For the floods

She comes every morning to her camp. Pushes open the tent and arranges the tables and chairs. Soon enough people come around and drop off food, water and clothing. Many write checks or leave cash in the glass box labelled ‘donations’. After an hour she has already collected enough to provide for one relief camp in Nowshera; there are five more hours for her to go. Such is the routine of Morial Shah and many other student volunteers who have painstakingly raised enough items and cash to sustain many small relief camps in flood affected areas.   

In the aftermath of the devastating floods rising in Sindh and ravaging Punjab, many private benefactors and volunteers have taken up the task of safe guarding the flood affected victims futures’. The citizens of Pakistan have preferred to keep their trust in such organizations rather than governmental hands. She says, “A whopping Rs 109,000, Rs 139,000, Rs 200,600 and finally Rs 318,655 made their way to our bank account on the second, third, fourth, and fifth days respectively.”

She has battled torrential rains and pollution on the streets from cars outside popular stores such as Aghas, Forum and Makro. Her team of volunteers initially included teens and preteens ranging between the ages of 6 to 14. She says though every fibre of her feet ache, she is glad to be able to help and make a difference in the flood relief donations.

Many other youngsters have unified under a banner and started begging for donations. The students of SZABIST and IVS held a joint march to raise money for the flood victims by literally stopping cars in the street. Salman Millwala, one of the students said, “People do stop and deliver when the need arises, it’s a great feeling to know they understand the task that lies ahead.” He also remarked that, “Not only did cars stop, but so did rickshaw and taxi drivers. They all helped. No matter how little, it counts.”      

Apart from collecting funds and other necessities, many volunteers have signed up for packing the collected goods and helping in preparing them for transportation. Students from all over Karachi gather at various areas such as Royal Rodale and PAF Museum to help pack the good and load them for transportation. According to volunteers, PAF has enough relief goods to fill up 5 Makro’s (Wholesale store).  

Students from SZABIST, IVS, IBA and other universities sign up to prepare trucks. A student from SZABIST said that collecting was not the last step to helping the victims; the collected goods also had to be prepared and sent to the flood refugee camps. Distributing the donations in an orderly fashion has been a very difficult job. Students from IBA who travelled to Sukkur reported the chaos and anarchy that envelopes the camps when food items are being distributed. Uzair Syed remarked that, “People tend to lose their civility when they line up to get food. That’s the level of desperation and mistrust that has infiltrated the people.”

Everyone tirelessly works towards a single goal to assist the flood victims and help them survive these hard times. “They are after all people just like us, they need all the help they can get,” says Morial. The Pakistani nation has finally found a reason to unify and help one another. Necessity truly is the mother of invention. In the words of the Quaid-e-Azam to the youth of Pakistan, “Pakistan is proud of her youth, particularly the students, who are nation builders of tomorrow…. You can make a big contribution towards bringing about harmony and unity.”