Just passing the word

Let me post it here as well.

Okay I had two things in mind when I hit the new thread button, if I dont make sense please bear with me, I havent slept from 40 plus hours and and m extremely tired.

First, I might not be able to give much time for moderating in coming few days... I hope my co mods will do just fine without me.

Second I would like to inform and share, the purpose is not to tell what we have been doing but to encourage and burst out the breathtaking experiences we have had.

What happened, the tragedy is beyond the possibilities to express in words. We all have seen the scenes in news. The only difference perhaps we (who r in pakistan/ or have relatives in those area) see is that the actual disaster is much greater then the one we see in news.

Some of my friends, neighbors have lost their families and friends, in some cases the entire villages have been wiped out. And I personally fear the actual death toll could be of 100 thousands people or more.

Its been three days and some ppl at remote villages didnt get any aid so the ppl can be digged out of rubble, the medical teams that went to help found that even they had nothing to eat. Experts had no fuel to use in generators. Every street has a story and there are thousands that can be shared. And I remember the face of the father whos daughter is buried in one side of the city in girls schools rubble & his son on the other side, in what used to be boys school, or the woman whos hand had to be cut off to get her out.

As I mentioned before, personally we felt it was not a time to wait and think what or how to help and just do what we can at that moment. The initial idea started to get some food and cloths at PAF Museum from the collections of few friends places and two days ago we end up getting three cars full of supplies there.

We heard the plea for medicine there and thought to get some medicine the next day and we end up collecting RS 117500/- (One lakh Seventeen thousands Five Hundred ruppies) in less then 24 hours. Yesterday we sent medicine/first aid of worth 90 thousands and around 225 "kafan's" for the dead. All in all, we end up having one pickup full of medical supplies, one car, and 7 more with cloths and food. and we still have more, which is left to be given today, hopefully.

And not more then 15/20 friends/neighbors were involved in this tiny effort we were able to put on, all ordinary ppl.

The pickup that we hired for carrying the medicine, when they reached at the scene of PAF Museum, they refused to get their rent of the vehicle. When known the medicines were for the victims, we got it at the factory rate with not a penny's profit. While we were arranging the vehicle we placed the materials at the corner of the street, and guess what, people started to donate other stuff thinking it was a camp or something for the relief.

About the PAF relief effort which initially was started by Fakher-e-Alam at PAF Museum has turned out to be what is, the biggest ever relief effort I have seen live (if u have seen it in TV, trust me u have seen nothing) It is huge, unimaginably huge. Thousands of girls/guys/families are volunteering and all u see is the mountains of goods, all around u. No matter if u reach there at 2 AM u will need to go thru a huge cue of vehicles. Okay, that too can not be described in words.

Okay, not the whole Pakistan is full of such a nice ppl :) guess what, the trucks which used to cost 35/40 thousands are now demanding 70 to 100 thousands if u have stuff that u want to send.

Later in night I found that my Aunt also sent around 10 "Kafan's" & I was amazed why only 10? ... upon asking I was told the 'kafan' cost 300 (later I also found that at some places kafan's cost even 4 or 5 hundred rupees) while we had them on around 75 only. Its pity that some ppl are looking for huge profits at this time.

Back to personal level, we still felt we can be utilized as manpower to help get that enormous aid as soon as possible to the needy. We personally felt (after looking at the thousands of volunteers at PAF) we are probably not needed there and we could find some other place which really is short in manpower. We end up signing at rangers relief camp which is nearer to home, spent hours sorting the things and loaded 8 trucks with bare hands (okay now u know why my back hurts).

Just in a day, within the radius of a mile from where I live, 14 trucks were sent from the Rangers camp, 6/7 from Al Akhtar trust, few from Ahsanal uloom and few from some political party’s camps. That is, just one mile radius of the city, I m sure every mile of the city and the country has done what it could. Let us all hope that the Aid actually reaches the needy and that too, on time.

Tomorrow, we have to collect 700 big hard board boxes that we will get and going to give those at PAF hopefully. Those will be used to pack some of the stuff, I have to manage & provide pick and drop to some lady doctors who have spoken to the officials and will help in sorting the medicine in the relief camps. Rest of the materials we have, had to give it away and then I m again going to labor at the rangers camp.

The reason why I started to write this story half an hour ago was, that the day before yesterday me and my friend thought okay, lets meet in 30 min and we can atleast give some of our cloths at the PAF Museum, we thought it will probably be a handful bag with 10/15 pairs of cloths. That single thought between two ppl grew and managed to get around 150 thousands worth stuff and a manpower that can load 8 trucks in less then two hours and sort out the stuff for them. The single thought between two ppl. That single thought between two ppl hopefully is going to grow tomorrow within our capacity.

Maybe...just maybe, if this post/writing can create a similar single thought.