Thar Diary Daily Update March 22 to April-1-2014

8/12/2019 Thar Diary Daily Update March 22 to April-1-2014

1/58

Thar Diary

March 22 to April 1, 2014

Day 1:(22-03-2014)

(Team Members: Dr Zahoor, Hassan Shah, Nasir Hussain & Saleemullah Baig)

First day was arrival to Karachi from Islamabad, the flight was a bit late due to VIP air trafficking

and we reached Karachi at around 2 pm.

My team has suggested that we send daily updates to core office and relevant people to keep all

of us, including myself, up-to-date with whats happeningin field.

After reaching Karachi the meeting was done with Director Food & Beverages Mr. Waseem

Baig in PC hotel Karachi where all the food packaging details and delivery modes were


2/58

discussed. It was agreed that the final order will be placed after the local market survey of

Mitthi, Tharparker. Whereas the quotation from PC hotel management will be shared on

Monday, March 24, 2014. The second meeting was done with PC admin staff that includes Mr.

Asif Ur Rehman & Mr. Atif Ahmed Khan. A very fruitful discussion was done and available

clothing stuffs were shown, it was examined that available clothes includes childrens wearing,

track suits & and simple trousers and the whole stuff consists of 72 cottons. It was agreed that

the clothing material will be supplied to the affected areas when requested. After the meeting

we moved towards hotel for next day planning and rest and thus concluded the first day in

Karachi..until tomorrow.

Day 2:(23-03-2014)

Second day we moved from Karachi to Mitthi, Tharparkar, Sindh.

There was a call of strike from GIKSM (Nationalist Party) in Sindh on Sunday because of killing

of their workers, so we reached our destination at 8:00 pm. After reaching Tharparker safely

we met the Banhn Beli team at their Mitti office , where we met many of the people working


3/58

there and we discussed the current famine and drought situation, current government and

NGO response and logistics issues involved in the next few weeks. Specifically, issues regarding

the identification of beneficiaries, food parcels, recruitment of health staff, hiring vehicle for

mobile health unit, our transportation around the district as well as the issue of female health

staff who can take care of MCH issues, which will be necessary in order for maternal and child

care in remote villages.

The whole agenda on this relief initiative and proposal was discussed and Baan-Beli team was

requested to help in field activities that include identification of vulnerable people and

distribution of food packs. It was agreed that Baan-Beli team will assist us in field activities and

all possible support will be provided.

Day 3: (24-03-2014)

Third day was started with meeting with DCO Tharparkar Mr. Imran Bhatti and other local

government officials. It was expressed by the local administration that three Tehsils of the

District Tharparker are severely affected by the famine and drought, those includes, Islamkot,

Mitthi and Diplo, whereas government had distributed 50 kg wheat bags to approximately

259,000 families but still people lack basic food items. DCO requested HF team to work in the


4/58

above said three highly affected Tehsils and to distribute food items to poor and vulnerable

families. After the meeting with DCO a meeting with the team of Muslim Hands International

was conducted to know their interventions and to analyze the existing gaps which could be

fulfilled. It was analyzed that Muslim Hands International is working on food security issue of

migrated people, whereas the people who are living in their houses are not in their domain. It

was also advised by the Muslim Hands team that HF must focus on the far areas of three highly

affected Tehsils instead of focusing the nearby areas which had already received from some

NGOs. Another meeting was conducted with the staff members of Helping Hands and it was

identified that they are working on safe water distribution and basic health units since 15thof

March. In this comprehensive meeting different ideas related to HF-Mobile Health Unit and

food distribution were shared and it was also suggested by HF team that a cluster meeting of all

working NGOs must be called, this will help to analyze that which areas needs more focus and

which areas are still deprived with aid as well as who is doing what. Similarly from the meetings

with governmental and non-governmental organizations it was suggested that HF must made his

own Warehouse where food bags can be stored and that would also be declared as food

distribution point, because it is very difficult to take the trucks to the local community areas as

roads and infrastructure is not present and the population is very much scattered, so it was

decided that food ration cards will be given to deserving and vulnerable people and they will be

asked to collect food bags on a specific date from a specific place, that would be ourwarehouse. While the team was involved in meeting with governmental and nongovernmental

officials Mr. Saleem was visiting the local markets to take quotations of food items which we are

supposed to distribute by Sunday. Quotations from the local venders were collected and rates

were compared.

After the meeting with Helping Hand team along with the volunteer from Baan-Belli moved to

the affected areas of Mitthi.


5/58


6/58

Focus group discussions were done to assess the basic problems and needs of people and it

was evaluated that malnutrition is the main issue for the common people.

Many of them are currently suffering of severe food insecurity and further loss in their livestock

due to fodder scarcity as most animal also died;


7/58

these are heartbreaking stories of children dying of malnutrition and infectious diseases and on

and on.


8/58

Similarly our team moved door to door and examined the socio-economic situation of

community and almost 50 vulnerable families were give food ration cards after filling their bio

data form.

A focal person was assigned in the community and he was requested to communicate the

decided date and venue, as decided by HF team, to those people who had received the food


9/58

ration cards.

We left the Tehsil Islamkot field area as the sun was setting on the world largest desert and

finally the team moved back to hotel and have a short meeting regarding next day agenda and


10/58

tasks.

Day 4: (25-03-2014)

Wait till night.

25-3-2014: (Day 4)

Tuesday, March 25, 2014, a hot sunny day gave a new strength to the team. After the breakfast the team

was divided into two groups, first group consisted me (Dr. Zahoor) and Mr. Saleem Baig whereas the

second group includes Mr. Hassan Shah and Mr. Nasir Hussain.

First group was supposed to meet with the local property dealers to identify and select the best suitable

and feasiable place that can serve as warehouse and food distribution center for the beneficaries. Such

place is needed that is safe according to security point of view and on the same side easily assessable to

selected beneficaries to collect their food bags. Similarly the second agenda of first team incudes to

finalize the most suitable vender/supplier after having a comparative price statement analysis.


11/58

Second group was supposed to move to field to select the most affected and vulnerable people that are

severly affected by the drought. As discussed in the early report, three Tehsils (Mitti, Islamkot and

Diplo) are badly affected by drought and today team was suppose to focus on one Tehsil i.e. IslamKot

which is 45 kilometer away from Mitti. On the same side this team had to identify, register and

distribute the food cards to selected vulnerable community members.

Second team reached Tehsil Islamkot and with the help of a volunteer Mr. Cheetan we visited the two

worse affected villages, that includes village Shehmir Vickyaand Darailo Paro. After initial discussion

with community elders the team moved door to door and assesed the condition of the villigers. During

the course of time HF team observed some heart touching stories of poor and vulnerable people of the


12/58

community.

Their socioeconomic conditions reflectes their disparity and backwardness, even in this 21 st centery

they dont have access to basic needs of life like food, health facility, safe drinking water etc. Almost 120

vlunerable and poor households were identified and registered for food assiatnce .


13/58

While Hassan and Nasir were busy in the identification of vulnerable people me and Saleem examinedthe food samples, obtained final quotations from local venders of food and finally made the comparative

statements of all quotations received from PC Karachi and two local venders.

That comparative price statement was shared with the higher management at core office and finally

purchase order was issued by the respective department. After this key activity we met the local


14/58

property dealers for the arrangement of warehouse.

Three buildings were visited and they were critically evaluated to ensure security and accessibility issues.

Up till now the final place has not been finalized and tomorrow some more suitable buildings would be

visited.

We also observed that the recent displacement from remote areas of Tharparker has reached half

million and 70% of them are children and 20% women and elderly (some men have stayed back to look

after their elderly terminal ill patient or have already gone to other cities to work.) and the biggest

concentration of migrated population is in district Badeen and district Nawabshah but they have also

spread up to Hyderabad and Karachi.


15/58

The major accomplishment of today is that we manage to take some short heartbreaking stories with

the help of volunteers to interpret for us these heart touching stories. This volunteer, Cheetan,

helped translate for the team that put together the previous case histories, and is,

therefore, very familiar with the culture, language and the villages we will be visiting.

Raai Chanda poor old man of 70 years age lost his six buffalos and twenty sheep in this drought. Last

year due to the unavailability of basic health facilities he lost his young son and wife, both initially were

suffering from high grade fever and malaria and ended in cerebral Malaria. Last week someone told him

that government had sent relief trucks to nearby roads, when he visited the site he saw that it is notpossible for him to get these goods in this rush and mismanagement so he decided to come back. When

HF team visited his home and he was persuaded that he will get food without humiliation then he was

very happy and a ray of hope emerged on his face.


16/58

Cattle and livestock is the main source of survival for the Thar people, but after the drought the cattle

had been severely affected and most of the people are now living a miserable life. An old women

Rannolost all of her cattles in drought, these were the main source of survival for her as she use to sell

the milk of her goats and cows. Raano is also raising the family of her widow daughter and after the loss

of cattle she had now started stitching the handmade bed sheets. It takes almost a week to stitch one

bed sheet from hand whereas the wage is only five hundred which is very meager to run such a huge

family. HF team provided him the food ration card which will be helpful in mitigating her sorrows and

worries.


17/58

People of Tharparker are facing serious food insecurity and health issues. Maai Jothoois suffering from

muskeloskeltal problems and muscle wasting from the last 2 years and now she has also developed

muscular dystrophy and she is unable to do anything, but due to unavailability of health facilities she is

living a miserable life. Muscle wasting is one of the worst indicators of severe malnutrition in which body

muscles are damaged. Her son, a father of eight children, is a poor daily wager and he is unable to

finance the costly health services. According to medical science Muscle wasting is the worse condition of

malnutrition and in this disease body muscles cramps, aches and patient is unable to move.

Finally almost 120 vulnerable beneficiary families were identified by the team and food rations cards

were given to those identified families. Volunteers also played a commendable role in this whole process

and they served as communication and other facilitating factor for the HF team. On the same side team

is in search of safe, secure and accessible warehouse to store the food parcels and to make that place as

food distribution point.


18/58

Following the 120 registrations of family and some detailed interviews the team felt too drained and

exhausted but at the same time they were thrilled and excited that shortly these vulnerable families

would be getting relief from HF emergency relief and the process of registering the families will be

continue in next two days. Together we make a difference

To be continued

26-3-2014: (Day 5)

Temperature in Thar Desert is increasing day by day along with the enthusiasm of HF relief team.

Another bright sunny day was started with an internal meeting and agenda point was discussed. We had

a quick overview of our targets and goals and briefly discussed the plan and after that headed out for

field.

Team members were agreed to be the same as yesterday. The first team that includes me and Saleem

was supposed to visit the surrounding areas for the selection of suitable and accessible warehouse, on

the same side team has to take the quotations for the HF Mobile Health Unit (MHU) and ambulances.

Similarly the second team that consists of Hassan and Nasir was supposed to move in field to identify

the poor and vulnerable people, for this Tehsil Diplo was selected which is badly affected by the drought

and infectious diseases and it is approximately 70 Km away from Tehsil Mitthi.

First of all village Khenroi of Tehsil Diplo was visited by the second team. In meetings with governmental

and nongovernmental organizations it was evident that Tehsil Diplo is worst affected by the present

drought and in ground it was personally observed by HF team. Many miserable and heart-touching cases

were seen and it was made sure that no deprived and vulnerable family is left without food ration card.


19/58

Door to door assessment was done by the HF team and people were inquired about their needs,

problems, common prevailing communicable

and non communicable diseases and animal

morbidities and causalities. It was assessed

that a huge portion of the population is

heavily affected, epidemics of infectious

diseases had causes losses of precious

human life and on the same side livestock

(cattle) which is the main bread and butter

of these poor people, is also profoundly

affected. Most of the people are spending

miserable life and they even dont have the

basic food to eat.

After detailed assessment, food ration cards were issued to every deserving and most affected family

head after filling detailed bio data form by HF team.

When Hassan and Nasir with support of volunteers were busy in identification of vulnerable and poor

people of affected areas, I and Saleem had a coordination meeting with all NGOs working in Tharparkar

district. As I mentioned in day 2 daily update report that we tossed the idea of having a cluster meeting

in Tharparkar where all the stakeholders sit on one table and discuss the current situation and plan of

action. In pursuance of this idea we had a meeting with representative of PDMA Sindh, Al-Mustafa

Welfare Society, Helping Hands, Falah Insaniat Foundation, Pakistan Rangers and Muslim Hands this

morning. We discussed the situation of the Tharparkar affectees and their current dire needs. We also

informed them that HF is in the process of setting up a base camp/warehouse in Tehsil Mitti and our

focus is on helping the most vulnerable food insecure population and malnourished women and children

immediately with food ration and mobile health interventions. The PDMA is willing to work with us but

after they have declare it emergency but there is some political vested interest. The current situation we

discussed is follow,

Many poor Thari families were moving to barrage areas, along with their livestock. The recent

displacement from remote areas of Tharparker has reached half million and 70% of them are

children and 20% women and elderly (some men have stayed back to look after their elderly

terminal patient or have already gone to other cities to work.)


20/58

The biggest concentration of migrated population is in Badeen and Nawabshah but they have

spread up to Karachi.

There is no registration process started by provincial Ministry of Social Welfare.

Some organizations are providing uncooked food on per month per family basis in main Mitti

city without any survey in remote villages and other organizations like Muslim Hands

International and Al-Mustafa Welfare Society has established a central kitchen where food is

cooked and distributed in migrated population.

Harsh weather conditions and the temperature goes up with every passing day

Immediate needs identified during the discussion

Food Parcels

MCH services & Medicines

Animal Fodder

Clothing

Water & Hygiene kits

Long term needs identified

Education

Health

Livelihood projects(Livestock/Honeybee farming projects)

Skill enhancement/trainings

Water Sector


21/58

Jamna an old emaciated women, explaining hercondition to the HF team

Focus group discussions (FGD)and door to door visits of village remained the core essence of field

activity. At first we felt somewhat uncertain about how to approach this deprived community members

for FGD, but their smiles, humble gestures and contented behavior invited us with no hesitation. Weconversed with community elders for about one hour about so many various topics that we did not

even notice at the time of commencement were also brought into light.

Dhepeka, a cute little doll of age 2.


22/58

During the FGDs the people of the community were smartly provoked and their needs and problems

were identified. This helped the team to identify and analyze the socioeconomic and demographic

condition of that community. Different question were asked to the community members in a very

interactive way and very prompt and positive replies were noted.

The first priority that was identified is to obtain the food ration and water to mitigate hunger and

malnutrition. The next two greatest assistance needs are securing access to clean drinking water and

access to basic health services and livestock saving interventions. The Respondents also identified

treatment for acute illnesses, followed by child health care and care for chronic illnesses as their top

health priorities.

District Tharparker had highly affected by the drought and after media coverage to this sensitive

issue many governmental and nongovernmental organizations sent their relief fleets to facilitate Thar

destitute people. But it is noticed that those relief fleets concentrated their services to main cities or the

areas which are connected with main road and far-flung areas were seriously ignored, although those

were highly affected.

Realizing this reality, and proving the real meaning of Tharparkar (Thar means sand regionand Parkar

means "to cross over), HF team decided to move into desert and planned to reach those areas that are

out of access for normal car, truck or local transport. For this reason a Potohar Jeepwas hired and

team moved towards Village Arjak,which is about 30 Km inside desert from Diplo city.


23/58

People of Village Arjakeven havent received wheat from government and this is the most deprived

community of district Tharparkar. After traveling about an hour HF team reached Arjak village and after

the visit of village it was evaluated that this area received no rain, except a little drizzle in the beginning

of the current season. Almost all reservoirs have dried up and Arjak is facing a famine-like situation,causing severe shortage of food, resulting in malnutrition, diseases and death and children and pregnant

women are affected the most.


24/58

In the last HF team moved village Sabrhi which is the residence of Kohli Hindu tribe. People

belonging to Kholi tribe are traditionally regarded as untouchable and they are also among the most

vulnerable segment of society and they are also badly affected by the drought. People are living

miserable life and they dont have basic resources for survival. The main source of their income is cattle

grazing and daily waging. HF team visited the whole village and identified the most affected people of this

community and food ration cards were distributed. It was observed that provision of this food items

would be a great supporting factor for this deprived community and it will also help them to ease their

household budgetary issues.

Below is the summary of our 3 days work at field,

Summary of Identified Families up till 26thMarch 26, 2014

Date No of families Villages Tehsil District Distance

from Mithi

24-03-2014 50 Baraj Mithi Tharparkar 32 km

25-03-2014 120 Shehmir Vickya and

Darailo Paro

Islamkot Tharparkar 45 km

26-3-2014 130 Khenroi, Arjakh and

Sabhri

Diplo Tharparkar 70 km

By the time we were done, it was night time and we had to leave for Tesil Mithi. In another 1 hours of

Sandy/Windy/Bumpy jeep driving and talking about scary stories of snacks and reptiles in the Tharparkar


25/58

desert and inspired by the dark sandy dooms of surroundings, we safely reached at Tharparkar guest

house at 9:00 pm.

And sorry for the long update ... I promise tomorrows will be shorter! Together we make a difference

27-3-2014: (Day 6)

What we observed in these 6 days, Tharparkar is one of the country's most food insecure districts, with

the residents to be in a state of severe food insecurity. Health is another major concern, with 47

percent of Tharparkar's children categorized as malnourished.

Temperature in Mithi, Tharparker, Sindh is 39 degree centigrade and today it was a windy day. In thewind it is very difficult to predict the nature of desert because sand dunes move their places with the

wind. Despite this difficult situation both teams decided to carry on their tasks as scheduled. The day

was started by a formal internal performance gauging session, we internally assess the performance of

both program and admin component, where goals and targets were compared and discussed. The team

members including the volunteers were appreciated on their hard and focused work.

The Thar desert stretches for about 19,000 sqr km, and while it does feature some vegetation, most of it is small bushes and trees. In the

dry winter season, the more accessible bushes and grasses tend to dry out and die, cutting off a major supply of fodder for livestock.


26/58

I and Saleem was supposed to finalize the vehicle for Mobile Health Unit and also to have to make a

follow-up visit to the selected venders to see whether they had started packing of selected food items

for beneficiaries or not. Similarly the agenda for the day also includes taking quotations for the 5000

mineral water bottles that will be distributed by the Mobile health Unit.

On the same side Mr. Hassan shah & Mr. Nasir Hussain were supposed to identify vulnerable, poor and

severely affected people by assessing them after visiting the villages from Tehsil Mitthi and provide foodration cards to them. Both teams moved into field at 8:45 am and focused towards their assigned goals.

The first destination of the field team was Village Sakrio Bajeer, Tehsil Mitthi which is about 40kilometers away from Mithi city and lies near Tehsil Chaachrow. This is among the most affected villages

of District Tharparkar, Sindh and mostly children and women are affected with food scarcity,

malnutrition and diseases in this village.

After focus group discussion it was found that the main problem of this village is saline water. More than

half of the total ground water in the desert region is brackish, highly saline and unsuitable for human

consumption.

Most groundwater is saline with sweet water being found only at very great depths. The villagers are

dependent on rainwater, which meets their needs for about 3 to 4 months of the year. The rest of the

year, they bring water from distances of between 4 and 5 kilometers. Water is collected by using tanks

on camel carts or tractors. Team also visited the only water well of the village and found that water isbadly contaminated and it is very unhygienic for people consumption.

Most residents of Thar live in tiny villages - often with no more than 10 households - in these

traditional mud-and-thatch huts.


27/58

A local teacher of the community told the team that in the past months many women and children weredied because of drinking this contaminated water. People requested HF team to take any initiative toinstall a water filtration plant so that safe drinking water can be used.

Similarly it was also seen that some of the women and children are bringing water from near villages butthey have to travel for almost 4-5 kilometer which is certainly a very difficult task to do. Door to doorvisits were done by the team and affected people were identified by asking simple and straight forwardquestions and those vulnerable and deprived people were given food ration cards.


28/58

The second destination of the HF team was village Sooray Jotthar, Tehsil Mitthi. Main source of

livelihood for the people from this village was cattle grazing but this village is highly affected in this

drought and almost 70% of the cattle have been died. In the recent past the Tharparkar witnessed much

severe droughts but those droughts had not affected human population. This year there was acute

shortage of fodder for animals, which is a major source of food and livelihood for the Thari people.

When animals died in huge number, situation became alarming. The residents of Thar Desert believe

that if animals keep dying at this speed, the population may face acute shortage food in near future.

This climatic shock had severely affected the local community and suddenly their normal life is

converted into a dilemma. HF team was told by the local people that provincial health department team

was requested to do vaccination for their cattle but nobody listen their voice and hence this resulted

into this fatal loss. Another main profession of the local people is to make carpets from the sheep wool,

but due to massive deaths of sheeps they dont have the raw material to make carpets, so they are

highly susceptible. HF team accessed each family and rashen cards were distributed.

A young widow woman of 40 lost her husband because of Hepatitis C, she is having four children and all

of them are under seven years of age. After the death of his husband she is suffering a miserable life as

Livestock, including cows, goats and sheep, form a major part of the livelihood of most residents in Thar.

"I don't know why my child is so weak," says the worried mother from remote village of Sooray Jotthar, whose child

was admitted in Mithi hospital with symptoms of pneumonia. Respiratory infections are a major reason for infant

mortality in this district.


29/58

she do not have anyone to support. She had started stitching clothes but the income is not sufficient to

fulfill her day to day needs and expenses. She also told that last week one of her child was suffering from

respiratory tract infection and diarrhea, she took her children to government hospital but no doctor

was present there so she took loan from one of her relative and took him to a private hospital which

charged 1000 Rs. Later on the child was admitted in Mithi hospital. Food ration card will be a token or

relief for her family.

Most of the children died within their first two years of their life due to pneumonia and diarrheathe

two major killer. These two ailments are the leading cause for child mortality in Tharparkar. Doctors

say deaths due to these diseases are easily avoided if mothers follow basic hygiene and health practices.

52 years old women of village Sakrio Bajeer, is suffering from Osteoporosis and severe bone

pain, this is a progressive bone degenerative disease that is characterized by a decrease in bone mass

and density which can lead to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis, the bone mineral density

(BMD) is reduced, bone micro architecture deteriorates, and the amount and variety of proteins in boneare altered and this is caused by food deficiency and drinking contaminated water. She is unable walk

and feels very pain in her bones, this miserable condition makes her a burden on her family and no one

is even available to take her to washroom. Local medical facilities are not sufficient to cure this chronic

disease whereas her family doesnt have much resource to take her to good public or private hospitals.

Indeed Poverty is the worst form of violence.

Concluding the report, today we had finalized the ambulance for the Mobile Health Unit and diffesenthouses for warehouse were also visited. Saleem and I hit all the spots in Mithi Tehsil today- The EDO


30/58

office for government warehouse, the property dealers, venders for food, water, medicines and tents.We were also accompanied by staff member of Banhn Beli who is truly an inspiring volunteer.

As you know that we are also launching a mobile health unit in three Tehsil , Mitti, Diplo and Islamkot ofthe Thar Desert, reaching out to minority communities who have received little or no help. Thesituation in remote parts of Tharparkar Sindh still remain in dire condition and do not command any

attention from the mainstream public health NGOs due to vested political interests and logisticdifficulties. HF would like to address these remote areas and provide healthcare via a mobile health unitsince these areas are hostile territories making it very difficult for people to travel to static healthcenters in main cities.

Our goal is to serve 4500 patients and this health intervention we can save a baby from dehydration,deliver an antidote to a snake-bite victim, Maternal care to save mother or provide a patient anti-malarial drugs to stop the loss of lives and reduce suffering. We have also identified the qualified healthstaff for the mobile health unit and Insha-Allah by Monday the mobile health unit will be fully operational.

Similarly field team identified and distributed almost 70 food ration vouchers, the number is a bit lesser

then yesterday because of adverse environmental conditions and it was difficult for team to stay more in

desert in windy day, but still we are going up to the mark and striving our best to accomplish ourassigned goals and targets.

Our team has now reached to 380 families and distributed food rations cards to family heads that aretrapped in the current drought. Each and every identified family is so deserving and vulnerable... we mustnow look into how we can fulfill their basic needs of food, water and health.

After maghrib we left for Mithi and that concluded our day. After Dinner I set with the team andcomposing the scattered activities of the day. By the time we were done, we had so many thoughts,solutions, wishes that could miraculously come true immediately, but realized that government progresshere is slow and we need to thoughtfully plan everything out.

There must be a permanent fodder bankin Tharparkar like agriculture bank managed by government and NGOs, which can help the herdsmen in

any drought emergency and the animals, get fodder on time. We are so thankful that we are here inTharparkar right now... and able to spend a few days of our life with these needy and affected people.We just pray that Allah provides us with the means to make all their dreams of food security, availabilityof fodder for their livestock and safe drinking water become a reality. We are very serious about havingdone something concrete to alleviate their poverty and sustain these communities. Insha'Allah with all ofus working together as a team, we can accomplish big goals and make big differences for these people.

See, I promised today's report would be shorter... a littleshorterUntil tomorrow,


31/58

InshaAllah Together we will make a difference.


32/58

Friday, 28-3-2014: (Day 7)

Writing this report in a bit relief and relaxed atmosphere, you will know the reasons after reading this

complete report.

As usual the temperature was hot here in Mitthi, Tharparker, Sindh and secondly today was Friday, the

day which we usually have a long break in core office and Haleem in lunch. But relief team in Mitthi had

no time for relaxing and comforting because many challenging tasks are ahead and everything needs

proper concentration and devotion, by relaxing we can lose our momentum and that will hamper our

long term goals. So realizing the fact that The fastest and easiest way to accomplish any task is to do it

with minimum breaks and pauses.keeping all these things in view both teams mustered up courage and

discussed their todays targets.

I and Saleem were supposed to finalize the warehouse for storage of food items (1500 bags) and

similarly declaring it as distribution point.

Secondly it is also realized that distribution of ration to 500 beneficiaries would not be an easy task,

efforts were supposed to made for arranging some volunteers that could help us in food distribution

management and distribution.


33/58

Thirdly team had to follow up for the Mobile health Unit and made necessary arrangements for it like

finalizing the vender for medicines, tent, furniture and fixture, equipments, staff recruitment, water

bottles and finally the hiace van.

And lastly the agenda includes follow-up visit to all venders and to check the food packing status of

ordered food ration.

The team of Hassan Shah and Nasir Hussain had the same task as before, they were supposed to move

again into Tehsil Diplo, one of the worse affected area from drought, and to identify the severely

affected and vulnerable people from the community and to issue them the ration cards. We discussed

the targets briefly and finally spread into field to accomplish todays targets will full zeal and zest.

The first station of the team was Village Dondio, Tehsil Diplo, this is the village with a primary school

and a Medical Dispensary but unfortunately both of these are ghost facilities and permanently closed.

Teachers do not come to school and building was used by the local community as social gathering place,

similarly a lock was also placed in Medical Dispensary.

After focus group discussion with the community members it was known that this village is badly

affected by the viral hoof-and-mouth disease. This is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that

seriously affects the health of cattle. The virus causes a high fever for two or three days, followed by

blisters inside the mouth and on the feet that may rupture and cause death of the animal. Similarly due

to worse environmental conditions people are severely malnourished and muscular weakness and

dystrophy is common in this village. It was also evaluated that this miserable condition in not a newphenomenon in this community, this area had been neglected by all levels from many years and no

governmental or nongovernmental institution had taken any interest and steps to uplift their

socioeconomic status. But this time due to extensive media coverage this devastating issue has been

highlighted and this area comes under the spotlight of the world.


34/58

Second village that was visited by the team was Karaywari, Tehsil Diplo. Muslim population is in

majority in this village and living a miserable life, this clearly shows that Poverty and hunger has no

religion, every segment of the society has been affected by this devastating situation.

Door to door visits were done by the team and affected and vulnerable people from the village were

identified and ration food cards were issued to them.

I and Saleem visited four places for the selection of a warehouse. It was in view that the warehouse must

be accessible to beneficiaries and on the same side it must be secure and safe according to security point

of view, because food ration had to be stored there. Finally after a hard search a suitable place has been

selected for the ware house, the place fills both of the proposed criteria and the building have a massive

capacity to store goods. Rent agreement has been prepared and signed with the land/property owner.

Secondly we also met with District Education Officer (EDO) and director Colleges and presented the

whole initiative of Hashoo Foundations relief activities. Request was made to arrange some volunteers

from Higher Schools and Colleges for the distribution of food to beneficiaries; it is presumed that huge

number of team would be required while food ration distribution as 500 beneficiaries had to be

facilitated. It was promised by the EDO and director colleges that they will provide 30 volunteers to

facilitate this noble cause and the volunteers can be engaged anytime when needed. This was a great

achievement of the day to arrange such a huge number of volunteers for helping the beneficiaries and

smoothing the whole distribution process.

Finally we also had arranged telephonic interviews for the staff of Mobile Health Units and the most

competent staff has been hired. It is kept in view that staff must be professionally sound and knows the

local language and be aware about the local norms and culture. As the vehicle for Mobile Health Unit

was arranged yesterday so HF Mobile Health Unit (MHU) will be functional from tomorrow and it

would be very helpful to mitigate the disease in district Tharparkar.


35/58

Our final task was to make a follow-up visit to all the venders that were selected for the food ration

supply. The vender confirmed that he will supply the food ration bags on time, which is certainly a great

sign of relief for us that everything is going according to the plan from our end.

Communication Department in core office had also done a marvel job, in a very short span of time all

the banners, stickers, jackets and caps had been reached to Karachi and will reach with Mobile Health

Unit to Tharparkar by Saturday. Their timely support helped our team to efficiently implement the

project and elaborate the name of our organization.

Finally when Hassan and Nasir came back to the guest house it was shared that they have completed the

identification of 500 vulnerable families from the three highly affected Tehsils of Disrict Tharparkar. This

was defiantly a great achievement for us that we have completed the main essence of our initiative. A

sense of accomplishment comes when you have completed the tasks for the goals you have set for

yourself.

Friday 28th2014 bring some good and fascinating news for the team and the hard work is giving out its

fruits. But still a complex and difficult phase of relief is still remaining that includes the distribution of

food ration to selected beneficiaries. But we as a team are confident that Together we can make a

difference


36/58

Saturday 29-3-2012, (Day 8)

Bright shiny day started with some important tasks. The day was divided into two parts, in the first half

the time was spent on working on the report write-ups, invitation phone calls to selected beneficiaries

and the afternoon was spent in Nagar Parkar, the border Tehsil of District Tharparkar.

The agenda to visit this place was to see the maternal and child health unit set by Banhn Beli, as they are

currently working on maternal and child health in this remote area, similarly they have the information

about the main prevailing diseases of Tharparkar and they can share the list of common medicines that

are necessary in operationalizing the HF Mobile Health Unit. As this is the first intervention of HF in

Tharparkar in health services so that list would help in purchasing the medicines and orienting about the

common diseases of this area. We had a brief, but productive, discussion with BanhnBeli team regarding

the HF Relief Operation in Nagar-parkar. We also visited the MCH centre and took an update on

common prevailing disease and guidance for the months supply of medicine that we were planning to

purchase for our mobile health unit.

On the side line the visit also includes the visit to some historical places that comes on the way to

Nagar parker.


37/58

All the team members were very excited to see these places but we were having a very short time. But

when we reached Jean Temple we were stunned to see the marvelous piece of art and construction, in

simple words this old architecture is master piece and the esthetic sense of those civilizations are mind-

blowing and stunning. The scenery was stunning- we climbed into the small mountain surrounded by

sands and are idyllic villages where the sand is golden, and all you can hear is the breezing sounds of air

and the chirping of birds. We walked through the madness of the thousands year old civilizations of

Budha and Ganghara and Hindu and Genemat civilization and enjoyed the sandy silence and whispering

air for a little while we also missed the Marvi well due to shortage of time before coming back to the

Mithi, where we were staying.

These updates are lengthy, but this is probably all we will send out for the next couple of days.

Tomorrow is our first distribution for 100 families. Must see in tomorrow report


38/58

Sunday: 30-3-2014: (Day 9)

HF First Food Distribution Day and Launching of Mobile Health Unit (MHU)


39/58

As usual today was a sunny day with temperature 39 degree centigrade. An important team member Mr.

Saleem left today for Islamabad as he had to clear the payment issues for the selected venders.

Identification phase (500 families) of our relief mission has successfully completed and today a new and

most important phase was to be started and that is the distribution of food packets/ration to selected

beneficiaries.

As all of you know that the main purpose of this food distribution is to facilitate the most vulnerable and

deprived community of Tharparkar that are affected because of drought.

So distribution of food packet is the most important segment, and this also gives us the sense of relief

that we had completed our mission with full devotion and honesty.

The day started with the internal coordination meeting and all of the team members decided the food

distribution mechanism. Secondly it was also discussed that how efficiently the volunteers can be used

and what would be their area and degree of involvement in food distribution process.


40/58

It was also presumed that security arrangements must be needed to streamline and secure the

distribution process, as all of us are new in this community and selected people are going to receive the

food packets, so there was severe security risk involved.

To resolve this issue SSP Tharparkar Mr. Muneer Shakh and DSP operations Mr. Asif was contacted.

The whole scenario was discussed with these police higher officials and they assigned a police unit at our

food ration distribution point. This assures the safety and security of the whole process.

Secondly it was also decided that people who are coming to take their food ration will be entertained

with honor, dignity and respect and for this purpose tent service provider was contacted and the whole

lawn was covered with tent canopy.

On the same side almost 65 chairs were also placed so that beneficiaries could sit in a proper place and

fans were also installed for their facilitation. In addition to this water coolers were also placed so that

beneficiaries could have access to safe drinking water in the premises of food distribution point. All

these initiatives gave a sense that the honor and dignity of the humanity had a first priority at any cost.


41/58

The distribution process was started with the orientation session with volunteers. They were oriented

about the whole intervention of Hashoo Foundation relief activities, on the same side they were also

briefed about the whole ration distribution mechanism.

Duties were assigned to all available volunteers and they were requested to fulfill their job with honesty

and loyalty. Similarly it was ensured that volunteers could be used in most efficient way to facilitate the

beneficiaries. One good example of the level of facilitation can be quoted as four of the volunteers were

just assigned to facilitate in carrying the ration bags with beneficiaries.

To make the distribution process more transparent and refined a complete verification mechanism was

adopted. Complete lists of the called beneficiaries was prepared and it includes their name, fathers/

husband name, identity card number, family number.

Similarly the food ration cards that were distributed to the selected beneficiaries also include this

information. When a beneficiary provides his food ration card with his/her original identity card it was

verified after cross checking with the record, after verification HF stamp was stamped at the back of


42/58

ration card along with the signature of HF team member and receiving was taken on the list, this food

ration card is then moved to ration distribution point and the volunteer sees the verification remarks at

the back of ration card and provide him the food ration.

While distribution I also gives the precise lecture on nutrition importance of all the food items included

in the food package.

It was suggested to all beneficiaries that they can mitigate their food and nutrition deficiencies by

cooking the mix pluses and rice. This combination had the most nutrition value and importance and

helps in decreasing the malnutrition especially of children.

Today 100 families were provided the food ration and 150 food ration packages will be distributed on

Monday.

While the distribution was in progress the HF Mobile Health Unit (MHU) also started their activities in

Mitthi, Tharparkar.


43/58

Medical officer who is an MBBS doctor is leading this intervention along with the whole medical team

that includes a lady health visitor, nurse, dispenser, pharmacy person and medical technician. It was

noticed that the response from the community was outstanding and they were very thankful to HF for

this initiative.

A huge number of patients visited the Mobile Health Unit (MHU) and take free medical checkup, health

education and medicine. It was ensured that all medicines should be available and beneficiaries dont

have to spend money in buying medicine from market, which is certainly a difficult task for this deprived

community.


44/58

Women and children with many chronic diseases visited MHU and were treated with care.

They day was concluded in the negotiations with the vender as he is very worried about the payment.

Whereas we are going to receive 150 more food ration packages for tomorrow distribution. Team also

called the selected beneficiaries tomorrow for food ration collection and this ends another busy day

Together we made a difference today


45/58

Monday: 31-3-2014: (Day 10)

2ndDay of HF Food Distribution and Mobile Health Unit (MHU) Progress Report

By the grace of Allah things are going very smooth, fine and according to the plan. Selected deprived and

vulnerable people from the community had started receiving the food ration packs and this gives a sense

of achievement and relief to us. After receiving the food ration packs the faces of the people seems to

be relaxed and comfortable as a promise done with them has been fulfilled.

Dust is settling down and today things were more streamlined and distribution process was more

smooth and sound. The day started with a formal internal coordination meeting, as the lists for the

called beneficiaries were finalized a night before, so the challenges and learnings of the first distribution

day was discussed and some decisions were made.

It was decided that the volunteer would utilized in more productive ways and only selective and efficient

would be called for the distribution process. Similarly the security and other supporting arrangements

were also reviewed and overlooked.


46/58

The HF food package includes following number of items of daily use and the package of 30 days will be

sufficient for 7 members family.

S. No. Goods/ItemsUnit

Measurement

Quantity/

Units

1 Atta 20 Kg Bag Kg 20

2 Rice 20 Kg Bag Kg 20

3 Ghee/Oil 3 Kg Kg 3

4 Sugar 2 Kg kg 2

5 Dal Chana 2Kg Kg 2

6 Dal Moong (Washed) 1 kg Kg 1

7 Dal Masoor 1 Kg Kg 1

8 Tea 475 grm grm 1

9 Salt 800 grm grm 1

10 Masala Mix 500 grm grm 111 Match Box box 1

Finally the food ration distribution was started with full dedication, but during the process some serious

circumstances were faced, as the payment to the selected vender has not been done, so he stopped the

supply of food ration to our warehouse.


47/58

This was a shocking news for our team and for some time we had to stop our food ration distribution

for 2 hours. To resolve this issue we moved towards vender shop and requested him to start supply and

assured him that his payment cheque is in process in core office, and also by the involvement of a local

friend Mr. Muhammad Salim who is branch manager at UBL Mithi, the vender was agreed to start foodsupply, this gives a relief to HF team and finally the food distribution was resumed.

As the ration distribution was started again the HF team streamlined the whole process, beneficiary was

called into the room and crosschecked from the record, after verification the person was moved

towards the food ration distribution point and there his food token/ration card was collected by the

volunteer and food ration was provided to him.


48/58

This smooth but reliable mechanism made the whole process more accurate and consistent, as a resultin

the end of the day the HF team was able to distribute ration to 152 selected beneficiaries.

As the distribution process was in progress the Mobile Health Unit (MHU) team was busy in providing

the most needed health services and medical facilitation to the deprived people of Tharparkar. People

having infectious and non infectious diseases and chronic diseases visited the Mobile Health Unit (MHU)

and were treated with care. We are providing mobile health services which include preventive and

curative health services, pre and postnatal care, medicines, and awareness to communities.

During these two days 215 patients were treated and most of the diseases diagnosed and treated

resulted from the drought, weather, harsh living conditions and malnutrition of the patients:

Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI): 63

Diarrhea (bloody and non bloody): 23

Dyspepsia: 12

Scabies: 11

. Gynecological and obstetric Cases: 7

General Body Aches and Weaknesses: 23

Constipation: 12

Urinary Tract Infections: 24

Hyper-Tension and Anxiety: 13

.Malnutrition: 38

In addition to a harsh climate, a lack of awareness on health issues also increases over all morbidity and

deaths in these deprived desert community. The severe food insecurity, malnutrition, unavailability of

electricity, limited communications, reluctant attitude of the community, and poor hygiene conditions

were major challenges that resulted in above mentioned morbidity. The health situation of child care is

also alarming as 43% children in Tharparkar are malnourished and there is no concept of vaccination at

all; even polio health teams never visited these communities and children were never vaccinated.


49/58

It is worth mentioning that our medical officer Dr Mehboob Bhambro belongs to Sindh and he has good

command on Sindhi and Thari languages, so this creates very ease for the both doctor and patients to

understand the root causes and disease pattern.

Medical officer at MHU also delivered lectures to our selective beneficiaries on the importance of health

and hygiene and safe drinking water, similarly the ways to filter water at home was also briefed to the

local people and all this sessions were given in local Sindhi and Thari language, certainly this would be

very helpful for the community to adopt these best practices and abstain from diseases as science has

proved that contaminated water is the main cause of tens of diseases.


50/58

Concluding the report, the day was very hectic and full of challenges but with the devotion and eager to

deliver HF team remained consistent and finally distributed ration to 152 people. After receiving the

ration people were very happy and relaxed, because promise made by HF team was fulfilled on time and

with dignity.

Many of the beneficiaries paid special thanks to HF team and they were praying for the betterment of

the organization. Feeling this sense of satisfaction is a great achievement of HF team, as our goal is to

facilitate the deprived and vulnerable people at maximum level.


51/58

This is sure that if we strive our best only four member team of HF with support of community made a

bigger difference in the lives of these people

Tuesday 01-4-2014: (Day 11)

3rd Day of HF Food Distribution and Mobile Health Unit (MHU) Progress & Morbidity

Report

Temperature in Tharparkar is rising day by day along with the rise in achievement levels of Hashoo

Foundation relief team. A bright sunny and hot day in Mitthi Tharparkar was started with internal

coordination meeting and goals for todays food ration distribution was discussed.


52/58

Last night it was made sure that all the people must be called to collect the food ration; similarly the list

of called beneficiaries was also finalized. During the meeting it was discussed that today almost 200

people will collect ration from HF distribution point. Similarly other distribution related issues and past

learnings were also discussed and encapsulated as lesson learnt.

While the team was moving towards HF ration distribution point it was informed by the police that due

to VIP movement the assigned police members at HF distribution point would not be able to come. This

was shocking news for us because we have called almost 200 beneficiaries for food ration collection and


53/58

in the past days due to the presence of police members we were able to maintain discipline in whole

distribution process.

Immediately SSP Muneer Sheikh was called and the whole circumstances were discussed and it was

requested that police members must be sent to distribution points, after listening the whole situation SP

promised that the police members would not be called back.


54/58

He directed the DSP operation Mr. Asif Solingi to take appropriate measure for the security. This gave

our team a sign of satisfaction and security because this is very risky to distribute food items to 200

people without the presence of security.

Another twist occurred when the vender inquired about the payment, in fact he was in a very harshmood and was demanding immediate transfer of payment. But with a polite way he was realized that

today the cross cheque would be deposited in his account and he will receive amount by tomorrow.

Similarly the scanned copy of signed cheque was also shown to him, this was a great encouraging factor

and he was ensured that the money is going to be transferred in his account soon.

Facing all these challenging conditions the distribution process was started. Some extraordinary

arrangements were made today to facilitate the beneficiaries, as almost 200 beneficiaries were supposed

to come today so some extra chairs and tent canopy was also ordered.


55/58

All the beneficiaries that were issued the food ration card were seated inside the distribution point with

dignity and honor. Availability of safe and cold drinking water was also made sure and reasonable

arrangements for the electric fan was also done. All this shows that these deprived people have a self-

respect and dignity and we must take care of these things.

Distribution process was started and it was made sure that all the beneficiaries have the food ration

cards and identity cards, similarly after the cross verification from the record the beneficiaries were

moved towards the food ration distribution point. At the distribution point the assigned volunteer sees

the verification stamp at the back of each ration card and ordered the other volunteers to provide him

the food ration packages. As the ration is provided the beneficiary were asked to see and count the

items for his own satisfaction and after that the food ration was carried by two other volunteers

towards the exit. This transparent and quick distribution method made the distribution process very

easy and saved us from creating mess.

On the advice of Country Director a private movie maker was hired to capture the whole food ration

distribution process. He captured the whole process that was followed by the HF team to ensure

transparency and efficiency. On the same side he also recorded the health sessions that were delivered

by the medical officer and the helpful tips to positively change the life patterns of the community.

Today the media was also supposed to visit the food distribution point, for the media coverage we

slowed down our distribution because if we continued the pace which we were following, it would finish

all the beneficiaries and food ration and there would be nothing to show to media. So after a long wait


56/58

reporter of TV channel arrived, they took footages of the whole distribution process and mobile health

unit. We all were surprised when people themselves asked the reporter to take their interviews on the

transparency and efficiency of the whole selection and distribution process.

It is also worth mentioning that the reporter himself said that he is covering the ration distribution

process from past six months but he had not seen such an efficient and transparent distribution

mechanism. This was really an encouraging factor for us and we thanked to Allah SWT for thisappreciation from media and people.

When the distribution process was going on the Mobile Health Unit (MHU) was also doing his

magnificent job of saving lives. Today the inflow of patients was very high and the people discussed their

health matters with doctor and free medicines were given to them.

It was observed that people have common diseases which are caused by their living condition,

contaminated water, unhygienic life style and inadequate food intake and diet.


57/58

We gave them a comprehensive lecture on balanced diet and nutrition and the way they can maximize

their nutritious intake, which will certainly help them to keep them away from fatal diseases. Lectures on

the importance of clean drinking water and the ways to clean water at home were also delivered and in

the last question answer sessions were held in which people asked question about the prevention from

different diseases and best practices were also shared.


58/58

Finally in the end of day 216 beneficiaries were provided with food ration and in total we have provided

ration to 468 beneficiaries. The remaining 32 beneficiaries would be called and follow-up today and it

will be made sure that they will collect their ration by tomorrow and it is also suggested that if all of the

32 would not be able to come tomorrow the remaining can collect by coordinating with our mobile

health unit as they have to provide health services for the whole month and the Ammanah of the people

would be delivered at every cost.

Today we have realized that the Happiness is not in the mere possession of assets; it lies in the joy of

achievement, in the thrill of creative efforts. And certainly there is no happiness except in the realization

that we have accomplished something, and AlhamdoLillah we have delivered at our best.

Surely together we can make a difference in the lives of these deprived people by investing our

resources, time and expertise. This will give us mental and spiritual satisfaction and will be the source of

blessing here in this world and hereafter..

Good Night

Thar Diary Daily Update March 22 to April-1-2014

Documents

Transcript of Thar Diary Daily Update March 22 to April-1-2014