Compiled by Noor Muhammad
It was an early August morning, and the sun gleamed over the beautiful village of Khurzgh, in Northern Pakistan. As a helicopter prepared to land, the villagers — including young children and women dressed in colourful clothes — ran towards the helipad. Their numbers swelled to the hundreds as the rotors came to a halt and the doors opened.
The seats of the helicopter had been removed to make space for relief goods. Bags of flour, mixed food packs and boxes containing cooking oil were neatly tied to the floor.
Among the crowd was 41-year-old Rehman Dost Khan and his two children, residents of the nearby Bhaang village.
“I have lost everything,” he said, the lines on his forehead narrowing in agony. “My house, all my cropped fields, the house of my elder brother — everything — was destroyed by the flood.”
That Rehman Dost Khan was alive and speaking was a blessing in itself, because the flood had struck at night and his family had narrowly escaped catastrophe by abandoning their house and fleeing the submerging region.
“We are thankful to FOCUS for bringing us the relief we needed,” said Dost Khan, referring to Focus Humanitarian Assistance, the Aga Khan Development Network affiliate that delivered a month’s worth of food aid to him and his loved ones. However, he continued to worry about the future of his family. A retiree from the Pakistan Army, he had invested his pension money in the construction of fields for cropping. “We had a very small piece of land for farming, but now that is gone.”
More at SOURCE
One Comment