Just a quick update. We have two teams out working full days with flood victims - each team has 3 people and one doctor (due to the number of medical complaints people have developed over the past two weeks we needed a doctor to come).

We are focusing on the Christian communities. As I suspected, there are many village areas away from the main 'aid focus area'  to whom no one has gone and yet have been devastated.

Yesterday, we purchased and distributed £2000 sterling worth of emergency food aid and have set up a small medical hut in a central area where 60+ families have access to support (including a few Muslim families). From the hut we supply a doctor and free medication.

One village of Christians in a place called Tarnab is particularly badly effected and most of their homes are uninhabitable. While we will not be able to fix their homes (unless a lot more money comes in) we can repair the village plumbing and drainage system, that, I'm sure, will be the extent of what we can do with the money available.

I have asked the teams to take a few photos where possible and we shall of course send an account of what we have done.

Any donations are most welcome/needed  we are most grateful and its a privilege to be able to help.

Thanks to Spicma and the finance office in Mill Hill for their concern and patience in dealing with all this - for the most part I don't know who the donors are but we are extremely grateful and if there was any way to pass that on. Will stay in touch. God bless for the time being.

 

Fr. Roy MHM

SPICMA E-Mail Flood Update 21st August 2010

 

We continue to send funds to Fr Roy Pierce MHM and his team in Peshawar North West Frontier Province - Pakistan. As always, your emergency donations are sent intact.
 

At present Fr Roy is unable to send e-mails as there is no power. He has though, in a brief communication sent by text, asked me to express immense gratitude to our donors for helping to relieve some of the suffering that families in his community have been experiencing.

 

In the last few days we have also received an appeal for assistance from Bishop Coutts of Sind Diocese, Pakistan. He outlines another problem for families outside the main flood areas, who are living without a roof over their heads, following the violent weather in their region.

 

Flood Update 27th August 2010

 

Hello from Peshawar, I'm still stuck with email phone and one finger typing. The Pakistan Telecommunications people are on strike for more money, so the normal Internet I have is mostly useless.  There is hope for other help here and if it comes it will mean that I have about enough manpower to undertake some of the remedial work, including laying sewerage lines and building reconstruction.

 

I have told Mill Hill that any further monies coming in should be offered now to Sindh as they are on the brink of getting as bad as we are. I don't honestly know what the situation is in Sindh as the only news that I receive is through government controlled TV. I don't know what our guys there are doing because  we are 28 hours bus ride from them and we have always been two separate units in the country- north and south.

 

I can only extend my sincere thanks again.  With best wishes - we are off now to distribute bedding and pillows, God bless

 

Fr. Roy MHM

 

Flood Update 28th August 2010

 

Paddy, please offer any further funds to Sindh Province. There are certainly people all over the place around here that will need help over the coming months. We have almost enough money for what we can practically do in these coming weeks. I would say after a month we could use more help here but in the meantime let Sindh be the priority. There is a dam near Hyderabad city in Sindh that has burst, and the potential is for the situation to be worse than it is up here.

 

I have a great selection of photos of all we're doing. I will produce an account/report in due course (by which time I suspect you will have had it up to  your neck in Pakistan and floods - if it's not like that already!) Seriously though, thank you so much for 'doing' and 'putting up with'

 

Thanks as always, Fr. Roy MHM

 

Flood Update 12th October 2010

 

Many thanks for the sum of ten thousand pounds  from  SPICMA which we received through Fr. Nico, MHM, the  Hyderabad Diocesan Procurator, for Flood Relief. This amount was divided between Fr. Mohan, OFM, Fr. Domingo, MHM, and myself to use in our respective areas for the flood victims. We are most grateful for your generosity and quick response. Below, I just give a brief note on the situation in my area, west of Tando Adam.

 

The people most affected here were  the Haris (landless tenants) who were living beyond the river Indus embankment. Many had been cultivating crops of cotton especially, but also onions and maize. The sudden and unprecedented floods caught them unawares; they were lucky to escape to safety outside of the embankment, but houses and crops were destroyed and belongings swept away. A few weeks on, most are  still displaced. They  are living in temporary shelters and many say they have not received any government aid. Through the money sent by SPICMA, we have been able  to help about 250 families. We distributed several hundred  mosquito nets. After visiting the affected  families, we purchased  and distributed food parcels, according to need. The average  food parcel, costing around 25 euro in local currency, consisted of such items as wheat flour, rice, lentils, potatoes, onions, tea, sugar, cooking oil, as well as soap. The purchase of all items was carefully supervised, as was the distribution  to ensure  that the parcels reached those in need. To date about 220 families have received food parcels. People are most grateful for what they have received. We also provided   some medical assistance where needed. For many, the future is uncertain; some  are in debt to landlords who will not allow them to move on. Few, if any, have been officially registered as flood victims.

 

I will send a more detailed report later. A very big thank you  to SPICMA and to all your benefactors whose generosity has brought a ray of hope to so many flood victims in these parts. May God Bless You All.

 

Fr. Denis P. Hartnett, MHM.

 

Flood Update 13th November 2010

 

Many greetings from Matli parish. First of all I would like to thank you on behalf of the whole Mill Hill group here and also on behalf of Bishop Joe Coutts in Faisalabad for the generous help SPICMA has sent us for the flood relief work here. The work is still on-going and we are being kept very busy.

 

Those working in the Kutchi Kolhi apostolate at the moment include 3 Mill Hill Fathers and one Franciscan Priest. They are working from 3 centres; Tando, Allah Yar, Tando Adam and the Franciscan father living in Kotri. Kotri is next to the river Indus an area which was most affected.

 

I am the only Mill Hill missionary at the moment working in the Parkari Kolhi apostolate, stationed in Matli parish. Compared to the Kutchi Kolhi apostolate, the area of Matli parish was worse affected with also a higher amount of Christian families, hence the greater share of the SPICMA donation directed to that parish.

 

Our area was affected in several ways;

 

1. In a very limited area land got flooded and people were displaced and lost their crops; the vast majority of my parishioners work on the land.

2. We also had 4 consecutive days of heavy rain in a good part of our parish. Although this didn't cause flooding, it did severely damage the crops and houses.

3. Because there were no crops to be harvested, many of our Christian community who live in Matli town and work as day-labourers, were made redundant. The parish next to us in the south, Badin, is closer to the sea and the river and suffered more flooding. Parkari Kolhi families who had to leave their homes, went to relatives living in areas which were not flooded. This meant that quite a number of the Parkari families living in Matli parish were not inundated by flood-water but inundated by relatives. Consequently, they can't cope with the increase in family numbers as they are already badly affected having lost their jobs as well. It is customary for Parkari Kolhi people to look to family for help in difficult times.

 

We have in our parish, well over 100 different villages where Christian families live and it is in these villages that we distribute aid. We give to each nuclear family in the village, both Christian and Hindu, a packet of food-aid and 2 or 3 mosquito-nets according to the need. Muslims don't live in the tribal villages, but we have also distributed aid to a number of displaced Muslim families.

 

The people are very grateful and appreciate immensely the help they are receiving and send their grateful thanks.

 

Flood Update 12th February 2011

 

This is not a very straight forward update but I need to check with you if any more funds are available. For reasons below I could use every penny that you can send.

There is much help needed in these areas.  The adverse effects of the floods are persistent and far reaching for many of our people.

We are also in some need along with the families that live along the river with us. The river bank, as was, has just gone – swept away. It has been raining these past two weeks and the water level has risen – now there is no bank to keep even the slightest excess of water in check.

These are the first major rains since the flood and the water is slapping straight up to people’s homes and the earth on which the foundations are built.  The next flood (even a minor one) is going to be a potential second disaster. We have all realised we need to strengthen the river bank with gabion structure in a few keys areas – large stones (boulders really) concreted together under a wire mesh that will create a barrier and help  control the flow of water. Many of us are at risk even from the most minor flood and we have realised in these rains and seeing the behaviour of the water that we need to do something to protect ourselves. It’s not for those living right on the river edge only, those who are 20 – 30 feet away from the riverbank  are also at risk.

I need, please, money to cover all the requests, but especially the repair of the River Bank. I realise that reinforcing a riverbank is not emergency work but it will protect against similar or even worse destruction when the next heavy rains come.

There are still many requests coming in – for water - for boring to get a clean supply, for construction, for repairs and for people who have used what money they had to help themselves as much as they can and are now falling behind with school fees, some kids have dropped out (school, for the most part, is a bit of a luxury here).  Our Families having spent their limited resources on repairs to their homes and replacing of limited necessities are left without even the funds needed to pay the final graduation fees for their youngsters. This means that they will not graduate even though they have passed their final exams?

Therefore, can you assist us please?   If the donors can help, I’m sure they would approve that it is a good use of their money.

We also need to help more of the requests coming in for repair and water and protect those ‘on the edge’ (literally).  We need to protect those of us (nearly all Parishioners) who now live in danger along a river with containing and direction-guiding bank. We are at serious risk. The heavy rain the last two weeks has made us realise what lies ahead and we are quietly panicking in advance. We’ve got to do something. I hope to God this is possible for you.

Fr Roy MHM

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