Thank You for Lending a Helping Hand

Dear fellow hunger fighters,

Zindagi Trust would like to thank everyone who came and helped out at the event in the spirit of fellowship and good will. As we walked around the room, we were struck by the happiness and joy on the volunteer's faces. We all had a great time through laughter among all the friendly people in the room. By coming together for the food pack, we were reminded once again that being an American transcends race, skin color, or religion. Regardless of the actual number of meals we packed, the event was a complete success.

Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to make this event a success. We saw people reach out to one another and make new friendships. We saw people reaching across imaginary barriers that we impose on ourselves to expound a deeper understanding of our respective beliefs and work together to dispel myths and prejudices among us. This is the American dream and we can't remain a cohesive country without it.

It seems almost superfluous to add that we packed 570,000 meals for hungry kids in Pakistan. We filled two containers with the meals on Monday, November 22nd, and we expect the containers to arrive in Pakistan on January 7th, 2011.

Once more, a heartfelt "Thank You" to everyone who worked with Zindagi Trust to put on this amazing event. We are grateful and humbled by everyone's hard work and dedication.

Thanks,

Parvin and Ramzan Dhanji
Sadia and Tauheed Ashraf

Zindagi Trust Gives Quilts to Flood Victims

Zindagi Trust provided over 2,000 comforters to people affected by the flood through Garrison Commander, Hyderabad. The site is over one hour helicopter ride out of Hyderabad.

In terms of the total damage wreaked by the floods, Dadu district was the worst- affected district in Sindh. In Mehar, the administrative subdivision of Dadu district, flooding forced residents to move on top of Suprio Bund and two other similar embankments. These embankments are just wide enough for a single road and a tent. Thousands of people are now living in tents on top of these narrow embankments, surrounded by stagnant water on either side.

Even 3 months after the flood hit Sindh, the water has still not receded from Dadu. The only way to drain the water is either through evaporation, absorption by the soil or by re-directing it to canals that first need to be repaired (these canals were damaged due to the floods and hence are unusable currently).
Although the Pakistan army is working hard to provide relief to the displaced people, they tell us that the earliest the canals can be repaired, and the water drained is June 2011. To make things worse, the stagnant water has provided an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes that have led to diseases such as malaria. The winter is also more severe due to the cooling effect of the huge pools of water.

Zindagi Trust has been collaborating with the Pakistan Army in providing relief to the flood victims. We were told by them that due to the cold winters, quilts and warm clothing were in dire need. Accordingly on December 6th, 2010, the Zindagi Trust team visited Mehar. They took with them enough quilts for 2000 people.

Zindagi Trust helps those effected by flood with aid

Flood effected victims wait in a queue to receive blankets and warm clothing from Zindagi Trust at Suprio Bund, Taluka Mehar district, Sindh, Pakistan.

Shahzad Roy and GOC Major General Shukat Iqbal personally distributed blankets and warm clothing to those in need.


Those in need of aid wait patiently in line.


Army doctors were on hand to help assist anyone with medical concerns.


Shehzad Roy helping with the relief efforts.