Offering hope where there is little
Asif Hussain and his three friends have travelled across Muzaffargarh to provide relief goods to the trapped people.
MUZAFFARABAD:
“We were in Ayubia when, after watching the destruction caused by the floods on television, we decided to pack up and leave for the flood-hit areas,” Asif Hussain, a Lahore resident in his late-20s, told The Express Tribune on Wednesday.
Asif Hussain and his three friends – Sumair Hameed, Sheeraz Asim and Ali Butt – have since travelled across Muzaffargarh, at times on boats, providing relief goods to people trapped in the flood water.
All four of them live in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) in Lahore. Though they teach at a private tuition centre located in DHA, owned by Ali Butt, they have family businesses to support their ‘adventures’.
Hussain said that they were fond of travelling so moving around in the flood-hit areas was not very cumbersome for them.
They met this scribe on Wednesday near Muzaffargarh Canal, which was still gushing out water from its broken bank near Mehmood Kot.
At the Muzaffargarh Canal – from where they could not travel by car any more – two of them, Ali Butt and Sheeraz, arranged a boat and headed towards a village near Budh to distribute cooked meal among those trapped in flood water.
Asif Hussain said, “For the past few days we have been visiting the length and breadth of Muzaffargarh looking for people who have not yet found refuge at the camps.”
He said that a lot of organisations were working to provide relief to the victims at relief camps. “Instead of collecting aid and distributing it at the relief camps, we thought it best to look around for people who were still trapped and unable to get sanctuary at the camps.”
“We realised that these people were not fond of eating biscuits, tin food or packed juices,” he said, “They prefer traditional chapatti, salan or rice instead.”
He said that they had been purchasing cooked meals from traditional restaurants in Multan city and distributing it amongst the victims.
Ali Butt said that there were 25 tent cities established by the government and non-government organisations in Mehmoodkot, 25 kilometres from Muzaffargarh city.
Besides the official camps, he said, large numbers of the displaced had set up makeshift tents along the main roads.
He said that evenings in the region presented very moving scenes. “It is the time most philanthropists come out and distribute relief goods among the flood victims.”
After Butt and Sheeraz returned, they said the village was completely inundated and that they distributed food among about 100 people, mostly women and children, sitting on top of a ridge surrounded with water.
“They told us that they had had no food throughout the day. All the trouble felt worth it when they raised their hands and prayed for us,” Sheeraz said.
Published in The Express Tribune August 21st, 2010.
“We were in Ayubia when, after watching the destruction caused by the floods on television, we decided to pack up and leave for the flood-hit areas,” Asif Hussain, a Lahore resident in his late-20s, told The Express Tribune on Wednesday.
Asif Hussain and his three friends – Sumair Hameed, Sheeraz Asim and Ali Butt – have since travelled across Muzaffargarh, at times on boats, providing relief goods to people trapped in the flood water.
All four of them live in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) in Lahore. Though they teach at a private tuition centre located in DHA, owned by Ali Butt, they have family businesses to support their ‘adventures’.
Hussain said that they were fond of travelling so moving around in the flood-hit areas was not very cumbersome for them.
They met this scribe on Wednesday near Muzaffargarh Canal, which was still gushing out water from its broken bank near Mehmood Kot.
At the Muzaffargarh Canal – from where they could not travel by car any more – two of them, Ali Butt and Sheeraz, arranged a boat and headed towards a village near Budh to distribute cooked meal among those trapped in flood water.
Asif Hussain said, “For the past few days we have been visiting the length and breadth of Muzaffargarh looking for people who have not yet found refuge at the camps.”
He said that a lot of organisations were working to provide relief to the victims at relief camps. “Instead of collecting aid and distributing it at the relief camps, we thought it best to look around for people who were still trapped and unable to get sanctuary at the camps.”
“We realised that these people were not fond of eating biscuits, tin food or packed juices,” he said, “They prefer traditional chapatti, salan or rice instead.”
He said that they had been purchasing cooked meals from traditional restaurants in Multan city and distributing it amongst the victims.
Ali Butt said that there were 25 tent cities established by the government and non-government organisations in Mehmoodkot, 25 kilometres from Muzaffargarh city.
Besides the official camps, he said, large numbers of the displaced had set up makeshift tents along the main roads.
He said that evenings in the region presented very moving scenes. “It is the time most philanthropists come out and distribute relief goods among the flood victims.”
After Butt and Sheeraz returned, they said the village was completely inundated and that they distributed food among about 100 people, mostly women and children, sitting on top of a ridge surrounded with water.
“They told us that they had had no food throughout the day. All the trouble felt worth it when they raised their hands and prayed for us,” Sheeraz said.
Published in The Express Tribune August 21st, 2010.