Pakistan floods: seeds of hope

Mai Pari and her family lost everything in the floods that hit Pakistan in August 2010. Today, thanks to your compassion, she has hope for the future again.

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When Mai Pari learned that the floods sweeping through Pakistan were likely to hit her village in the north of Sindh Province, she knew that she and her children would have to leave in a hurry. The family had no choice but to abandon everything they couldn’t carry.

“I had three goats,” she says, “and I sold all of them when I was leaving my village. I had no other option for meeting transportation and food costs necessary for my family’s survival.”

When she returned three months later, her prospects for the future looked bleak. Her land was still waterlogged and she had no means of making a living – no animals, no seeds and no money she could invest to start a business. For months, she relied on food handouts. She says: “I lost hope and I was very worried for my children.”

Surprised and happy

Mai Pari remembers the day that our sister agency Catholic Relief Services (CRS) arrived in her village. “It was raining,” she says, “and I was very surprised and happy when I saw CRS staff coming to help in very harsh weather conditions.”

CRS gave Mai Pari a cash grant and vouchers so that she could buy enough rice, seeds and fertiliser to cultivate two acres of land. As a result, she had an excellent harvest. Today she has paid back a loan she’d taken from her landlord and stockpiled food for her family.

“Now I have stored enough rice for the next 9-10 months,” she says. “I also sold some rice in the market and bought a goat for my family.”

Thanks to your remarkable response to our Pakistan Floods appeal and the DEC joint appeal, we have helped thousands of people like Mai Pari become self-reliant – by giving them the support they need to start farming again, or by helping them to set up small businesses.

The original version of this article was by CRS Pakistan