UPDATE ( From Zubyr Soomro - January 23, 2023):
Dear Supporters,
With your donations we have been able to help a good number of the farming community in the Jacobabad district in the period from September to December. We have used the funds slowly and selectively in response to emerging needs. Overall, through the program itself, we have focused on medical services to the many displaced rural families, and their livestock. Outside of the program, we have been funding food supplies before the NGOs stepped in, and then whenever we saw gaps. The amounts spent are actually roughly the same in each of the two categories( about $10,000 funded by the program and $10,000 from ourselves).
The program spending has been as follows:
- Medical Services: Through daily camps over October and November we handled 3,500 patients for the three common ailments
associated with the floods, namely, gastroenteritis, skin diseases and malaria. Aside from the medical examinations these patients were provided the required medication free of cost.
- Veterinary Services for 600 animals( mostly buffaloes and goats).
The total cost for the above has been Rs 2.2 million or just under US $ 10,000 against our budget of $15,000.
We still have about US $ 27,000 left to spend under the program and have looked at a number of options including shelter ( many tents already given out), building toilets ( quality issues) , more medical services and food.
What stands out is the need for food support as the farmer's next crop (wheat) won't be harvested till May so there is basically a gap of around 4 months where they will not have the income to buy food. We estimate that the government, and the NGOs will cover at least half of these requirements and our aim is to address the balance. This means two months' food for the identified community of about 3,500 people (500 families) which should cost about $ 22,000 and leave us around $5,000 for additional medical support from funding generated to date.
In summary our revised program goal was $50,000 primarily as big NGOs had stepped in to support food, against this we have raised $37,000. Through tightly controlled spending as well as our personal funding outside the program, we still have $27,000 of the raised money to spend and intend to use this mostly to meet food requirements to tide over the rural community till their next harvest in May 2023.
Please let me know if you have any thoughts or need any clarifications.
Best wishes,
Zubyr Soomro
Some photos from the field:
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JACOBABAD FLOOD RELIEF PLAN – OCTOBER 2022
Dear Supporters,
Thank you for your generous contributions. With your support we have now raised about $ 25,000. With this, and my recent visit to the Jacobabad, I'm proposing to make some adjustments to our assistance.
While our own personal program of feeding around 2,500 people per day is ongoing, I saw that some major NGOs, like the World Food Program, have stepped in with very substantial food supplies. The flood waters have receded somewhat and the water level is lower. However, the fields are still submerged. Some farmers have tried to move back as they look to protect their lands from being grabbed by others. None that I saw had actually been able to reach their homes, but a good number had camped as close to their villages as they could, which makes reaching them more challenging. Given this, and the WFP food packages, my proposal is that we use this funding to focus on medical assistance, and shelter, as earlier set out, but also add:
A) The provision of washroom facilities; we have obtained a design for primary structures made from bamboo and straw. They could last upto one year and will be relocatable. Hands, the NGO partner of I-Care, will arrange for these to be set up and will manage the process. Each unit will cost around $75 and we will aim to fund 125 of these ($ 9,000+); we are seeking more permanent washroom solutions, but costs will be much higher, and these would take more time to construct.
B) While our medical camps start next week and will handle about 100 people each day as planned, there is a need for medical services for the farmer's livestock. These buffaloes, cows and goats constitute their major savings and are vulnerable. We aim to help about 500 animals at a total cost of $ 5000. Again, as with all the services under this plan, this will be handled by the I-Care partner, Hands. If we can generate savings elsewhere we may take the number of animals treated to 1,000.
In summary thus our revised spending program is as follows:
Medical services : $15,000 (unchanged)
Tarpaulins/cloths: $17,500 (unchanged)
Veterinary services: $ 5,000 (new)
Washroom facilities: $10,000 (new)
Total: $ 47,500 (targeting $50,000).
To remind you all the food related expenses to date have been provided by us personally. As and when we see any gaps in food supplied by others, we will step in to fill that outside of this program and do so at our own cost.
Meanwhile, although donors can contribute any amounts they wish, should you prefer to go with specific packages some are outlined below:
A) Fund medical care for 100 patients for $50 or 500 patients for $250
B) Fund tarpaulins to provide shelter for 10 families at $250 or 25 families for $625
C) Fund medical care for 10 animals for $100 or 50 for $500
D) Fund 10 washrooms for $ 750 or 25 for $1,875.
Thank you again for your continued support, and if you know of anyone keen to support Jacobabad, please do share the following link where donations can still be made. I'll look to provide further updates as the work progresses.
