Pau, August 3rd, 2009 – On May 18th, TSF deployed to Pakistan to respond to the emergency in the North Western Frontier Province. Over 2 million people have been displaced since the latest outbreak of the conflict between the Pakistani army and the Taliban last April.
TSF partnered with a local NGO called Youth Resources Center (YRC) and trained on site 20 local employees for its humanitarian calling operations. Therefore, although its team had been evacuated after the terrorist attack on the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar, TSF offered, from June 8th to the 15th, more than 1500 calls to the displaced population in the Mardan district.
The calling operations resumed on July 28th; our head of mission returning to Islamabad to coordinate and monitor the mission on the ground.
For this second phase, we decided to cover districts other than Mardan, where many IDPs are sheltered, keeping in mind that over 25 refugee camps are installed in the six districts of the region. A number of "humanitarian hubs" are also being set up to provide help to people who are staying outside of the camps, and who have settled with family, friends or host communities. There are presently 10 registration centers and 34 humanitarian hubs, which distribute food to IDPs. Ten more distribution points are inside the camps.
Six teams (4 teams comprised of male members and 2 teams of female members) were then covering different camps in Nowshera, Swabi and Mardan districts:
- Chota Lahore and Shah Mansoor Camp-I & II in Swabi, where the activities began,
- Jalozai-I and Jalozai-II in Nowshera,
- Jalala, Mardan, Shankar College and Tarakai Camp in Mardan district.
Jalozai-2 is the biggest camp where more than 57,000 people are sheltered.
From July 28th to August 4th, thanks to mobile telecommunication equipment provided by TSF, the 6 teams were able to provide 1658 calls to the displaced civilians (33% of the calls were international). The two teams of female personnel provided phoning services to women displaced in Shah Mansoor, Jalala, Jalozai-I & II and Tarakai camps.
Our action was all the more necessary since TSF was the only organization offering free international calls. Many Pakistanis have relatives abroad in the Middle East, in the UK or in other countries of Asia. Don’t hesitate to read the stories of those whom we supported to see how a simple call can make such a difference:
Hadia is a mother of six children and comes from Cabal, a village in District Swat. Six months ago, she got injured with her husband in a military bombardment. Once recovered, they fled the village. But three of their children were stuck in Cabal. Sheltered in one of the humanitarian hubs, TSF enabled her to make a call to her children. While she talked with them, a smile was lighting up her face.
Naheed is living in the village called Tahirabad and she is the mother of a new born 3-days old baby. To reach Jalala camp, 15 kms far from her village, she had to walk, pregnant, more than 13 hours. Her feet were swollen and legs were aching. Thanks to the phoning services we implemented, she was able to call her husband who is working in Karachi. She was happy to hear he was safe and sound and could reassure him on their situation.
Rajmeena fled Mingora town. It took her 10 hours to reach Jalala camp along with her 9 children. Her brother, living in Dubai, was left without any news since the beginning of the conflict. This priority call enabled Rajmeena to reassure her brother and tell him the situation. It was also for her the opportunity to ask for financial assistance so that they can move to some safer place. Her brother promised her that he will find this safe shelter very soon.