PAKISTAN DISASTER RELIEF: Help Us Keep Women & Their Families Safe
08/18/2010
"I am exhausted, hoarse, brain drained. When will all this end? When will we be heard? I am sure the intense pain can't be that invisible, or maybe the screams are too silent. Yes, I always have and always will shout loud for women and children, the recent floods in Pakistan have displaced millions, killed thousands. This land is hurting. The men are hurting. The women and children too are hurting. Livestock, crops, the foliage, the fields are all hurting, but who and what hurts more? Giving birth on rooftops surrounded by gushing water or on the helicopter floor? Being molested and raped in the dark corners of relief camps? Seeing your young child die of disease and hunger? Clothes soaked with dirty blood because you had no sanitary pads? Lack of privacy? Lack of underwear and lack of dignity? It's all hurting. Way too much."
Nighat Rizvi
AMAL Project Manager & V-Day Activist
Pakistan is experiencing the worst flooding in recorded history with more than 1,400 people feared dead, and according to the UN an estimated 20 million affected, a number exceeding the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. As Monsoon rains continue, millions more will be left struggling while shortages of food, clean water, shelter and medicine persist.
V-Day is working closely with AMAL Human Development Network and longtime V-Day activist Nighat Rizvi on a project designed to bring urgently needed supplies to 500 families in extremely vulnerable priority areas such as Muzaffargarh, DG Khan, Mianwali, Kot Addu, Nowshehra, Swat and Charsada, among others.
The goal of the project, titled Responding to Women and Families Needs in Humanitarian Crisis Situation - A one month urgent request for funding is to contribute towards the reduction in gender base violence, food security and promotion of safe hygiene practices among women and their families in badly flood affected areas.
WE NEED YOUR HELP! In the face of such a massive natural disaster, women and children are at increased risk of sexual violence. Our sisters in Pakistan need our help now more then ever. PLEASE GIVE WHAT YOU CAN!
Any amount of money you can donate will help save lives by contributing to the supply of urgently needed kits that will provide essential food items, clean water, hygiene materials, clothing, sleeping bags and necessities for babies such as reusable diapers and baby suits.
JOIN V-DAY TODAY as we continue to support the activists on the ground working to keep women and their families safe in the most flood effected areas.