By Raj Kumar
Global UGrad Alumnus Raj Kumar with drought-hit victims of Thar
Raj Kumar is a Spring 2013 Global UGrad alumnus, Youth Group Director for the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network’s Islamabad Chapter; and a member of the U.S. Ambassador’s Youth Council.
My friends and I decided to help the drought-affected people of Thar, after witnessing their miserable state. We started collecting donations from the local community of Islamabad. We went to traffic signals, markets, institutions and hospitals and collected donations worth 5 lakh rupees within a week.
My friends Mazhar Ali Rind and Navied A. Kazie accompanied me to Thar. We decided to first conduct a survey of the most severely affected community, before handing out the donations. Eventually we ended up helping about 150 families.
We covered five different villages in Thar spread across the Kaantyo and Chachro districts, which were located in such far-flung areas, that neither the government nor any non-profit had been successful in reaching them.
Raj Kumar with friends enroute to Thar
We rented a jeep to travel within the desert and were excited to be the reason for bringing a smile to the faces of famine hit people.
“It was a great adventure in which we gained a lot of things, without losing anything,” said my team member Kazie.
We started distribution of rations to the victims and worked from dusk till dawn for two consecutive days, to complete the process. We also made a record of everything by noting down the names, CNIC numbers and taking the thumb impressions of all the locals, that we helped.
On our way to Thar, I had proposed to my team-mates that we could also empower women through our funds. So we gave the money primarily to famine-affected females to enable them to realize their power.We worked very hard and received a lot of prayers and well-wishes from the affectees. I completed my journey by telling my friends that there was a social worker inside every person, and they just needed to discover him.
I am also thankful to the Thar Nara Development Society of Umerkot for giving us technical support in completing our goal.
