Tag Archives: pakistan

Building a shelter for families who lost their homes in Pakistan

It’s clear the CRS (a Caritas member in the USA) office in Mardan in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province has just been opened. There is no furniture at all and staff members are sitting on the ground, concentrating away on their laptops.
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The family I visit after they've just received aid

By Jos de Voogd, Caritas Communications Officer in Pakistan

Caritas Switzerland is one of the operational partners of the Caritas Internationalis emergency appeal on Pakistan. It has started door-to-door distributions of food packages, kitchen and cooking equipment and hygiene items to the internally displaces persons (IDP’s) in Pakistan.

At least 2.5 million people had to flee Swat district because of a massive outbreak of violence between the Pakistan Army and Taliban militants. The distributions carried out by Caritas Switzerland’s partner ADF will reach 3.500 families (28.000) and take about 45 days. The focus is on people living in host communities in Mardan. Continue reading →

On of the Shah family guards

Caritas members are supporting more and more vulnerable people on the ground in Pakistan, but there are many difficulties to overcome. One of them is security. One Caritas member, for example, started distributing non-food items on Thursday in Mardan and are continuing to do so in coming days. But monitoring by international staff was made impossible after a bomb explosion killed seven policemen in Mardan on the same day.
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Electric fans are essential in the high temeperatures

Over the weekend, the Pakistan army declared victory in Mingaora, a city in the Swat Valley in the north west of the country. Mingaora normally has 300,000 residents, but now just 40.000 remain. If it does turn out to be a victory on the battlefield, what will it mean for the people who have lost their homes?

I visited Shah Mansoor camp in Swabi this weekend. There are people who’ve fled the fighting. It’s set up by the Pakistan Red Crescent together with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Latest figures show a number of nearly 18,000 registered persons. According to project coordinator Andrew the camp has reached almost full capacity: ‘We seek of ways to expand the camp’, he said.
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Credit Jos de Voogd/Caritas

By Jos de Voogd, Caritas Communications Officer

It’s Saturday, the day after my arrival in Pakistan. Goal for today is Swabi, a district in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) situated directly south of the district of Swat, where most of the fighting between the Pakistan army and the Taliban is taking place.

The districts of Swabi and neighbouring Mardan host most of the people who’ve left their homes. According to the United Nations, the number of people forced to flee has reached an incredible figure of three million.

Together with a project officer, Asim, I drive to Yar Hussain camp. It is outside Swabi town. On my arrival, I see rows of tents on either side of the road leading up to the entrance. The camp is monitored by the UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency. At the entrance, it is crowded with people waiting for registration.
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Jos de Voogd

I arrived in Benazir Bhutto International airport at around 04.00 hours and the first thing that struck me of course was the temperature. At the moment it’s hot in Pakistan, at least in Islamabad. During the daytime, it gets around 40 C and at night it hardly cools of. Waiting for me was a driver for Cordaid (the Caritas member in the Netherlands) who brought me to a fully furnished small apartment. It had been in use until very recently by Cordaid’s construction manager.
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Saima's photo: Credit Elli Xenou/Cordaid

By Elli Xenou, Programme Coordinator, Cordaid Pakistan

Saima’s ears are full of blood. The young girl’s mother Maryam catches her and removes her hair for me to see. She explains in Pastu and I pick up the word “shelling”. Our translator tells me that blood started running out of her ears after heavy shelling in Swat one week ago.

Saima is one of close to two million people who have had to flee their homes in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province due to heavy fighting between government troops and armed groups. Continue reading →