When it rains, it pours

A fresh spell of rain of the eve of Eid exacerbates an already difficult situation for those displaced by the floods.

HYDERABAD: On the eve of Eidul Fitr, a fresh rain spell lashed the southern parts of the country, particularly Sindh, where hundreds of makeshift relief camps have been set up, exacerbating an already difficult situation for those displaced by the floods.

Those who just returned to their homes will have more problems to deal with, as the rains have, hampered relief efforts.

“Our life is worse than death. Eid is for the living, but we are neither alive nor dead,” said a solemn 15-year-old Rukhsana in sadness. “We have no clothes, no food, no shoes and no home. My brother is small, he can’t fight the looters who snatch all the food from the aid trucks,” she said.

Abandoned by her father after her mother died, the teenage refugee will spend Eid with her grandmother and 10-year-old brother in a makeshift camp, 450 kilometres south of her hometown of Garhi Khairo. For the poor and hungry flood survivors, this year’s holiday offers more rain and little joy.

Already, humid conditions in Sindh have scorched the skin of those eking out a living without proper shelter, and without enough food and water to get by. But weather forecasters predict more rain for Saturday, threatening to turn thousands of unhygienic relief camps into muddy bogs.

In Hyderabad, which is now teeming with more than one million displaced people, Rukhsana mills gloomily around a camp lined with donated tarpaulin tents that fill the grounds of a vegetable market. “When we were at home, our grandmother would arrange something for us on Eid, but now we don’t even have a home,” she said woefully.

Flood survivors said that this year’s festival offers no respite from their grim reality, and recall instead, golden memories of Eid celebrations back home. “We had our own houses, buffalos and crops. We would celebrate at home with joy and enthusiasm,” says 45-year-old farmer Haji Hussain, wistfully. “But now we have no money, no food and no clothes to celebrate with and have fun,” says the father of eight, who had his prize buffalos stolen.  “I am penniless. My children are sad and desperate because I can’t buy them anything – no toys, clothes or shoes. We can’t be happy this Eid,” he said.

Mother of four, Karima Bibi, 30, said that she is also powerless to provide her children with a break from the misery of the floods. “Eid is for those who have money and shelter and who have something to give to their children. We have nothing. We don’t even have shelter to save our children from the scorching heat,” she said. “This year we will wear the same old clothes and will just give our children any food we are given,” she added.  (AFP with additional input from News Desk)

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2010.