Helping residents of katchi abadis beat the heat

Two NGOs collaborate to organise a training session on heatwave

KARACHI: To teach children from underprivileged backgrounds about different ways to beat the heat, two NGOs collaborated to organise a training session on heatwave on Sunday morning.

Humanity Initiative director Amna Aijaz stood in a katchi abadi settlement in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 13-D, surrounding several shanties, cows and goats. She asked the children, sitting around her, of the different ways they can brave the heat.





A boy stood up and shouted, "We sit at home or under shades." Another young fellow raises his hand and screamed, "I take a bath."

Aijaz told the children that during heat stroke people faint, as they stop sweating, because water dries up from their bodies. As a result, the blood becomes thicker and stops flowing towards the brain, which could even take one's life, she said.

In order to teach the children the ways to take care of heat stroke patients, she organised a role play. Five-year-old Fahim volunteered to play the role of an unconscious person. Aijaz lifted his legs and put a bag under them. She said that it was necessary to put a pillow or a wood block under the patient's legs so that the blood continues to flow towards the brain. She then placed wet towels under his armpits, around the neck and between the legs.

Aijaz then asked the children what ORS was, and to her surprise the children responded that it is a juice that is given to people who are sick. Clearing their misconceptions, she told them that ORS gives back the minerals that the body lost during the heat. Explaining them the correct method to make ORS, she took out a jug and told them that they should pour four glasses of water in it then add ORS. "Add eight spoons of sugar and four spoons of salt," she said, adding that children must drink it during sehri and iftar during Ramazan.





Humanity Initiative operational director then told the children about the importance of cleanliness and having a healthy breakfast. Later, lunch was also distributed among the residents of the settlement.

The session was a part of Project Mustakbil, recently launched by Sustainable Initiatives. The project aims to empower marginalised communities leading to self-sustained improvements in their lives. For this purpose, Sustainable Initiatives collaborated with Humanity Initiative, which is run by medical students and doctors.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2016.