How survivors are putting Watan card money to good use

Flood survivors discuss their plans for the Rs20,000 compensation.

SUKKUR: It is back to square one for Abdul Sattar Naseerani’s family as the money they received from the Watan card has been stolen.

“After receiving Rs20,000 last week, I gave the money to my younger brother, Mehram, and asked him to purchase goats so we can sell them and earn some profits,” said Naseerani, a resident of village Iqbal Bijarani near Karampur. Since the floods swept the village, his family has been living in a tent city on Airport Road in Sukkur.

Thousands of flood survivors from Jacobabad, Kashmore and Shikarpur districts came to Sukkur in the first week of August and were provided shelter in government schools and colleges and in open grounds that turned into the tent city. A majority of the people have left for home but the Naseeranis and several other families are still living in the camp.

Sitting inside a tent with his wife and children, Naseerani narrated their ordeal. “My brother went to Shikarpur and came back empty-handed,” he said, adding that “when I asked about the goats, he told me the money was stolen by a pickpocket while he was moving around in the market”.

The family thought of moving back but there is nothing left in their house. “I went to Karampur two days ago but there is still at least two feet of water standing in my village,” he explained. “My house has collapsed and has turned into a heap of debris.”

Naseerani decided that there is no use going back when they will have to live in a tent there as well. “They (camp administration) are not providing food or rations anymore so I have to work in the city as a labourer to bring something to eat,” he added.

His wife, Marvi, who looked much younger than her husband, said that “it makes no difference whether we live here or in the village because we have to work equally hard to earn a livelihood”.

“Back in the village, we used to work at the agricultural lands of Iqbal Bijarani,” she recalled. “As the floodwater is still there, sowing wheat will be difficult now so we will stay here,” she added. Marvi’s 11-year-old daughter, Shabiran, agreed with her mother. “If we go back to our village, we will not be able to cultivate land and therefore it is better to live here and find some labour,” she said.

Another flood survivor, Shahdad Shaikh, a resident of Mazari Lashari village near Thul, has already spent Rs4,000, out of the Rs20,000, on his wife’s treatment. “My wife is suffering from asthma and a skin allergy but she is not doing well,” Shahdad said, regretfully adding that “I used to take her to a private hospital in Sukkur every week but it seems the medicines are not working”.

“The camp management is still providing us with dry rations on a weekly basis so we don’t have to spend money on food,” he added.

While some people decided to invest the Watan card money on something profitable, there were others who spent it on what they wanted most. As soon as he withdrew Rs20,000 from the ATM, Siki Ladho Shaikh bought himself a mobile phone.

“All my friends and relatives had mobile phones so I bought one too,” he said happily, as he twirled his phone in his hands. Siki, a resident of Udi village near Thul, is a peasant who worked at the land of a landlord. After the floods, he came to a relief camp with his wife, Shehar Bano and two children, one-year-old Gullan and four-year-old Sabhagi.

Naseer Ahmed Shaikh also came from Siki’s village Udi but he used his Watan card money to buy four goats. He plans to look after them for a month so he can sell them before Eidul Azha.

“I bought these goats for Rs14,000 and am taking good care of them so I can earn more profit from their sale,” he said, adding that “this business is not new for me because this is what I used to do back in Thul”.

Naseer explained that their village is still under water so he will be staying in the relief camp for another couple of months.

His wife, Ajeeban, who was sitting on the ground picking lice from her daughter’s head, agrees with her husband’s decision. “I used to prepare dung cakes and then sell them, and I can do that here too but don’t know where to sell them,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2010.