Karachi Relief Trust thanks volunteers young and old
Work continues with 10,000 new homes. two bridges.
KARACHI:
Nine-year-old Noor kept covering her mouth with her tiny hand every time she saw pictures of flood survivors. She looked at them with awe. The class IV student at Karachi Grammar School packed goody bags during her Quran class as her contribution to cheer up the calamity-hit children. She was one of the many children awarded for their efforts at the Karachi Relief Trust’s (KRT) volunteer appreciation ceremony at the Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture late on Saturday.
Noor marched up to the stage to receive her appreciation certificate. “It felt great packing the goody bags and I felt excited because I was doing something for the survivors,” she said.
At the appreciation night, every KRT member present was overjoyed when young Fayyaz promised on stage that he would go to school. Fayyaz was ‘discovered’ by the volunteers at the Thatta camp where he had reached from his village, destroyed by the flood, riding atop one of the relief vans.
When he was asked why he did not want to go to school, his reply spoke of a story all too familiar. He asked the crucial rhetorical question: “Who will support my family [in the meantime]?”
By the end of September, the Karachi Relief Trust had served almost 33,000 people with food, water, sanitation and medical treatment in 57 camps. During this time, some five million cooked meals were also served by the organisation.
Shams Rafi, a volunteer, told The Express Tribune that they started with certain projects — ‘adopt a camp’ being the foremost one. They also had the household, the 30-days ration and the pak paani projects for the displaced people.
Khayam Husain, another volunteer for the trust, informed the audience at the ceremony of the herculean contributions made by people of all ages, religions and backgrounds in both money and spirit. “When a woman found nothing in her purse to contribute, she took off the bangles she had worn for 40 years, saying ‘give them a home’,” he narrated.
On another occasion, the students of a primary school donated all their lunch money in coins and one-, two- and five-rupee bills for the cause. “Their lunch money amounted to a total of Rs1,258,” said Husain with a smile.
Launching the next phase of their relief work, Adnan Asdar, another KRT volunteer, announced that the goal would be to provide houses to the flood-hit people under the “Give a Home” project. “The inspiration behind this project is the generous contributions by many who wish to remain anonymous,” he explained. The homes will be built according to the needs of the location, with special designs to combat natural calamities. “The journey doesn’t end here,” Asdar said. KRT is in the process of constructing two bridges at Fizza Ghat, Swat, and Char Bagh, Sindh and is building around 10,000 houses.
Adam, one of the young participants with a certificate, told The Express Tribune that for the home-building phase, he plans to sell the T-shirts his 17-year-old friend designed for Rs500 each. He said that his motivation was Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s famous maxim of ‘unity, faith, discipline’.
The KRT team concluded its presentation on an inspirational note by playing the video of singer Nayyara Noor who had dedicated her ghazal Aik Aur Jahan Mumkin Hai [Another world is possible] to the efforts of the trust.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2010.
Nine-year-old Noor kept covering her mouth with her tiny hand every time she saw pictures of flood survivors. She looked at them with awe. The class IV student at Karachi Grammar School packed goody bags during her Quran class as her contribution to cheer up the calamity-hit children. She was one of the many children awarded for their efforts at the Karachi Relief Trust’s (KRT) volunteer appreciation ceremony at the Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture late on Saturday.
Noor marched up to the stage to receive her appreciation certificate. “It felt great packing the goody bags and I felt excited because I was doing something for the survivors,” she said.
At the appreciation night, every KRT member present was overjoyed when young Fayyaz promised on stage that he would go to school. Fayyaz was ‘discovered’ by the volunteers at the Thatta camp where he had reached from his village, destroyed by the flood, riding atop one of the relief vans.
When he was asked why he did not want to go to school, his reply spoke of a story all too familiar. He asked the crucial rhetorical question: “Who will support my family [in the meantime]?”
By the end of September, the Karachi Relief Trust had served almost 33,000 people with food, water, sanitation and medical treatment in 57 camps. During this time, some five million cooked meals were also served by the organisation.
Shams Rafi, a volunteer, told The Express Tribune that they started with certain projects — ‘adopt a camp’ being the foremost one. They also had the household, the 30-days ration and the pak paani projects for the displaced people.
Khayam Husain, another volunteer for the trust, informed the audience at the ceremony of the herculean contributions made by people of all ages, religions and backgrounds in both money and spirit. “When a woman found nothing in her purse to contribute, she took off the bangles she had worn for 40 years, saying ‘give them a home’,” he narrated.
On another occasion, the students of a primary school donated all their lunch money in coins and one-, two- and five-rupee bills for the cause. “Their lunch money amounted to a total of Rs1,258,” said Husain with a smile.
Launching the next phase of their relief work, Adnan Asdar, another KRT volunteer, announced that the goal would be to provide houses to the flood-hit people under the “Give a Home” project. “The inspiration behind this project is the generous contributions by many who wish to remain anonymous,” he explained. The homes will be built according to the needs of the location, with special designs to combat natural calamities. “The journey doesn’t end here,” Asdar said. KRT is in the process of constructing two bridges at Fizza Ghat, Swat, and Char Bagh, Sindh and is building around 10,000 houses.
Adam, one of the young participants with a certificate, told The Express Tribune that for the home-building phase, he plans to sell the T-shirts his 17-year-old friend designed for Rs500 each. He said that his motivation was Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s famous maxim of ‘unity, faith, discipline’.
The KRT team concluded its presentation on an inspirational note by playing the video of singer Nayyara Noor who had dedicated her ghazal Aik Aur Jahan Mumkin Hai [Another world is possible] to the efforts of the trust.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2010.