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British entrepreneur James Caan CBE was born in Pakistan and the nation has at all times had a particular place in his coronary heart.
He has visited Pakistan greater than 20 occasions since 2005 – serving to to construct a college in Lahore, delivering meals to households after the floods in 2010, and serving to households construct new houses after the earthquake in 2013.
In 2015, he arrange “The James Caan Basis” to assist underprivileged individuals world wide have the possibility of a greater life. One in all its principal goals is to make use of the facility of schooling and entrepreneurship to rework lives.
In June this yr, catastrophe hit Pakistan as soon as once more when torrential monsoon rains triggered essentially the most extreme flooding the nation has ever recorded – washing away villages and leaving round 33 million individuals, together with 3.4 million kids, in a determined state of affairs.
James instantly mobilized his staff in Lahore, led by Danish Rana.
Sourcing meals provides was the primary problem – shortages and hovering costs made it virtually inconceivable to search out meals however the staff managed to safe a take care of a Pakistani grocery store chain in Lahore – and made up 1000 packages with fundamental survival package and groceries. Additionally they managed to supply 1000 blankets.
All the pieces was loaded onto three vehicles prepared for the lengthy journey.
Danish and his staff targeted on southern Punjab the place the floods had destroyed hundreds of acres of farmland – the primary livelihood of the individuals on this space – and washed away houses, hospitals and colleges. Roads and bridges had additionally been destroyed and it was virtually inconceivable for help to achieve the individuals right here.
On Friday twenty third September, the convoy of three vehicles and two jeeps set off on the lengthy trek from Lahore to Dera Ghazi Khan. Travelling with heavy containers alongside bumpy roads, the journey took round 9 hours. The subsequent day the staff headed to the distant mountain city of Barthi, in Taunsa Tehsil.
The individuals on this remoted city had been determined for assist – however they hadn’t anticipated any help to achieve them and so they had been overwhelmed to see our convoy arrive. The staff shortly organized a queue system and we gave out help to virtually 300 households right here earlier than transferring on.
It was a unique story when our vehicles rolled into Mangrotha, right here they had been met with anger by the locals – who had been promised help from a number of NGOs however nothing had arrived. They attacked the staff however our safety staff managed to disperse the group with out anybody being badly harm.
This hostility made sense after we found that different NGOs had delivered the promised help however native leaders had taken it and offered it for revenue.
Danish moved the staff to a safe location at a close-by faculty. Solely 10 households had been allowed to enter at a time, and so they exited from the again door. Underneath these difficult circumstances, they managed to distribute help packages to greater than 400 households.
The subsequent day, it was time to go to Basti Ahmadani. With yesterday’s occasions contemporary of their minds, Danish determined to survey the realm earlier than letting the vehicles enter. He witnessed devastation at a complete completely different degree. Some 57 individuals had misplaced their lives, greater than 2000 houses had been fully destroyed, and with no entry to meals or clear consuming water, the locals had exhausted almost all their survival choices.
Villagers helped to organise everybody into queues and our staff efficiently distributed help to virtually 400 households, who stated that they had by no means witnessed this equality in help distribution earlier than.
A file quantity of donations has been collected for these flood victims. However tragically, solely 10% of the flood victims have acquired any help. With no meals to eat, no roof over their heads and no entry to wash water, their issues are growing, and they’re now at excessive danger of water-borne ailments akin to cholera and typhoid.
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