Want to help families displaced by the Badami Bagh attack? Here’s how…

Posted on March 13, 2013 by beenasarwar
This family refuse a tent so they can squat in front of their home. Photo: Nadia Jamil

This family refuse a tent so they can squat in front of their home. Photo: Nadia Jamil

In the midst of the despair and anger caused by the insane, cold-blooded attack on the Christians of Joseph Colony (also known as Esa Nagri), in Badami Bagh Lahore, it is heartening to see Pakistanis come together not just to unequivocally condemn the attack, but also to help those who have lost everything. Please join this effort. Friends that I trust are working with the Cecil and Iris Chaudhry Foundation, run by Cecil and Michelle, whose father the late Sqdn Ldr Cecil Chaudhry I knew as a wonderful human being, and a dedicated peace activist and educationist (although he was more famous for being a war hero). Please see below for information on how to help, as well as photos and updates.

Urgently needed

  • Clothes – for men, women, children, and babies
  • Slippers – for men, women, children, and babies. (“Children are cutting their feet on rubble”).
  • Buckets, mugs, utensils etc
  • Sheets, pillows, blankets (“People need razais – quilts – which they can lay on the floor or take for cover if need be. Women were sleeping in trash bags.”)
  • Women’s hygiene products, soaps etc
  • Diapers, children’s undergarments
  • Water / Juices / Milk
  • Mosquito repellent (“V IMP lots of mosquitoes”)
  • Toys for very young children
  • Coloring Books / Color pencils / Storybooks

In Lahore, please drop off donations to the Tamasha office, 16 C/1-A Gulberg II. For details please contact: Cecil S. Chaudhry on +92-300-840-0602, or Farooq on +92-300-424-6813.
In Karachi, drop off donations to the Interflow Office at Tipu Sultan Road, off Sharah e Faisal. Contact Usama from Amal Team +92-314-201-7112

For photos by journalist Saad Sarfaraz (cell number: +92-300: 2009779) who made the video posted earlier; see this link.

“ALL THE KIDS there universally have requested for drawing and writing material. They said, we don’t want toys as much as we want pens and drawing book, writing pads. They lie around in tents all day with nothing to do and we are collecting writing pads, coloring pencils, pens for them. Ten kids fought over one writing pad. The children are missing school desperately” – Nadia Jamil, an old friend and well-known actor in Lahore who is working with the Cecil and Iris Choudhry Foundation to provide relief

According to the DCO office, the displaced families include approximately 600 children aged between 0-12 years. Thanks to generous donations, the Cecil and Iris Foundation is setting up a Children’s Camp with the Punjab Government’s permission at Badami Bagh. This camp is a recreational space for children of the basti – “A play area where they will be able to paint, draw, read , write, and get out of their tents for a while. Please donate any recreational activities you can. Preferably drawing, painting and creative stuff,” says Nadia.

The Punjab government has given Rs 500,000 to each family, begun 24/7 re-construction of the damaged houses, and is providing food has stocked all tents with dry foods. (Yes, elections are coming up, but still, good going – although some PML-N leaders are known to be among those who incited the attack in the first place).

Once the houses are rebuilt ” they will need to be painted and refurbished with furniture and other necessities. GO YOURSELF & HELP REBUILD THE TRUST so bitterly broken…,” urges Nadia. “People will attack you for goods if you try to distribute on your own so best to go via an organized group.”

Filed under: Blasphemy Laws, Human rights | Tagged: , , , , , , , |

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