Multan - south-western Punjab, 30. 10. 2010. Giving things away for free can sometimes be risky. Even with the best preparation and well-thought-out criteria, some people -- the quiet and reserved -- will be shortchanged, while others -- always ready to "take care of themselves and their family (if possible, also stock up)" -- may be offended when their greed is exposed and rejected. It is no surprise that the distribution of material aid is one of the most serious security threats for humanitarian workers anywhere in the world. Our advantage was that in most villages we had provided health care for two months, and people know us. Even so, we chose greater caution for the distribution of hygiene kits, both in choosing suitable distribution sites and in strengthened protection from the local police and army.
On the first day of distribution, we split into four teams made up of volunteers - students from BeaconHouse National University in Lahore and volunteers from partner organization Hayat Foundation in Muzaffargarh. Each team also had one or two ADRA representatives. In a fenced courtyard near the main road in Shah Jamale, the owner allowed us to create a temporary parking lot and warehouse. When we asked him for payment for two days of using his courtyard, he said he could not accept money from us, because we are helping his people, and it is his duty to receive us in his yard and house. The hygiene kits arrived in two trucks, and we transferred them to small cargo vans that could reach the villages.
The enclosed courtyard proved to be a necessity and the right choice. Rumors about the attractive-looking bags with valuable contents spread quickly among people, and many tried either through "proper begging" or "rudeness" -- grabbing -- to get at least one. The bags, however, were meant only for those who had received vouchers the previous week and whose name and ID number were entered on the list. The criterion was that the family had a severely damaged or destroyed home and did not own land, a tractor, a car, or a motorbike. For identifying beneficiaries, we of course had to rely on the local village leader or elders; however, we also visited many families in person.
My team had the village of Usman Kuria assigned, where Dr. Aijaz had been working for a long time. For distribution, we chose a local primary school. The clinic has no gate, and it would have been more difficult to keep people outside under control. The school, however, had the gate too securely locked - as it turned out, the school caretaker had lost the keys. The truck with the bags and the pickup with the team remained outside, and villagers gathered. It was getting a little "stifling"; the local police, however, had enough respect, and no disputes occurred. So distribution began with the "ceremonial unfastening" of the hanging lock on the school gate, which at the same time eased some of the tension caused by the impatience of the waiting crowd.
Under the sheltered entrance of the school building, we set up a temporary office. We unloaded the bags from the cargo truck in the back area. Two volunteers had before them the lists of recipients from Usman Kuria and nearby settlements. One volunteer worked as a storekeeper and handed out the bags, and another unpacked one bag as an example so recipients could understand what they had actually received and how to use it. At the last minute, we obtained mosquito nets and water disinfectant tablets from the World Health Organization, and we added them separately for each person because there was no time to place them in the bags. The police let in only people with vouchers in small groups. Each voucher had a number; the name and ID number also had to match the list. A few misunderstandings also occurred when a different family member came for a bag than the one registered, but all issues were resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.
In Usman Kuria, we distributed hygiene kits to more than 200 families. In total, on the first day of distribution we assigned as many as 1 400 hygiene kits at six sites. On the second and third days, with only one team and without student volunteers, we distributed 200 bags each day. That concluded the distribution - all 1 800 hygiene kits had been allocated to people affected by the floods. The total value of this material aid is 54 000 Euro.
In the meantime, Rainer continued preparing for another important distribution - drinking water for Shah Jamal and surrounding villages. In the first phase of this project, a treatment unit will be placed at the clinic in Shah Jamal and tanker trucks will handle delivery of drinking water. The treatment unit is able to produce up to 5 000 liters of water per hour. To make it usable, several modifications to electrical and water installations had to be made. By the end of the week we successfully filled and dispatched the first tankers with drinking water. After Rainer returns to Germany, maintenance of the treatment unit will be taken over by a contracted company from Lahore.
On Thursday, our medical team officially finished its work. On Sunday, most doctors and nurses return to Karachi. The joint farewell dinner and "debriefing" were held at Ramada Hotel in Multan. We reviewed the positive and negative aspects of the project, and all members of the medical team received letters of thanks and ADRA t-shirts as a keepsake. After a short break, doctor Abid, nurse Sharoon, and nurse Kamran will continue the work in Shah Jamal. Pharmacist Maria Pia will also remain part of the team, but will take on more managerial responsibilities. International colleagues Kurt and Alex are also returning home for a short time to Brazil and Romania. Next week we have a major meeting and administration in Lahore, then with Simson we will prepare the next work of the team in Shah Jamal, and in Multan we will look for suitable rental office and accommodation space for further operations in this region.
Daniel Dräxler, director of ADRA Slovensko, was for three months (September – November 2010) the coordinator of the ADRA medical team when providing humanitarian aid after the floods in Pakistan. He led an international team (3 doctors, 6 healthcare workers, and 1 pharmacist), which worked in the south-western part of Punjab, in Muzaffargarh district. In a joint project of the international ADRA network, 20,000 euros provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic within the SlovakAid program were also used. He wrote about the work in Pakistan in a blog on http://www.adra.sk. Its book edition is being prepared by publisher Advent Orion.
The article was published in the bulletin Rozvojová pomoc - Jar 2011. It is published by Platforma mimovládnych rozvojových organizácií (MVRO), which is an association of legal entities - an umbrella organization of 31 (23 full members and 8 observers) Slovak non-governmental organizations that focus primarily on international development and humanitarian aid.