Even though the water in Badin may evaporate, a residue of problems will be left behind

Small children in roadside camps are at risk of drowning or being hit by cars.

BADIN: “They tossed one blanket at us,” exclaims Tikam Das, recalling a Pakistan Army truck passing through his street. “One blanket - and there are 20 to 25 families here. Their truck was stuffed with blankets.”

Das gives a tour of one tent, part of a makeshift camp on the side of the road. He laughs when asked if the camp’s residents aren’t concerned about security. Torn rillis and a few pots and pans are all they have. “Who would steal this?” he quips.

Das and another resident of the camp, Misri, argue over the support provided by the government and non-profit organisations. While Das says Hindus have been discriminated against when it comes to aid, Misri says they have not. While they have received some help, they still lack the basics - proper healthcare, a rehabilitation plan, or a system to drain the water from their inundated village. If there are no blankets or proper tents, the winter will prove to be unbearable for those who have lost everything in this year’s disaster.

For the children living in tents pitched by the side of the road, dangers lurk everywhere. “We run after our children all day to make sure they don’t fall in the water,” said one woman. The other risk is children being hit by cars passing through. Three-year-old Reshma clutches her mother. Her bandaged arm is proof of what the women claim - that Reshma was hit by a car in Zulfiqar Mirza’s son’s convoy. “They gave Rs3,000 for her arm. We had to go to Hyderabad to get it set and the joint still is not right,” her mother told The Express Tribune.

Water stretches for miles in Badin. No one knows how the water will be drained but the understanding is that it is an expensive proposition. People appear to be relying on evaporation, which could take a couple of months. Those who wanted to divert the water into the irrigation canals have been asked to pay bribes of up to Rs20,000 and the government has not listened to requests to block the waterways.

Almost four months after the unprecedented rainfall flooded Badin, people are trying to rebuild their lives. The residents of Kehar Khan Lund, a village in Badin’s UC-1, are one example. After the only school in the village was flooded, villagers set up a temporary school in a tent. Now that the water level has gone down to four feet from its initial seven, residents created a bridge - constructed of bark - to help children cross over into the primary school. Waqar Ahmed, a first-year student at Islamia College, says they carry young children across in their arms for fear they may slip and drown.

Schoolteacher Allah Dino Soomro begins classes at 8 am for the school’s 51 students, including 25 girls. There is no secondary school nearby, nor a female teacher. Soomro says he has requested the government in the past to induct a female teacher, which would encourage parents to send more girls to school.

Still, the bright-eyed boys and girls walk across water every day to study in bare rooms. The sole lavatory isn’t in their reach as it is surrounded by water too. Children happily say they want to grow up to be doctors and policemen.

But the village elders are unhappy with the government’s role in allegedly stopping aid by NGOs to their area, on the pretext that it was not impacted by the Left Bank Outfall Drain. A sit-in protest is scheduled to take place outside the Badin DCO’s office, and will continue until former MPA Zulfiqar Mirza, current MNA and National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza or the DCO make sure that the help makes its way here again.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2011.