Help in a Box team wraps up first phase of project

KARACHI: Wednesday’s rain may have dampened their spirits but despite the fact that their tent collapsed and around 3,000 relief packages were destroyed, the Help in a Box team was undeterred in its efforts to continue work for the flood survivors.

Wrapping up the first phase of their project, which was aimed at providing relief good to displaced people, Help in a Box resurfaced under another name as Ramazan drew to an end. With Eid around the corner, the organisers recently launched their second project, Eidi in a Box, to spread some semblance of joy among the 10,000 children who are living in Karachi’s relief camps. Under the campaign, around 7,000 packets have already been made, which will be distributed on Eid.

Although the project had been up and running for some days now, volunteers in Karachi were faced with a minor setback with Wednesday’s rain as their efforts were literally washed away. However, reminding themselves that this was nothing compared to what the flood survivors had been through, volunteers have continued their work as usual, said Talal Jilani, head of the camp.

Talking to The Express Tribune, organiser Adeel Hashmi said that he had been sitting with his friend, Shehzad Qureshi, when the two realised that unlike the time of the 2005 earthquake, when people had gone all out to help the survivors, very little was being done for the people who had been affected in the floods.

“People had done a lot for the earthquake survivors, but this time, all the efforts we saw were made by big organisations like Edhi, Red Cresent and the Army,” said Hashmi. “Regular people were not taking much of an initiative, which is why we decided to do something.”

The volunteer camp started with two cartons of juice and Rs10,000. Once it was up, however, Help in a Box attracted a large number of volunteers and philanthropists who wished to contribute to an organisation wtih a transparent mechanism. This why around 200 volunteers of all ages arrive at the camp to donate or help made relief packages for flood survivors, Hashmi added.

Several stalls have been set up at the camp, one for each item that goes into the box. Volunteers simply move from stall to stall to add each item to a box, which is packed at the last stall. “If my six-year-old daughter can work for three hours everyday, so can the older people,” said Shahbaz Durrani, who heads the operation.

According to him, the boxes are handed over to the army for distribution as they have the capability to reach all parts of the country. Volunteers at the camp said that they had originally thought that they would go to the flood-hit areas and help flood survivors themselves. However, they felt that Help in a Box was a better alternative.

“Here I can actually do something practical for the IDPs,” said Sarah Umair, a student at CBM who has been working at the camp for two weeks. She said that although she was also working with the Citizen’s Archive of Pakistan, she came to the camp because she wanted to do something on her own. “I wanted to do something with my own two hands because even the money that we donate is given to us by our parents.”

The project is run with no support from any of the big players. “We have no corporate donors and no backing. It is run purely on the donations made by friends, family and the people who wished to contribute to the cause.” Hashmi said that it was the people’s spirit, which had made the campaign one of the most successful ones around.

Ahmed Bin Sauleh and Abdul Moeez, students of classes VI and VII respectively, were both taking a break at a corner of the camp after a round of packing and loading. They had come with their elder sisters, who had inspired them to help in the relief efforts. With the help of many such enthusiastic volunteers, Help in a Box was able to dispatch 26 trucks, each carrying 400 cartons. It also sent 17 trucks of rations to NGO s, along with two trucks of medicines.

Although its relief efforts have come to an end, Help in a Box is due to initiate the next stage of its project. The organisers are now planning to rehabilitate the IDPs by looking into ways to make tents out of panaflex.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2010.