Tajmeena's battle with raging waters
Sundus Mohmand
Monsoon rains in the months of July and August are not unexpected in Pakistan, and the rains this year were not unusual either. But today, two months later, one fifth of Pakistan lies submerged under water. “We have nothing left. What is left, is no longer of use,” says Tajmeena, a survivor of the catastrophic floods.
“I was doing my daily chores when, at around 8:00 in the morning, we noticed that the level of water in the river was rising,” says 22-year-old Tajmeena, while sitting in a temporary health care clinic set up in a house in village Utmanzu, district Charssada. “We piled up some bricks and mud in front of our house as a precaution to prevent water from flowing in,” Tajmeena recalls. “But the water level kept rising rapidly and soon the river banks burst and flooded our house and all other houses within miles of us.”
Tajmeena, a mother of two, living in a joint family with her husband’s parents and five brothers, had to wade through the rising waters to move to a safer place. “Water had risen up to our waists when we were told to leave our houses; we could not take anything with us. We went to the nearby school, which was at a higher level. We were 15 people in one classroom.”
Twenty two other families like Tajmeena’s had to spend almost a month in the school waiting for the flood waters to recede. In the meantime, Aid agencies started providing them with food and tents. “We did not have any food with us, or clothes to wear nor any utensils or rugs to use.”
Besides food and lodging these families face various health issues too. Humanitarian aid agencies fear a fresh outbreak of diseases in the flood hit communities. “Half my family is suffering from measles and diarrhea, it affected my daughter too” says Tajmeena, holding her two-year-old daughter in her lap. PRIME Foundation has set up a mobile clinic, which provides victims like Tajmeena free of cost check-ups and medicines. Tajmeena and other patients who received free treatment and medicines at the camp were grateful to the camp administration for providing them a free of cost health facility in their own village as they could not afford to travel long distances and pay for their medical treatment.
“This mobile clinic was setup soon after the flood water receded” said Mr. Akber owner of the house where the mobile clinic was functioning. The medical team comprising two doctors and three paramedical staff are providing free treatment and medicines to about 150 patients daily.
Sundas Mohmand
Vice-President
Social Welfare Society
This post was originally reported here
Monsoon rains in the months of July and August are not unexpected in Pakistan, and the rains this year were not unusual either. But today, two months later, one fifth of Pakistan lies submerged under water. “We have nothing left. What is left, is no longer of use,” says Tajmeena, a survivor of the catastrophic floods.
“I was doing my daily chores when, at around 8:00 in the morning, we noticed that the level of water in the river was rising,” says 22-year-old Tajmeena, while sitting in a temporary health care clinic set up in a house in village Utmanzu, district Charssada. “We piled up some bricks and mud in front of our house as a precaution to prevent water from flowing in,” Tajmeena recalls. “But the water level kept rising rapidly and soon the river banks burst and flooded our house and all other houses within miles of us.”
Tajmeena, a mother of two, living in a joint family with her husband’s parents and five brothers, had to wade through the rising waters to move to a safer place. “Water had risen up to our waists when we were told to leave our houses; we could not take anything with us. We went to the nearby school, which was at a higher level. We were 15 people in one classroom.”
Twenty two other families like Tajmeena’s had to spend almost a month in the school waiting for the flood waters to recede. In the meantime, Aid agencies started providing them with food and tents. “We did not have any food with us, or clothes to wear nor any utensils or rugs to use.”
Besides food and lodging these families face various health issues too. Humanitarian aid agencies fear a fresh outbreak of diseases in the flood hit communities. “Half my family is suffering from measles and diarrhea, it affected my daughter too” says Tajmeena, holding her two-year-old daughter in her lap. PRIME Foundation has set up a mobile clinic, which provides victims like Tajmeena free of cost check-ups and medicines. Tajmeena and other patients who received free treatment and medicines at the camp were grateful to the camp administration for providing them a free of cost health facility in their own village as they could not afford to travel long distances and pay for their medical treatment.
“This mobile clinic was setup soon after the flood water receded” said Mr. Akber owner of the house where the mobile clinic was functioning. The medical team comprising two doctors and three paramedical staff are providing free treatment and medicines to about 150 patients daily.
Sundas Mohmand
Vice-President
Social Welfare Society
This post was originally reported here