* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
By Mike Bailey, World Vision MEER Advocacy Manager
'Muck and bullets' describes the working environment for World Vision here in Pakistan. Six months ago we lost seven dear colleagues to the bullets fired in a raid on our office in Oghi, Mansehra district. Now we are working flat out to reach people whose lives are reduced to living in the muck of flood debris and their destroyed homes and fields.
The main office in Islamabad is a whirl of activity from which our sub offices in Peshawar, Multan, Sukkur, Buner and Lower Dir draw staff, direction and resources. A map of where our 125 local staff and 14 expats are working and how they are travelling about would look like one of those maps in an in-flight magazine criss-crossed with red lines. It'll get more crowded as the 100 plus local staff we are taking on for the response are in place.
"How does it feel to be working in World Vision on this response"? How has the tragedy at Oghi affected our staff? Here's what some of them shared:
Steve, the response director, is juggling three unwieldy responsibilities, making decisions on how many staff to hire, authorising purchases of relief goods for shelter and hygiene kits and approving reports of work we have already done.
"My highest priority is to get the funding we need so we can decide to support 40,000 families." In truth the decision is already made; Steve leads our team in making it happen. His other priority is his responsibility for the security of all our staff. Steve says, "Oghi makes security a must do. One thing that helps is that it has made people less likely to push us to break the rules. We have clear boundaries set by the security regulations; they free us up to work safely."
Rauf; senior security officer shared: "I feel glad to be part of the response; my uncles and cousins in Swat lost crops and property in the floods, now they are really stuck without communication links or transport if any of their families get sick. I'm just as happy we are extending our work south to Punjab and Sindh where the need is so great. We wouldn't be able to do what we are doing in this response without the new security measures and procedures we developed because of Oghi and the lessons it taught us."
Khushboo had only worked for World Vision for three days when she was caught in the attack on our Oghi office. "I survived seven bullets; it has given me a strong will. I wanted to stay with World Vision and now I want to work on the flood response. I have been working in the office here coordinating assessment information and updating reports every day. I would really like to go out to one of the new offices and work there where I can really see what we are doing."
If she were to travel north to KPK province Khushboo would see the health work we do at primary care level in three clinics in Lower Dir and she may be involved in helping to organise some of the additional clinics World Vision is planning to set up. She could also be part of supporting the specialist diarrheal treatment unit we have just set up in Lower Dir in case the epidemics we fear become an awful reality.
Dr. Rasheed Ahmad told me his day yesterday was spent in discussions with health ministry officials about the arrangements for the specialist unit. He explained that similar discussions in Sindh where we hope to establish another diarrheal treatment unit are likely to be lengthier. "In KPK people know us because we have worked there for some time now. It's different in Sindh. The health department does not know us and we have no reputation there so we have to gain their trust."
Gaining trust among those affected is important, too. Claire, a health systems specialist with World Vision is in Multan, Punjab province. "I had the most satisfying conversations with some of the community members who had been driven from their homes by the floods. They told me what had happened to them and what they needed to rebuild their lives. Many of them borrowed heavily to grow the crops that were lost just weeks from harvest. Now they have no way to repay their debts, they are ruined as well as homeless. Knowing this helps us to think about how best to help them to rebuild. This gives us all hope for the future."
As the floods continue to spread in Sindh, World Vision is working tirelessly to build a base to provide shelter and hygiene kits, food and means of water purification to people in Sukkur and Khaipur. Saeed, the commodities coordinator, has been attending meetings with officials and carrying out assessment visits to communities. "It's hard work in the heat, especially during Ramadan when we are fasting during the day but people are more desperate because of the floods so we must continue. Because of everything that has happened we are more motivated because we are working for a better cause. World Vision is stronger than ever."
