Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Recovery Starts with Bridge (Flooded Pakistan Village)

From wfp.org

Originally published on 22 December 2010

The villagers of Zoladher in the Swat valley indicate where they will build the bridge that will allow their children to go to school.(Copyright: WFP/Martin Penner)When the monsoon flood waters surged down the Swat River near the village of Zoladher, they smashed the only bridge linking the two sides of the village. Many children now have to ride a rickety cable car to get to school. With help from WFP, villagers have started work on a new bridge.ZOLADHER (Swat Valley) – Nizarmuddin Gulbarmain, 39, understands the importance of education and desperately wants his five children to go to the village school. Unfortunately, he lives on the wrong side of the River Swat.The school is on the other side of the river and the bridge was carried away in August by flood waters. For his kids to get to school, they must either swim or use the cable car. At 10 rupees per person, per journey, the cable car would cost him 100 rupees a day. That's about the cost of 500 grams of chicken at a market.“We are poor people. Most of us have lost our crops and some of us have even lost our farmland. We can’t afford to pay all that money every day,” says Gulbarmain.

READ rest at wpf.org or GO here

Plz post in comments below other such stories of aid and recovery in Pakistan. (Small actions over time are often the most helpful). These humanitarian - people to-people efforts combining local and other help are certainly one of the best ways to contribute to peace and understanding.

2 comments:

CN said...

Also see NO MORE CRUSADES for posts which often relate on a deeper level to issues of Human Rights and Peace.

CN said...

I meant to say for posts which MAY relate on a SOMETIMES more academic and/or serious level to SOME aspects of HR's and Peace as well as Inter-Faith concerns.

ONE HEART also attempts to be DEEP and for peace on a variety of topics.

:)