Baby comes to town

KARACHI: Hidayat made it to Karachi just in time to deliver her third baby. The family arrived at the relief camp in Sachal Goth on Wednesday night. Early Thursday morning, Hidayat’s labour pains began.

A doctor from a nearby private hospital came in around 10 am and recommended taking the young mother to the hospital, but she and her husband chose to stay put.

“We’re happy where we are, we have everything we need at the moment,” the proud father, Yar Muhammad, explained later.

The baby, named Allah Dino, was born at the camp and handed to his parents. “We are so happy,” Muhammad exclaimed, dismissing any worries or fears of how this young child will be brought up.

Allah Dino has two older brothers, five-year-old Khuda Bukhsh and Amir Bukhsh, “whose baby teeth are just coming out”, the father explained when asked his age.

Several political parties’ representatives met the family and proferred them with gifts and congratulations.

The family comes from village Jaffrabad in Jacobabad district. Most of the residents had not evacuated because all fears of the flood had been refuted by their landlords. “They kept saying we’re safe and then when it was too late and the water was already flooding our village they said ‘bhaago’!” Muhammad said. According to him, around 500 homes in his village were destroyed in the flood.

Like hundreds of others, Muhammad’s family had no time to gather any belongings. They were lucky enough to get a ride to Karachi. One of the villagers, Rafiq, arranged for a truck that brought them here.

“They didn’t demand fares from us because we had no money,” Muhammad said.

The flood survivors are now living in the New Grammar Boys Secondary School in Sachal Goth. There are around 15 classrooms in the government school, each crammed with at least 20 people.

While the internally displaced persons (IDPs) spend their days beneath the trees in the school grounds, wiling away time, at night they go up to the roof and sleep beneath the open sky.

The happiest of the lot seem to be the young children, who are making full use of the school’s grounds by chasing one another and playing.

“We don’t want to go back,” says Muhammad. “Just give us a makan here and we’ll be happy. There is nothing for us back home.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2010.