while his father died in flood water. The mother of little child told "she has no worries for her house, cattle and cultivated land that has been destroyed by flood water but death of her 10 months old baby has crumbled her inward soul". she added "They had nothing left to lose any more".

In these crucial days of IDPs Participatory Development initiatives (PDI) remains hard at work assisting survivors who are still dealing with the aftermath. “We are committed to collaborating with communities so that families have the means in place to rebuild their lives and livelihoods,” said Sikandar Brohi, PDI Director. “The work of rehabilitating flood-affected communities and addressing survivors’ long-term needs is long from over.”

At the start of PDI’s relief efforts, the majority of families had not yet received external assistance; lacked safe drinking water; had no access to health care; and lived in under open sky. In one village alone, approximately 28 out of 32 familes were heavily affected, Women and children were especially vulnerable, particularly

in spontaneous camp sites where incidence of violence was high and there were no protected or safe areas.

With funding from the Oxfam GB, PDI is supporting the relief for 11,000 families affected by the flood through Emergency Food security and livelihood and Emergency Response WASH facility to prevent further human loss, provide access to clean water, sanitation and cash to the IDPs.

The family of Mr. Jaffar received from PDI non food items containing house hold and hygiene kit and checque of Rs.5000. “The damage what has received his family can not be fulfilled” said Mr. jaffar , however, he never forgot what PDI has did for his family.

Post by: Farooq Chandio

70 years old Rahmatullah shares grief and sorrows with PDI team

2010-10-02T01:19:00.000-07:00

70 years old Rahmatullah shares grief and sorrows with PDI team.This is a story of a 70 years old Rahmatullah Pohar, and his wife Rukia who are living in a camp in Khanpur.

Rahmatullah Pohre and his wife, Rukia residents of Sama Go Goth (Village) UC Rahimabad, they told the PDI team that they both were doing labour in the poultry farm of a local businessman in the village.

The breach in Tohari embankment, made destruction in his village and sudden their village submerged under the flood water, and none of the local administration helped them to save their lives.

Everyone was busy to save their lives and we were too much old to fight with the waves of flood water, my wife Rukia not only helped me to save my life from the merciless flood water waves but also saved the children of other villagers. He shared with PDI team that during saving the lives of villagers, his wife Rukia ears were badly affected and later he had along with his wife on foot marched towards safer place.

Later I along with , Rukia registered in the camp in Khanpur , in the camp there was no facility , but later PDI team provided them clean drinking water and non-food items .

I thanked to the PDI team that, they installed water hand pump in the camp, before installation of a water hand pump, mostly IDPS in the camp daily went too far flung village and fetched water for drinking and as for washing clothes.

He shared that PDI team also provided me flood relief and health hygienic kit and taught us how to wash our hands, use toilets and keep clean the camps.

PDI team, told me that flood occurred due to the climate change especially deforestation in the Kutcha area, I am poor and no land but I can protect the trees and when we will return in our village , I will never allow any villager to cut trees , he added .

Added by: Faheem Raza

Pakistan Floods: PDI and Rockdale Foundation Come Forward for the Relief Support of 400 Families in Thatta District

2010-10-01T22:55:00.001-07:00

Women standing outside their camp in Thatta waiting for their turn on relief distribution by PDI and Rockdale Foundation

Setting the scene for distribution of a months Rashan to flood survivors in Thatta District, Sindh

PDI team organizing the crowds before distribution

Families registered earlier with Tokens of PDI receiving relief support

Receiving their rashan

With his daughter

Children outside a camp in Thatta District

An unfamiliar life for the indigenous people of Thatta district

Camp village outside Thatta district

A lady in her camp with the provided relief by PDI and Rockdale Foundation

Waiting for fate to decide

Happy to take home the relief goods

A woman in her camp started to make rotis of the given flour by PDI and Rockdale Foundation

Relief distribution in another camp (130 families done)

Reminding the husbands of the ownership rights of women. Distribution relief with the preferences of received by women in flood camps

Last family of this area (210 families to go)

Continuing the relief efforts now for the recently migrated families from Thatta

A shy flood survivor making rotis outside her camp near the Thatta highway

Preparing to initiated the relief distribution process with the already registered by PDI flood suvivors

A huge crowd gathers the relief distribution process begins to take pace

PDI team giving instruction to have their tokens already with them to receive relief support

Flood survivors standing in a crowded row for their turns on receiving relief by PDI and Rockdale Foundation

A happy girl in Thatta after receiving the relief provided by PDI in support of Rockdale Foundation

Mother, daughter in a flood camp outside Thatta district, Sindh

Challenges of floods to Disable People

2010-09-29T23:56:00.000-07:00

This is a story of poor disable villagers of a Shikarpur district who are living in the relief camps located in Khanpur, they fought with merciless waves of flood water and saved their lives and later supported by the Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) with the support of OXFAM GB.

PDI team provided him non-food hygienic kit and did advocacy among the IDPS regarding clean their camps providing them healthy atmosphere.

Abdul Qadir Pahore, a disable who saved his life from the flood water, hails from village Jarar Pahore UC Dakho Khanpur shared his views that sudden his village submerged under the flood water and washed away his home and livelihood’s.

Everyone was busy to save their lives but my brave wife rescued me and save my life from the flood water. Living in a seminary where local administration declared seminary a relief camp, Abdul Qadir Pahore narrating his story that how his brave wife rescued him from the flood water waves.

PDI team not only helped me but also encouraged me to get from the trauma and hardships we suffered during the flood. No one was ready to help us and by foot I along with my wife marched towards Khanpur and later shifted in the relief camp located in a seminary school, Abdul Qadir said. I was so delighted when PDI team members helped my family and also informed me about the climate changes and its causes. When PDI team member said that flood mostly occurred because of deforestation and cutting of trees.

Before a decade in our village and its vicinity thick forest on every side, not only protect us from the merciless waves of flood water but also source of our livelihood for our cattle’s but local feudal lords rapidly cut forest jungles, he shared.

"After end of PDI advocacy session I pledged with my wife that, when we would return our village we will never allow any person to cut trees".

Abdul Waheed Brohi another disable person, from UC Lodhra village Dostabad living in the same camp, that flood water washed away his home and livelihood.

He was farmer and with her wife did labour in the rice crops. Father of three daughters and a son said that they fought with waves of flood water and saved their lives.

"I am delighted that PDI team helped me , I went to local wadera and later met with local administration but none of them helped me, PDI team helped me at my doorstep. Whenever local wadera need us we never refused him and did labour in his rice crop. But when flood calamity took place and we were wandering he turned his eyes to help my family."

Noor Ahmed Brohi another disable, who along with her wife washed away in the flood water, told the PDI team that he hails from village Suleman Brohi, Sultankot area. His wife Kazbano washed away in the flood along with him. He said that along with her wife, he was in his muddy home midnight powerful waves of flood water washed away along with his wife.

"I was recovered by villagers and when I woke up my wife was not present with me and she was drowned in flood water and later recovered by other village peoples."

"I am delighted when I received helped from PDI team, I was totally shattered and disappointed from my life, but PDI team member not only helped me but also encouraged me."

Posted by: Faheem Raza

Sohni 2: Flood Came in Middle of the Night

2010-09-28T22:17:00.000-07:00

This is the story about a young girl from the small village of Jhongal in Upper Sindh. She among the thousands from her village who was baldy effected by the floods in Pakistan, and hence having lost everything to water she and her family now live in a flood camp in Shikarpur, until life decides for them what they ought to do. Now as she shares her life with me and I feel like there couldn't have been a better way to look at the life of flood survivors in camps through her own eyes.
Sohni is a short series of blog posts which would bring forward the life of this girl to every reader and would be the window to what disasters struck the flood survivors after the major disaster of "floods in Pakistan".

Sohni

A tale of survival from the floods in Pakistan

I couldn't believe it was here, after waiting so long for this day, so badly that I had forgotten to even fight with Sajid for my marbles and only counted days and hours, until it was here! Amma and Baba saw the moon first and they gave away the happy news. "Tomorrow begins the first day of the month of Ramazan", they announced and I almost started jumping up and down in front of Baba.

I along with five of my sisters await this day, to be able to fast in the holy month and then comes the Eid! with its glorious day of celebration, when for the first time in the year I get a new dress. A brand new dress, even bangles and henna on my hands. I shriek with joy as I remember the past eid, I had darted off through the streets of my small village, showing off my dress with its pretty yellow and red hems to my Sahiris - Friends- and had been the envy of all of them. I couldn't possibly wait for this eid I thought.

I live in a small village called Jhongal, which I love the most. Along with its dirt roads, the houses of all those whom I love surround our large haveli. A huge neem tree decorates the middle of the haveli close enough to the veranda where we sleep and listen to its leaves rustling in the nights breeze. This is my world that I knew and understood all of eleven years of my life. On rare times when amma fells ill and baba takes her to the hospital in the nearby city I am the one desperate to go along. But other then those occasional visits to a world different then mine I never could dream of leaving Jhongal ever....until....when I was forced to leave.

That Midnight it happened, it was the second day of Ramazan and the night of 12th August as Baba says. That night too I had slept the last, this time not listening to the neem tree or wishing the stars in my hand but this time dreaming about the coming eid festival. I had promised my self that I would be a good girl this time and would wash and clean myself and make two braids to look even more beautiful in my new dress. And then there are those mithais - sweets- we eat, The warm chewy and surgery balls of Gulab Jamun are what I love the most, I forgot the promise and planned that I would trick Sajid and snatch his piece of mithai from him... I had been laughing to myself that night.. feeling happy about my plans and not knowing exactly what time I had drifted to sleep.

It was a noisy rattling that I heard, or no it was more of a moan and then a shrill cry and everyone seemed to have started shouting all at once. I jolted off my slumber with hazy eyes starring at a mob of my family in the middle of the night running around frantically. Before I knew it Baba took hold of me and my brother and started running towards the door. Everyone did. The flood is here! Those floods we heard about, never assuming they could ever reach us and here it was... every single person in my village ran out to the main road making their way out of the village. Where we were going was out of my knowledge but all I knew was I was afraid, my lips had gone dry with fear and my eyes seem to bulge out. Sajid was worse, he hadnt stopped crying from the moment baba grabbed him, if it hadn't been the time of trauma I would have laughed my head off at his scardiness. But this time it wasn't just him, all of us... my sisters, Naseema my second last sister who is known to be poised was in a bad conditon, her duppata almost off her head and her hair a mess she held the hand of Rozina, while Amma had held Naima and Sumera.

My heart hammering in my ribs, I looked behind me towards the door of our haveli, our neem tree which was visible enough from the walls to wave a sad good bye to us and I had a feeling I would be crying so much about this very moment of my life. The dreams of my eid dress vanished into thin air and even the hope of fasting the other morning was gone... all I could see was my house, my village and my world left behind us as we moved far away. From the bend in the dirt road I could see the final outlines of the neem tree until dust clouds closed off of this sight taking with them every desire I had and forcing me to close my eyes with the advent of fresh tears.

We were on the main road now, my sisters and Abba, Amma panting from the run. In hurried paces we walked along the length of the road past hundreds of people on either side, some were lucky they rode on vans and wagons and roared past us, some rode on tractors while some moved slowly on donkey-carts. All others walked along with us. Baba lowered me on the road now, still carrying my six year old brother Sajid on his shoulders who made a crown of his arms on his head now sobbing quietly. Amma still carried my two sisters while two walked along. My Puphis' (Babas sisters) followed our family with their children and husbands. Chachi Sadora and chacha Mushtaq (uncle) walked close to Amma with quick paces and near her walked Tahir (my fiance), This was causing me to hold my eyes glancing towards Amma. I cursed Tahir silently and kept walking.

It was slow breaking of dawn, our caravan was taking pace as rumors came flying like fire that water can even catch up with us. Amma was almost fainting with fatigue, my Phuphis with stricken faces walked very slowly now, I felt like crying and crying for this sad night, two of my sisters were weeping quitly hiding their faces from Abba who would shout on them of course if he sees it.

Flickering lights were seen, two round lights, A van, it was a van! Baba ran towards it before it could drive past us and waved his hands in frenzy, Puphi Qulsoom started crying uncontrollably. The van slowed down and all of us rushed towards it like tied off horse suddenly released. It was packed, even women sat on top of it, along with dozens of men! inside the van I could only see faces, many faces, peeking out from windows, and from the door of the van. Amma and Puphi started begging the driver for a ride out of this town, they could barely be heard as wails of children had filled the morning air along with baba almost shouting and trying to get the driver to understand our bad situation who probably had heard a lot of that with the look of his filled wagon.

But then driver agreed and all the women started praying for his long life, Puphis went in first, amma, then my sisters and then me and Baba and chacha. I was sitting on Naseemas' lap, Sajids feet on top of me while his half still on babas shoulders, he was crying again. Amma sat in a twisted position and it broke my heart the way she tried to make space for my puphis and chachi who too were stuck in the midst of bodies. if it weren't for the windows in this van I thought, all of us would have suffocated to death.

I was glad when we were thrown out of the van after 40 minutes, inside a busy street. even though it was still morning but the street looked lively, people strolled along it, some walking towards a mosque, children stood at the end of the long paved street watching us. I saw the sudden contrast in their condition, with their smoothly braided hair and clean duppattas, I knew at once we were in a city. Which city I couldn't tell, but a city which I always had loved to visit but now I was making the worst of faces I could ever manage. Soon Abba and Chacha came hurrying towards us and ushered us all to the nearest Masjid - Mosque-."The Mullah have allowed us to live here for some time" they told us, "we are in Shikarpur".

Story of a 50 years old widow Saja Pohar

2010-09-21T02:12:00.000-07:00

Sanja Pohar 50 years widow, which is living in Red yard graveyard camp in Khanpur taluka 17 KM away from the Shikarpur city, supported by PDI with the collaboration of OXFAM GB – she narrated her story to the PDI team, she along with her husband Abdul Qayaum did farming on the land of a local wadera in village Yar Mohhad Pohar.
Mother of four daughters and two sons, told the PDI team, she with her family sleeping in her muddy home that around 9.PM night water entered in our muddy house and washed away my entire family.
I have never seen thus type of a tragic day in my life , four daughters including my two son and husband fought with flood water waves , water washed away us in different location , but each family member I and my daughters including son washed away in crops of rice and later rescued by the villagers .

When afternoon woke up, I had informed by villagers that, they rescued me and other family members but her husband drowned in flood water and found his dead body.
Tears in her eyes, she told the PDI team that when she was shifted in the camps, she felt uneasy but later PDI team met with her and boost my confidence and told me that life is not end. PDI team provided me house hold and hygienic kit to me. I witnessed major flood devastation when I was young but never seen current type of flood devastation.
PDI told her that because of climate change especially deforestation its caused major lost to the farming lands, she said that in Kutcha area people are fastly cutting trees. After PDI dialogue with her , she vowed that after return from the camp , she along with her family would cultivate tress in her two acre land .
I along with my demise spouse did labour in local wadera but pledged with PDI team that in my own land which is currently submerged under the flood water , as water vanished from my land , I will cultivate trees in my own two acres land .
End.

Celebrating 10/10/10 with 350.org and Flood survivors in Pakistan!

2010-09-17T05:11:00.001-07:00

As the world organizes Global Work Party to celebrate Climate Solutions on 10/10/10, PDI Pakistan and 350.org join hands to celebrate this day with the flood survivors in Balochistan as the initiation of a two monthly All-District Cricket Tournament in Khuzdar, Balochistan.

While in the midst of relief operations in Sindh and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan, The team of Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) is engaged day and night towards contributing in making life easier for the flood survivors. In this time of devastation, hope is the only support everyone is holding to, Hope of Survival, Hope of Life going back to normal and more importantly, Hope of reliving the joys of life.

And thus on the occasion of this years Global Work Party on 10/10/10, PDI Pakistan plans to celebrate this hope among the flood survivors of Pakistan by launching an "All-District Two Monthly Cricket Tournament" for flood survivors at the very day of 10/10/10 in the tribal district of Khuzdar, Balohcistan.

While talking to Will Bates of 350.org, Khalida Brohi of PDI Pakistan believes that due to situations being the worst at the moment with about 21 million people effected by the floods, 10/10/10 can be the best day to bring a spark of hope and survival in the lives of these people.The core message of celebrating this day with the flood survivors is to raise awareness about Climate Change and also to bring upon the lost sense of rejoice among them!

Event at 350.org http://www.350.org/celebrating-survival-floods-victims-pakistan-cricket-tournament
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To know more about PDI's flood relief efforts or to contribute by your donations email us at info@pdi.org.pk or log on to www.pdi.org.pk

Sohni: A tale of survival from the floods in Pakistan

2010-09-05T04:59:00.001-07:00

Sohni

A tale of survival from the floods in Pakistan

1. Jhongal, my small village

Millions of shimmering stars gather upon Jhongal, my small village in the heart of Rahim Abad, as the night settles in. Lying in my cot in the veranda of my open house, with the leaves of our large neem tree swooshing in the calm breeze, I imagine the world in the shape of a bowl, with stars falling in it for all of us.

I am always the last one to fall asleep – Even this soothing breeze and the night with its glimmering of stars have me awake. Besides me Sajid my six year old brother peacefully sleeps not looking a bit like he was the one who stole my clay dolls. Near our cot is Amma, Baba and all of my 4 sisters’ cots. When the breeze hits cold, Rozina and Naseema sleepily snatch the rili - blanket - from each other, finally agreeing – Still sleeping, while I am awake.

I lay there in the calm of the night, listening to the utter silence and then to our neem tree, as in the nights stillness its leaves start speaking to us slowly, telling us so many things quietly, and in the perfect rhythm of its leaves singing to us, everything and everyone is lulled to sleep … but I am awake, always there to listen, smiling, listening and slowly drifting to sleep.

Mornings are the best in my village. The breaking of dawn brings the loud and shrill morning calls of the roosters along with it the clattering of tea cups, a faint scent of the tea that Naseema my second eldest sister makes. Though I liked Tahira, my eldest sisters’ tea best, but after her marriage and sending her off, Naseema’s tea is what we drink only.

Sajid is the one, who brings the Chabi, and together we look for broken pieces of left over rotis’ from the past night. Sajid tries to trick me by hiding some of the rotis’ in his side pocket but I am always clever to sneak up beside him, snatch the roti and run. He bawls and I don’t care. Only Amma cares and runs after me to beat me. With the sudden death of my elder brother, Amma seems to have found jewels stuck in Sajid, caring for him more then any of us six sisters. I being the middle one at the age of 11, ought not to care but I despise the fact that my two little sisters, Sumera and Naimat who are only 9 and 7 years old don’t get that attention.

As dawn fades in Jhongal, heat starts to grab us. These are the days of summer in my village, hot and sweaty. That is one of the reasons I dislike going to Masjid, so many girls packed together in the heat chanting loudly from their Siparas, I would rather play marbels with Sajid. Amma beat me once with Jharu, until it left marks on my back, and I decided never to go to Masjid.

Its that time of the day I run to Puphi Hajra’s house, passing through the dirt roads, with walls crammed with round patties of cow dung that neighbors girls make and leave for them to dry. Sometimes I find the streets dusty and know that the herd of cows just moved and churned up the dust, I run through the streets to find the herd and lope behind them making the cows dart faster through the small dirt road leaving huge mass of dust flying in that makes homes of my nostrils and eyelashes and I laugh even louder scaring them away, and the poor shepherd tries his best to calm the beasts and swears on top of his lungs catching after them.

That is when I reach Puphi Hajras house, to carry her little newborn. Samra with her toothless smile is perhaps the cutest kid I have ever seen, carrying her in my arms I love to feel the soft small hands touching my cheeks or sometimes clutching a few strands of my hair. I love her small fragile body, in fact I love all the little newborns of my neighborhood, when ever I know there is a new kid born in one of houses nearest to us, I rush to go carry the fluffy thing in my lap, telling them everything thing about me, laughing with them, singing to them.. until it’s time to go home.

Towards the noon my little sisters arrive home, with their scarves tied tightly around their heads, and Siparas in their hands, I know what Amma is going to say then, one word: “Nibhag”, my sisters, and Amma always tell me that I have Nibhag – misfortune - that I don’t go to Masjid, don’t wash the dishes or even when I refuse to wash my face.

Amma, always promises to tell Baba about my being a Nibhagi and as soon as Abba comes, she forgets. In fact we all forget everything and run for our duppatas. Everyone assumes my father to be a mullah, with his long beard but I would have disliked it if he was a Mullah, that way I would have been forced to go to Masjid. He rather is a peasant working on Zamindars – landlords - lands, sometimes he takes me and my sisters at the time of Labaro – harvest - for us to help him and all of us have fun together. That I think is the happiest moment of my life. But for now, we sit silently trying to sound like the good behaved girls he wants us to be, until he calls “Sohni”, and I run to give him his dinner, after he finishes, we eat, then all of us go to bed on our cots in veranda and I lay awake.

Pakistan Floods and Climate Change: And when Indigenous people talk...

2010-09-05T04:17:00.000-07:00

Its been the 19^th day we at Participatory Development Initiatives have almost build strong connections to flood survivors which have migrated in thousands to the main town of Shikarpur. From what it looks like, a sea of people in corners of streets, on barrages, inside government schools, hospitals, mosques and anywhere they could find a place to put the few of their belongings that were left with them.

“Water took away everything we had”, Sidiqua tells the PDI team with tears glimmering in her eyes. “It was all around the place before we could take our children and run towards something”. She continues now trying to hold her sobs with her dupatta to her face.

The painful situation around Shikarpur, Or Sindh Province or anywhere in Pakistan where millions lost their homes and loved ones to the waves is unbearable. These Internally displaced people find the situations very difficult to adjust in any other area of Pakistan other then their homelands, where they spent most part of their lives and got used to the earth and sky of that area as they say.

“We loved the very dirt of our village”, says one of the villagers inside a government school camp, “we knew everything about our land, anything that happened, we knew why and when is it going to happen, even the floods beforehand were predicted”. He continues and that is where our team is struck in thoughts.

It hasn’t been unusual to listen to the burning discussions whether the floods were caused by climate change, however if these discussions did end up believing the hand of Climate Change or did not, talking to local people, one thing can be assured from the indigenous point of view that the situations with the monsoons were bizarre this summer, where raining was extreme and prolonged then the past years. However then again according to the people, advent of floods was in no one’s knowledge at all.

“Our elders even couldn’t read the weather, we were delighted by the thought of our crops doing well this year with loads of rains”, Sairan said clutching her little girl in her hands, “but then one dark of the night while we all slept, water floated inside our homes and before we knew it was drowning us all inside our rooms”, she continues.

The days and days of visiting these flood victims during PDI’s flood relief operations, the team finally thinks if the heated dialogues and discussions came up with the realization of finding a connection of Pakistan floods with Climate Change they should know that the indigenous people from all these areas who witnessed the weather on its extreme have proved that connection beforehand.

PDI and Oxfam Join hands for a massive flood relief project in Shikarpur!

2010-09-05T04:09:00.000-07:00

With the devastating conditions of flooding in Pakistan more then 14 million people are affected. However the number isn’t subsiding but rising within each minute as the flood victims continue to live in depressing conditions in the open skies, without any shelter, food, health facilities nor adequate water sources.

In this time of devastations , Oxfam GB and PDI joined hands together to reach out to as many of about 10,000 families in Shikarpur district of Sindh, where hundreds of thousands IDPs have reached from around the province.

Oxfam GB and PDI finding the critical situations of emergency have initiated a massive relief project after surveying and registration of IDPs in Shikarpur, as the project seeks to provide relief in a pure thorough form of token distribution to each family and providing them with WASH facilities of toilets, washrooms, Laundry spaces, hand pumps, sweepers, camp cleaning facilities, Hygiene kits and all other facilities required.

Other then that the project seeks to provide Cheques of 5000 PKR to each family for their rashan compensation and providing fresh water to drink which is the first ever need met by the project. As the project goes further and we reach out to our destined number of people, we would love to update you on relief efforts of PDI and Oxfam in Shikarpur District and you can follow the progress on our blog: http://pdipakistan.blogspot.com/

Pakistan Floods: A glance at PDI and Oxfam GB's IDP registration to relief distribution processes and life inside camps

2010-08-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

Brother and sister inside a "mosque camp", after a fresh bath in the hot summer of Shikarpur, Sindh

PDI's team demonstrating health and hygiene points to women before distribution of hygiene kits

PDI team verifying registration of IDP's

Happily cleaning the rice received in relief, mosque camp, Shikarpur, Sindh

A man waiting for his turn for relief token

Water enough for me...

PDI team talking about the procedure of distribution and usage of food and non-food items to flood survivors living in a rice mill

The peeping audience

The attentive audience, flood survivors inside a rice mill, Khanpur, Sindh

flood survivor kids playing inside a drum!

PDI team discussing the procedure for the whole day's visits around camps in Shikarpur for distribution.

"Take my photo with my son", she said. Motherhood inside the camps

Cute smiles inside flood survivor camps, Qulsoom smiling to the team

Bumping into another generous giver, World is full of wonderful people (PDI and individual supporters from Karachi talk outside of rice mill camps in Khanpur, Sindh)

The scene of distribution

Eating oranges inside the camp :)

A waiting woman while husband in distribution, rice mill camp, Khanpur, Sindh

PDI's distribution begins, not an easy task, team trying to keep the discipline by the management committee

PDI tokens in hand, Government School Camp, Shikarpur, Sindh

Describing the process of distribution and usage of items

Flood survivors, Govt School Camp Shikarpur, Sindh

Distribution of Household items to flood survivors

489th beneficiary: PDI is Reaching out to 10,000 families in Sindh

Participatory Development Initiatives have been working around Sindh and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan directly from Shikarpur, Thatta,
Khuzdar and Karachi to reach out to 20,000 flood victims. These are the
photos from the various activities in the relief programs initiated
nationally.

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To know more about PDI's work or to contribute in the flood relief efforts please email us on info@pdi.org.pk, your every single support counts~

PDI team

Pakistan

3 Rented Vehicles

2010-08-28T04:06:00.000-07:00

Pakistan floods: Success Stories of PDI

A post about PDI's Thatta team joining in evacuation at the worst times in Thatta's migration as people started to evacuate various tehsils inside the district due to huge breaches in two main bands.

It wasn't the hour of dawn yet, sky was as calm as the midnights moonlight, trees brushed their leaves with soothing motions and all that went usual was perfect. Until at the very hour of dark to diminish, people started running down the streets of Thatta district, Pakistan. Within moments a chaos spread over hundreds of families. Everyone was laden with luggage, cloth boxes, children clutched close to them and sooner about thousands of people started moving out of various tehsils that is Sijawal, Daro, Mir pur Bathoro and Main City of Thatta.

It was the very moment when the word like fire spread about the breakage of Soorjani Band, not long before the people could wake up from their deep slumbers, water started to flood down in various villages near to Soorjani and BP heading towards Sijawal, Daro, Mir pur Bathoro and the main city of Thatta district. Life of about millions of people was at stake within minutes.

Vehicles started to run through the villages, towns carrying hundreds altogether, various families having no means of transport started their long walk outside of the now-drowning tehsils of Thatta.
The Thatta team of Participatory Development Initiatives having nothing in hand found the first and most urgent need as the evacuation of people as soon as possible. With only one vehicle in Thatta office, the team rushed to nearest vehicle rents out of Thatta and brought back three vehicles that is two buses and a wagon.

Since then its been hundreds of rounds to interior of Thatta, picking up families, taking them to a safe place and coming back for more. The team didnt even realize before they saved about 7000 families inside Sijawal, Thatta City and Mir Pur Bathoro. It was the dark of dusk falling to the sky and still the roads leading to Karachi and other cities near Thatta were jam packed with people moving on foot and vehicles. The dust packed and panting team of PDI was still moving along with these people rushing inside and out of the district.

"It was then we came to know about this situation", Says Mr. Qasim Brohi, team member of Thatta staff, "We hadn't realized at this time of emergency people are still following racial discrimination!" he continues. "We found about 15 families of Bagri (Hindu) who have been struggling to get out of their village and have been waiting for vehicles with their small children".

This was the case about a community of Bagri (Hindu) families who have had ran towards their village chief for support and provision of vehicles. The chief who always looked down upon them haven't budged and vehicles started moving every other family from that village but these vulnerable community kept waiting.

"They were at the verge of tears when we got there", Says Sattar Zangejo team member of Thatta staff, "children were scared to death in the fear of water taking them away from their families and were crying the whole day. On the other hand village was almost evacuated wholly with no sign of the chief who was supposed to be taking care of his people".

It had taken the PDI team to do two rounds of running in and out of the district which takes about two hours each time to evacuate these families.

"They were 35 male, 46 female and 55 children", adds Chetan Rughani, another of PDI Thatta team staff.

The cities once been the hub of fisherfolk communities are now barren as Thatta awaits complete flooding of Sijawal, Daro, Mirpur Bathoro who held the population of half a million people.

Now that half a million is under the open sky breathing survival...

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To contribute in the flood relief operations to know more about PDI , please contact us at info@pdi.org.pk , At this time of the disaster, your smallest contribution counts.

Thatta witnesses its largest migration in history

2010-08-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

Far and close as the sight goes down the roads of Thatta, a sea of people moving slowly on foot, on top of buses, jammed up in vegons as half a million population of Thatta district migrates from the district which was once the hub of fisherfolk with its most happily populated cities.

Yesterday as a huge breach of 150 ft occurred in the Soorjani band, letting the water flooding inside towns and villages in middle of the night, risking the tehsils of Sijawal, Bathore, Shah Bander and others. Last night on the night of 27^th August 2010 another breach occurred in the main BP band from where the water would flow inside the main city of Thatta and to various other villages which are already under water.

With the occurrence of breach in Soorjani Bund, a stampede like situation was created as thousands of families started migrating from their villages and towns from the tehsils of Jati, Sijawal and other tehsils and started moving towards Thatta, Tando Mohammed , Gharo, Karachi and other areas. According to the official records half a million people have been displaced from different tehsils of district Thatta.

Hundreds of thousands of people have started moving outside Thatta, as they are headed to Makli the oldest city of Thatta, which is thought to be high above the ground for safety, while thousands are moving towards Karachi and other parts of Sindh to survive from the coming water which is assumed to bring the highest dangers to millions of Population in Thatta. These People are living under the open sky on the roads, slowly making their ways to safety without much transport, food, nor water to drink.

Under the damp heat of the district, children, women, old people are in crowded conditions alongside the road to Karachi as well as to other parts of Sindh. The non-availability of vehicles have led to suffocated conditions of evacuating people from the flood zone while thousands await their turn in middle of the heat as their children starve from hunger.

Thousands of families still stuck in the villages and towns of Thatta are crying for help as they need help in evacuation and provision of a safe place and necessities to survive. We at PDI request your kind support for these people as the much we have been able to do so far have only helped about 1000 of people but there are thousands more who need urgent support.

It is said to be the worst and most largest migration in the history of Thatta district which caused about half a million people to move from their homes which is about 80% of population with nothing in their hands nor any place to go…..

People are in great need of vehicles, food, and shelter at the destinations on high places and even there is a severe lack of water to drink.

The team of Participatory Development Initiatives have already been helping people in evacuation with several of hired buses and vehicles, but the need of thousands of people is un met as they take off barefoot on the roads to Karachi.

We request your urgent support for these people for their food, shelter, transport, water and other needs. Kindly email us on info@pdi.org.pk if you think your support will help save lives.