MALC, Ruth Pfau – Flood Relief Pakistan
Int. Website of Mary Ward Schools
Dr. Ruth Katherina Martha Pfau (born 1929) is a Pakistani-German nun and a member of the Society of Daughters of the Heart of Mary who has devoted the last 50 years of life to fighting leprosy in Pakistan. In 1996, Pakistan was declared by the World Health Organization to have controlled leprosy, one of the first countries in Asia to achieve this goal. Read More: > HERE <
Pakistan (Urdu: پاکِستان) officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریہ پاکِستان) (also the Federation of Pakistan), is a country in South Asia. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, and India in the east and China in the far northeast. Tajikistan also lies very close to Pakistan but is separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor. Thus, it occupies a crossroads position between South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. The region forming modern Pakistan was at the heart of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation and then later was the recipient of Vedic, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, and Sikh cultures. The area has witnessed invasions and/or settlements by the Indo-Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Afghans, Mongols and the British.
While the Indian independence movement demanded an independent India, the Pakistan Movement (led by Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah of the All-India Muslim League) sought independent states for the majority Muslim populations of the eastern and western regions of British India as well.The British granted independence and also the creation of one Muslim majority state of Pakistan that comprised the provinces of Sindh, North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab, Balochistan and East Bengal. With the adoption of its constitution in 1956, Pakistan became an Islamic republic. In 1971, a civil war in East Pakistan resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. Read More: > HERE <
The German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association (DAHW), founded in 1957, is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Würzburg, Germany. It has 62 members. The eight-person Board works on a voluntary basis. For 50 years, DAHW has been helping millions of sick and marginalised people in Africa, Asia, Central and South America. It supports more than 300 relief projects in about 40 countries. DAHW is politically and denominationally independent.
The priorities – The core activity of DAHW is to cure people affected by leprosy and tuberculosis. DAHW takes care also of people who have contracted HIV or who are suffering from AIDS. It combats forgotten diseases such as Buruli ulcer (an infectious disease, similar to leprosy, in Africa, that causes disfigurement, mainly in children), Chagas disease (transmitted by assassin bugs in South and Central America; it causes damage to the nervous system, heart and gut) and leishmaniasis , Kala Azar(carried by phlebotomine sandflies in Asia and Africa; leishmaniasis affects the internal organs, skin or mucous membranes to varying degrees of severity). In places where DAHW has a good infrastructure, it also provides disaster relief, most recently in southern India following the tsunami of 26 December 2004, and in Kashmir, Pakistan, after the earthquake of 8 October 2005.
You Tube Channel DAHW Ruth Pfau Gesten der Menschlichkeit, nicht politische Belehrungen, sind jetzt besonders gefragt“
MALC is working for Leprosy elimination, TB and Blindness control and Community Development for the last 54 years. It is a non profit, non sectarian organization registered under the Societies Act.
A well-knitted network of 157 control centres nationwide mostly in remote areas is functioning in close collaboration with provincial governments and providing services to the patients and communities free of charge. By the grace of Allah SWT and efforts of the team, Leprosy was controlled in 1996. After controlling Leprosy we are now making efforts for its elimination. MALC is also in the front to provide relief and rehabilitation to the poor and needy people affected by natural and man-made calamities and participates actively in the relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in the earthquake and in various floods and draughts relief projects in the country.
The devastating floods in Pakistan – The already food insecure population where 77 million people go hungry in Pakistan while 36% of the population are afflicted by poverty. The situation in Pakistan has developed into a worse case scenario as the government has already declared it as the worst flood in the country’s history. The ravaging flood has moved towards south leaving behind approx 1,500 dead, 900 missing, and innumerable displaced and devastating damage to agriculture, houses and livestock. 250 houses in Kohistan have also been reported completely destroyed. Getting food supply is getting more and more challenging. In mountains due to broken road links, food supply is being transported on mules back and in some areas boats have come into action. Due to scarcity of potable water another emergency has developed for clean drinking water and relief efforts are also directed towards provision of water in containers.
Please donate generously to
MALC Emergency Relief Fund
Account No. 01-7423462-01
at Standard Chartered Bank
and help the poor families especially women and children. MORE…
What MALC exactly doing? With the financial support from German Leprosy Relief Association, Germany MALC has started action and funds are being transferred to accounts in areas which are most inaccessible and food hampers are being arranged for distribution to the affected families. In other areas of Charsadda, Mardan and Nowshera districts the spontaneous statement from one of our worker was “The devastation is unbelievable, how will the country manage relief to every nook and corner is beyond our comprehension”. The networking with communities of our leprosy workers is paying dividends as the trust in the leprosy team is very much there. Unlike the backlash of the general flood affectees on the ones taking photos and disappearing without providing any relief. Some of the project staff of the earthquake era who is also actively involved in the affected areas is a part of our team, which is a great help in organizing the relief work. The workers are trying to organize medical camps as the food hampers can save people from starvation and medical camps can prevent many casualties. The water borne diseases and extreme conditions is having a toll on the people, among them mostly women, children and senior citizens. Medical teams of both government and relief organizations have vaccinated more than 100,000 people against various diseases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, formerly North Western Frontier Province.
The food prices are sky rocketing and with the supply line being cut off reports are coming in of starvation in certain inaccessible areas. The overall country situation in this regard is also not very encouraging as there is a general shortage. MALC is trying to deliver food and other essential items to the affected people at relief centres and in villages within the limited means.
MALC as mentioned earlier is still fortunate to have its team that is present in the affected areas. Funds are being made available in these areas through on line transfers or goods are supplied on credit as the team is known in their areas. We have started with delivering food hampers in areas that are blocked as supply was still available within the affected area markets. In other areas MALC team has started to place orders for food hampers, pots and water containers from markets and Utility Stores in the Twin Cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, three to four hours drive from the nearest affected area of Nowshera, Charsadda and Mardan.
The flood is moving direction South, is there information ………..
The flood continues to ravage towns and villages in south Punjab. Gushing Indus (River) water turned Kot Addu town into a virtual lake and submerged the adjoining paths of smaller towns. Because of flooding, oil supply to the Kot Addu power plant has been cut and it is generating only 300 megawatts against a capacity of 1500 megawatts. The plant is also under threat and it may be closed down soon. This is only one of the many problems caused by the flood.
Do Pakistani people help their flood affected countrymen / women? The Pakistanis who are in position to do something surely contribute, but the number is very small. There are local NGOs and of course the government is chipping in what ever resources they had ear-marked for development projects for the year 2010-2011, which means that development funds are being diverted for relief work and that, too, to the areas accessible. Still there are many areas which are totally cut off. But in some of them our team that was already present there are doing their bit to alleviate peoples’ misery till links are restored.
A Life that could have been saved… While writing about Ishaq, are we trying to cash on his tragic death to get funds from our supporters, or trying to show the other side of the world that exists outside city life?
Sarona may be a godforsaken place for a city dweller, but for the inhabitants it is their paradise. With no basic facilities of health and utilities, the thought of what they are deprived of is beyond their imagination. Ishaq a Multi-drug Resistant TB case was picked up by our team starting community development work in a grossly underserved area in Khuzdar district of Balochistan. The only son of his parents in a place where infant mortality is extremely high faced a 50-50 chance of survival. The team headed by Dr. Ruth Pfau who were on a tour of Sarona put him in their vehicle, risking their own lives of contracting drug resistant TB brought him to Karachi, where he died during treatment at Ojha Institute.
Ishaq is gone but there are hundreds of Ishaqs who are surviving on the threshold of human miseries in areas that do not appear on the maps of Pakistan. These communities do not ask for much, what they need is their basic right for survival as normal human beings. The death of Ishaq has knocked at the door of our conscience; what are we here for? How can we contribute to ensure that tomorrow’s Ishaq does not meet the same fate? …
BOOKS: www.amazon.de/Ruth Pfau-With the Eyes of Love
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