I was working at school annoyed with the system of why taking new admissions when the classes were over flowing with students and was having my summer vacations when the floods hit Pakistan. Like a lot of other people I always wanted to do something for humanity so I got a chance to help the flood victims by raising a lot of funds from people of Pakistan and abroad.
Our first trip was to Nowshera where the situation would sadden anyone as we took basic grocery and I saw an old man open up the grocery bag and eat the dry red beans right in front of my eyes which would explain how hungry those people were. Those circumstances were not easy to ignore, in fact forced us to do more so we raised more money got an idea of what the people needed and what we could get them the next time.
It was Ramadan; we raised a lot of funds and were ready to load the truck including cooked food so that the people could eat fresh food right away without worrying about cooking it first. I asked the truck drivers if they were not fasting so I could arrange for their lunch too when they both gave me these judgmental looks and saying obviously they were fasting so we loaded the truck and went to Paar Nowshera. We made the flood victims make a proper line and started distributing the cooked food. The people in the line were more than the packets of cooked rice and sadly we saw children anxiously waiting to eat something they would not get. Coming back disappointed from there, the person who works at my place accompanying the two drivers told me they took four packets and ate them on their way; they were shy to tell me they were not fasting and so to hide a thing they thought would make me judge them they ate four hungry, sad, flood affected, poor people’s food.
We once arranged an Aftari for 800 people which was covered by PTV and the DCO was to join us. I went alone with two 20 years old boys in my Santro and the DCO entered in a double cabin with three cars following him including the anti terrorism squad. He asked me if he could say on TV that he helped us arrange this whole Aftari and I didn’t allow him. He was later dismissed from his seat for stealing 800 generators that were to be provided to Nowshera’s flood victims and selling them. He was not asked to return the money.
We raised enough funds to reconstruct 18 Houses in Kheshgi, Nowshera when the donations from people almost stopped as almost everyone contributed what they could afford. I apologized the person Gulnawaz who was helping me work in Kheshgi for not being able to construct more houses right away, he smiled and told me not to worry as they had Imran Khan’s funds coming and providing every family Rs.40,000 and then everyone would be able to work on their houses. I got happy for them when I got a call from him after 6 days that some man named JAMAL came from PTI , gave Rs.80,000 to a man to stay quiet, took the pictures of the houses Meenay Laas rebuilt for them and left.
I got an offer from a business man who opened up his own NGO recently to run it for him. I got very excited for the promotion from a teacher to a Country Manager of an NGO. It was hard for me to run it as I was the only one using his business office not getting funds from donor agencies obviously so soon and was under a continuous pressure of him that he was spending a lot on the NGO and that I had to raise funds. I ignored it in the beginning that he was using people’s money for fuel of an unnecessary car which was not used for helping anyone. I was bored after doing so much within three months for Kheshgi and now not being able to do anything, when a person gave me some donations from his salary to help the poor people. I planned a women center in Kheshgi and when I asked him about the money we got he said he had to spend it. I asked him on what and he told me to pay an employee who was his niece and didn’t know anything about the Ngos and to repair a laptop and cars and fuel etc so I left the job.
My point is in this country almost everyone is corrupt from a driver to a business man. Those two drivers were talking against the government for sleeping in air conditioned bedrooms not realizing what the flood victims were going through and they were not realizing that they just lied and stole four starving people’s food
The DCO earned more than enough.
Imran Khan talking against corruption doesn’t have any idea that he has corruption going on in his own party.
The businessman talking about making a difference and helping Pakistanis might not need to give taxes as he owns an NGO.
