In Pakistan, there is hope amid the horror
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There are times when the scale of the tragedy is so great that words fail you. Syllables and sentences are poor tools when it comes to describing the apocalypse. The numbers begin to numb us: millions displaced, a third of the country underwater, hundreds upon hundreds of villages, towns and homes washed away like sand castles facing the inexorable tide. And the worst is yet to come, in the shape of pestilence and possible famine and an entire generation of children who may never return to the already ramshackle schools where they received at least a semblance of an education. And bubbling through the surface of despair is a growing anger that will show itself sooner than we think. The anger of parents seeing their children starve as they wait for aid that may never come, the anger of a public seeing politicians count chairs at public rallies while we drown, the anger of a nation at the global north that caused this catastrophe, the industrialized nations that first slice open our jugular vein and then expect us to be grateful for the band aids they provide.
But there is still hope among all this horror. There are tiny rays of light that still pierce the growing darkness, embodied in the thousands of selfless Pakistanis who, even while already struggling under the burden of a failing economy, have reached out to help their fellow compatriots.
We all know about the work being done by organisations like the Edhi foundation, Al-Khidmat and countless others, big and small, who have tried to fill the gap left by a historically inefficient and broken administration. We know of individuals who have banded together to try and apply some small salve to the bleeding wounds of those who had nothing and have lost everything. Some of them are individuals who, while barely having anything at all, are giving their all.
There are tiny rays of light that still pierce the growing darkness, embodied in the thousands of selfless Pakistanis who, even while already struggling under the burden of a failing economy, have reached out to help their fellow compatriots.
Zarrar Khuhro
In the city of Lahore is a neighborhood called Thokar Niaz Beg. It’s a place much like any other, with homes and markets, mosques and mansions. And on its sidewalks, just like in any other place in Pakistan, are the invisible children who flag down passersby to try to sell them their wares and, perhaps, polish their shoes for a pittance. The ones we avert our eyes from, the ones we shoo away.
Every day for a week, one of these little children has turned up at a flood relief camp set up by the Al-Khidmat foundation. Every day he takes half of what he earns from shining shoes, a meagre sum in stained notes, and donates it to flood victims. One day he showed up without money so he shone a man’s shoes on the spot and gave 30 rupees out of the 60 he had earned to the donation camp.
Then there’s the child who turned up at a camp set up in Peshawar’s Qissa Khwani bazaar with a tiny blue piggy bank. Walking up to the camp workers, he handed it over to them and they, unsure of why this child was here, asked him where this money came from. The child who could be no older than 10 years, told them that he had been saving this money to be able to go on Umrah but had instead decided to donate it to those in need. A stunned silence followed, and then the worker who received the money burst into tears. Good begets good, and when this video reached Saudi authorities, they responded by offering to send this child and his family for Umrah at their expense.
In Karachi, a young woman showed up at a camp with her infant son in tow. She was waiting for her husband to arrive with cash but when she learned that he was unable to arrive in time, she took off her gold ring, the only valuable she possessed, and donated it.
These are just a few such stories that have come to light; many other such stories – great and small alike - may never reach our ears, social media feeds and television screens. We will never know the faces and names of so many everyday heroes, but their deeds will resonate. They have to. After all, it is these men, women and children who are the breath in the lungs of this nation, who are the very blood that flows through the veins of Pakistan. And as we count the toll, as we comprehend this horror, it is these people who give us the hope to carry on and to rebuild better. I pray we are not found wanting in that task.
— Zarrar Khuhro is a Pakistani journalist who has worked extensively in both the print and electronic media industry. He is currently hosting a talk show on Dawn News.
Twitter: @ZarrarKhuhro
