Food crisis in West Africa
Millions of children and their families in West and Central Africa face a growing humanitarian disaster as a food crisis intensifies across the region.
Find out morePeople donate their Eid gifts to struggling flood victims
08-September-2010
Plan team conducting a hygiene session in a temporary camp for displaced people; many of whom will spend Eid in the camps.
Plan is distributing 20,000 special Eid food packages to flood-hit families in a bid to give them some respite from the grim conditions during the most important annual holiday for Pakistani Muslims.
Eid is usually a time when families come together and celebrate – but this year millions of people will be forced to mark Eid hungry and homeless, in makeshift shelters far from home.
Relief support
Many people across Pakistan who are not affected by the floods are fore-going their traditional Eid gifts this year and donating to relief work.
Director of Plan in Pakistan, Haider Yaqub, said: “Many Pakistani people feel great solidarity and concern for the flood survivors and are saying they will not spend much money on Eid this year, but will donate that money.
“There are many SMS and email campaigns going around right now for people to donate their Eid money. So, even if many people celebrate, as it is a religious festival and a religious duty, they will donate much of what they would usually spend to flood relief.”
Special dish
Plan’s Eid food packs include vermicelli, sugar and cooking oil – key ingredients used to make siwaiyaan, a special Eid dish enjoyed by families.
The packs are part of Plan’s emergency relief work which to date has included distributing vital aid to more than 248,000 people in six districts.
Plan has also set up tents to provide families with shelter, installed water hand pumps in the camps and is running psychosocial therapy sessions for children experiencing nightmares and distress caused by the disaster.
Something for children
Tufail Ahmed with the Plan aid response in Sindh said: “Everybody that I talk to, doesn’t want anything for themselves (the adults), all they want is something for their children like clothes or food, as most will be unable to provide even the basic necessities. Everybody wants to go home, as Eid is always celebrated at home with special prayers for the dead.”
Ten-year-old Zaafira is with her two younger brothers, father and grandmother in a Plan-supported camp in Makli, Thatta district, Sindh.
She said she does not expect to receive any gifts this year. “I do not know what we will do this year; I hope we can go home for it. But I don’t know.”
Donate to the Children in Crisis Fund to help Plan’s response to the Pakistan floods, or call 13 75 26.Learn more about Plan’s work in Pakistan.