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Volunteers in McLean, VA load boxes of donated supplies including medicines, toiletries, and dry food items onto a truck for delivery to Dulles Airport for transport to flood relief centers in Pakistan. Photo courtesy of Mariam Saadi.
The figures of death and devastation that came from areas affected by flooding in Pakistan were almost beyond comprehension. With thousands dead, millions left homeless and one fifth of the country - most notably its agricultural land -submerged in water, the need for help was, and still is, harshly evident.
As many area community members witnessed the harrowing images of destruction on their screens, and some felt the pain of loss directly from friends and relatives in the affected areas, a resolve to help took root in many hearts.
Among them was Mariam Saadi’s, a resident of McLean,Virginia, whose mission to help started two weeks ago with a private fund-raising iftar with friends to raise money for flood victims. Feeling the obligation to do more, Saadi initiated a drive in her area to collect aid for the victims and have this shipped to Pakistan via its national carrier, PIA (Pakistan International Airlines), taking advantage of the airlines’ offer to ship aid cargo free of charge in all its passenger planes flying between the USA and Pakistan.
“The interest in this has been phenomenal,” says Saadi. “My husband and I were going around round the clock collecting donations. The response has been phenomenal - within mosques, companies and the local community. I was personally approached by several churches when they found out about this. I had people from all walks of life, including presidents of banks, stopping by to give donations. The masajid have been very receptive to this.”
This drive turned into a movement to mobilize aid, spreading quickly in the D.C, Maryland and Northern Virginia areas, with many area organizations taking the lead to initiate this effort within their communities.
Saadi says she has collected 750 boxes to date, with 80% of the donations being food items, and the next biggest donations being clothing items. She says she has received donations from “all over Northern Virginia and Maryland.”
“We have been in touch with people on the ground (in Pakistan) and food is absolutely necessary,” says Saadi, who has been regularly delivering truck-loads of aid to JFK International airport in New York so it can be shipped by PIA to airports in Karachi and Lahore, from where the aid is handed to either the Pakistan Army or any other registered Non-Government Organizations (NGO) selected by the sender to handle distribution to the affected population.
Saadi has chosen to have her aid handled by the National Disaster Management Agency in Pakistan. “I have a tracking number that tracks my load, “ she says. “Tomorrow the cargo will reach Lahore, “ she says about cargo she had delivered to JFK the day before. “From there it will be sent via trucks to Karachi and then to the affected areas.”
Saadi says the generosity and enthusiasm of the people have been touching and inspirational for her and have motivated her to continue with her efforts.
Rida Sohail, Fund-raising Coordinator at FAITH (Foundation for Appropriate and Immediate Temporary Help) and long time volunteer with the ADAMS (All Dulles Area Muslim Society) community, has been mobilizing aid efforts at ADAMS. Sohail says collections have been ongoing for a week, and it is anticipated that the ADAMS Youth Group, consisting of approximately 40 volunteers, will assist in repackaging the donations into the recommended size of boxes on Sunday, September 5, 2010,for shipment. The distribution of this aid will be handled by Fakhr-e-Alam’s (a prominent figure in Pakistan widely respected for his dedicated relief efforts in the 2005 earthquake) group. Sohail says she is expecting at least 200 boxes of donations.
Ayesha Qadeer, a recent graduate from the University of Maryland and a volunteer at ICM (Islamic Center of Maryland), has been playing an active role in organizing and facilitating relief efforts in the ICM community through research and communications. Qadeer and about 15 other volunteers meet almost daily to discuss progress, after “Taraweeh” at ICM’s Shady Grove prayer location.
Qadeer says ICM started raising funds when the floods in Pakistan started escalating. They collected approximately $18,000 during an unofficial fund-raiser, and this amount was donated to the Eidhi Foundation. According to Qadeer, ICM’s official fund-raiser and donation drive started on August 21, 2010, and, to date, $96,000 has been collected in monetary donations. Qadeer says ICM plans to distribute $20K each between Islamic Relief, Eidhi Foundation and Helping Hands, and a further $5K to Sahara Foundation. Qadeer says ICM hopes to use some portion of the funds in a more direct and innovative manner to provide long-term assistance to the flood victims, like perhaps helping with water purification methods.
To facilitate transportation of boxed donations, ICM reached out to Sun Charity USA, a non-profit organization that was sending chartered planes to Pakistan from JFK airport. SunCharity agreed to pick up all the donations from ICM and transport them to JFK airport. Qadeer said that the donations are taken from ICM to the charity’s warehouse in Springfield, Virgina. There, the boxes are marked according to the district in Pakistan’s affected areas where they will be delivered, before being transported to New York. To date, ICM has collected more than 100 boxes, consisting of items such as anti-bacterial soap, granola bars, tylenol, anti-rash and anti-diarrhea medications, along with family food packs.
Qadeer says one of the challenges faced by the volunteers was organizing the donations into appropriate boxes. It was vital that the boxes were well labeled with the exact contents otherwise “logistically it would be a nightmare if they do not know what is in the boxes”, explains Qadeer. Box size specifications, as recommended by PIA, are 15x15x12 inches, as this provides for the optimal usage of cargo space within the aircraft and also allows for easy transportation and handling.
Tahira Hussain, a human rights activist, lawyer and NGO representative to the U.N., based in Columbia, Maryland, has also been actively collecting donations. She says she has encountered a very enthusiastic response from many people, specifically the South Asian and Korean communities.
“The response (to the appeal) from here has been overwhelming,” says Hussain. She has delivered aid to volunteers in Maryland who drive it up to JFK and plans to continue working on this effort. Hussain says that, unlike the relief efforts during the 2005 earthquake, this drive has been much more organized and efficient. “This time, the checks and balances have been better,” says Hussain “In the 2005 relief effort, people (in Pakistan) got stuff for the relief fund and started selling it. A lot of stuff didn’t get to the right people.” Hussain has selected the Eidhi Foundation, Fakhr-e-Alam and the Pakistani Army to handle distribution of the aid she sends.
Nadeem Kiani, Spokesman for the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, D.C. is appealing to the area community to continue giving to help alleviate the suffering. “Most of the affected are people who are already very poor,” says Kiani. “Their crops were damaged by the floods and their seeds were drowned. The assets of a farmer are crops of the season, the seeds he has saved from last year and his livestock. All three (of these) have been affected. They need help with their next crop for survival. There is also danger of water-borne diseases like dysentery, malaria and others. At this point, Pakistan needs help from Muslims and the International community.”
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