Journeys to democracy

Saving precious livestock in Badin / Photo: Reuters

I had earlier circulated an appeal from Sadiqa Salahuddin, the well known educator, whose Indus Resource Centre is doing exemplary work in Sindh regarding girls’ education and also working since last year for flood relief. She sent out the following update on Oct 24, requesting people to donate a goat rather than sacrificing one this coming Eid:

Dear all,

You may recall that around this time last year, I requested you to complement or divert your qurbani (sacrifice) budget for donation of animals to those poor rural women who had lost their animals in the floods of 2010. I am making the same appeal this year as unfortunately, the situation is not any better. According to Provincial Disaster Management Authority Sindh, 115,586 animals have perished during this monsoon. Besides, thousands of villagers from the rain affected districts sold their animals at throwaway prices as they had no money to feed themselves or animals.

Before making a fresh request, it is my pleasure to report that in response to the appeal launched last year, a total of Rs 2.9 million were collected and the donations continued throughout the year. We spent Rs 2.4 on the purchase and distribution of 202 female goats (details the of beneficiaries here: Jamshoro Sehwan goats distribution) in several villages of Districts Khairpur Mirs, Dadu, Jamshoro, Shikarpur and Shahdadkot. Rs 500,000 are still lying with us as we got this donation quite late.

Last week, I asked my colleagues to go to these villages and find out the status of the distributed goats. Briefly speaking, 18 out of 202 goats died, 40 were sold, and 91 baby goats were born. Main cause of death was reported as viral disease as villagers do not have enough awareness and vaccination centres are usually non-functional. From the earnings of 40 sold goats, 7 women purchased calves, two women together bought a scooter and now renting its services, one woman bought the donkey cart, one got her eye operation done, 8 women got their shelters repaired, and the rest used the money to meet severe illness expenses of family members.

Generally, the women were very happy with this gift. Those who lost their goats have requested replacements; thousands of others deserve to be compensated. Goats, although, not main sources of livelihood certainly are valuable assets, say the women. Ameena, resident of village Loolja, said that, “Once I thought to sell the goat but later I realized that my son is in grade 9 and I might need this to pay his school fee”. Another woman Farzana from the same village said, “I do not want to sell my goat since this is the only asset I have for my children.”

Considering the value of this asset for poor rural women, we request you to make a donation this year as well. I am sure your response to this appeal will be as overwhelming this year as it was before. We are looking forward to your donations on this Eid-ul-Azha – Rs 12,000 for a goat, Rs 35,000 to 40,000 for a cow. Our contact details are as under:

Title A/C:                      Indus Resource Centre
Bank:                              Habib Bank Ltd.
US$ A/c# :                     00120250022610
PKR A/C#:                     00120001651403B
SWIFTCODE #:             HABBPKKA
Branch Code #:              0012
Address:                        ZamZama Branch, D.H.A Phase V, Karachi, Pakistan

Office address: D-42, Block 1, Clifton, Near Ziauddin Hospital, Karachi 021-35838690

Thanks for your cooperation,

Sadiqa Salahuddin
Indus Resource Centre

Filed under: Floods | Tagged: #pkfloods, credible NGO, donate, donate a goat, Eid, Jamshoro, Pakistan, sadiqa salahuddin, sindh, women empowerment |