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The Times Advocate, 2007-12-05, Page 14Crossroads 14 Times -Advocate Wednesday, December 5, 2007 Knip sees devastion of CycloneYemyin in Pakistan PAKISTAN — Exeter resident Fred Knip recently returned from Pakistan where he was volunteering in the province of Baluchistan for the Canadian Food Grains Bank project. Knip left in late August and was scheduled to stay for three to four months but the imposition of martial law in Pakistan cut short his stay in the country. These are his thoughts on the situ- ation in the area: The people of Pakistan asked me to extend thanks to all the people from Canada who gave money to the Canadian Food Grains Project. The province of Baluchistan is the southern province of Pakistan. The ruling elitist military government marginalize the inhabitants (Baloch). Attempts have been made since 1940 at assimilating Baloch nationals into a Pakistan National Islamic society by abolishing the rights of feudal chiefs. Military intervention and biased legislation led to considerable cen- tral government violence against the Baloch people and clashes continue. The climate goes from plus 50 Celcius in the summer to five Degrees in the winter. The only places of humanity are at oases near rivers that harvest water under- ground coming from the Himalayan Mountains. Gwadar is recognized as a good location for a strategic port and mili- tary base protecting the Persian Gulf oil corridor by the western allied government of Pakistan. A dam was organized as a high priority and «whole sections of ing is the only option the Marani dam is on and then praying to the Kech River 50 kilo- the villages are gone." Allah to be with them. meters downstream EXETER VOLUNTEER FRED Relocation is not pos- from Turbat. KNIP ON THE RESULTS OF sible as the land is Recently Cyclone CYCLONE YEMYIN IN expensive as per their Yemyin came with a PAKISTAN purchasing power, i.e. vengeance and up to about $1,000 US acre seven feet of rain fell in and further away from many areas all coming downstream water. towards Turbat. The flooded land has depreciated At 11 p.m., the water reached as this some day might be a reser- Turbat with no warning, filling up voir. the reservoir where the people lived A household beneficiary unit aver - and farmed and no time was avail- ages seven to eight persons. able to rescue their possessions. All A typical farmer owns three acres the people went to the higher ground for cropping and each piece of land there was left and many were lost has date trees around the perimeter due to drowning. for a cash crop. Some small hills were so crowded Two crops are grown each year. with people that some slipped off Each farmer also had five to 10 into the water. At four in the morn- goats, five chickens, one donkey and ing due to poor design of the dam, about one in 10 had a milk cow. the water burst around the sides and Initial discussions are being held released the water. with the local people and we noticed This quick release of water did the the biggest effort now was housing. most damage taking down houses, This is also necessary because of Mosques, schools, public buildings, the heat during the day. Only a few small bridges and the road infra- have tents to live in so many are liv- structure. ing outside under the beating sun Bridges to nowhere are seen as and even the tents are very hot. some of the newer expensive struc- Most of the original housing is mud tures survived the onslaught of water brick, which stays cooler. They are but the entry and exit gangways are concerned of the up and coming cold gone. winter months when the tempera - The task for these people is unbe- tures drop to a low of five degrees. lievable. They recognize that they We convinced them they should were living in the 18th century but focus on cleaning up the fields and now have been relegated to the fixing the wells and irrigation chan- Stone Age since whole sections of the nels first so that fall planting can villages are gone. occur. People are starting to move back to During a CFGB collection give gen- where they used to live, taking their erously because for every dollar col - tents which are their only posses- lected the Canadian government sions. matches your dollar by another four Others are staying on higher dollars through funds by the ground far away from their home Canadian International Development location fearing another catastrophe. Association. All of their possessions are water- logged and mattresses, furniture, clothes and sacks of grain are lost. Many items were buried in the sedi- ment. On our visits we have been asked for blankets, beds, cooking utensils or help renting a tractor to move larger items and clear land. The Government of Pakistan is choosing to ignore the plight of these politically non–important people. The government would sooner get on with the dam project and extract- ing Baluchistan's resources and the people are in the way. This food for work project provided food and tools for 2,000 households. Many farm fields have an extra six feet of sediment plus to deal with. The CRWRC (Christian Reformed World Relief Committee) have suc- cessfully applied to Canadian Food Grains Bank and for extra funding for tractors, trailers and loader times of 11,500 hours to help get rid of this sediment. We are targeting the ones that totally rely on a piece of ground for substance survival who are prepared to plant this fall. The irrigation channels are clogged and need much work before func- tioning. The date trees can survive for six months without water and that six-month period is running out. Some are grappling with deaths of family members and friends. Others are trying to decided whether to rebuild where they used to live or move on to higher ground, choices they eventually realize they do not have, so rebuild - In the mountains — Exeter resident Fred Knip was recently in Pakistan in the southern province of Baluchistan working with the Canadian Food Grains Bank project. Below is a distribution centre in Godon where Knip was asked by a teacher to give the girls some encouraging words.These 12 are the only female students in a school of 300 students since he said only enlightened parents send girls to school but they have much peer pressure as to "why waste time educating girls?" (photos/submitted) Help for the needy — Some of the articles distributed to families included a shovel, pick axe, flour, rice, oil, lentils, salt and one wheelbarrow per 5 families. (photo/submitted)