Pakistan Flood Report 54

The house construction work in the North started in December is going well: 10 houses are already constructed. We have had to employ masons and labourers to do the physical labour, as no one in our team had the right experience. At the end of January we will have completed 40 houses, praise God! Our plan is to complete 50 houses every month, to keep to our commitment to provide 250 houses within our six month period, and finish at the end of June.  We are on target so far!

Every house is different: if the house is still standing, it is more a question of doing maintenance work, using existing bricks, mending cracks, repairing roof tiles. A few houses need to be rebuilt from the foundations up, but not so many – around three out of every ten.

People have already moved in to their restored homes. Some houses had been very dangerous, but in the winter particularly, people need to feel shelter around them, and are very happy: “It was impossible, looking at our house, to imagine living in it, but you have made it possible.”

Our original team in the North is now doing two jobs: doing the surveys and collecting the info, returning to people who’ve been helped with initial packages, and cold weather packs, and asking them for details of their housing needs. Our reconstruction supervisor, one of our own people, fills in the form and sends it to the OM base in Lahore for OM Pakistan approval. Our Northern team’s job is to ensure that all the material, including cement, is available and ready for use. 

Our team on the ground are 30 strong; all Christians, some nominal, but the supervisors are believers. They all have to get up at 05.00 hours, pray together, even on site. At the end of the work day, they pray, talk and share their experiences and concerns: “God is using you, not only to help, but so that others will see God through you.” In a site where some of the labourers used to smoke – now nobody does! God is working in individuals’ lives as well as in the victims’ lives.

The weather is very cold for us, at around 4°-5° C. This is not a problem for the reconstruction work, unless the temperatures fall to below 0. In the summer here, we have to sprinkle water very often onto the cement to keep it moist, in winter less water is needed, so it’s easier for the reconstruction work.

Our team is living in the village, in a church in tents and rooms; the church has been very helpful with temporary accommodation. “As the official team house is nearly three hours’ away, it is great that we can stay here, and just come and go during the day.”    Team members do get breaks: they’ve just returned after time away at Christmas, and will see their families for regular two-three days breaks.

In the South, some foreign brothers who came to visit, raised money for 30 houses and returned to work with us, which is a great encouragement to our new team leader.

Here, the reconstruction work will start in February. Currently we are carrying out surveys, looking at where to work and with which people groups. The team is currently considering how to introduce long-term projects alongside the reconstruction work, to impact lives long-term. The aim is to bring micro enterprises that will raise living standards, providing education, health advice, and agricultural benefits, working towards being self supporting. We aim to build on already good relationships with the people. They know we are involved with them and their futures. They feel we are like family. We met them again and again, as we gave out initial food parcels, and then returned with winter packages, medical supplies and setting up medical camps; we have been invited into their homes; they can see that we are really interested in restoring them back to good living standards, which gives us courage to speak openly.

We have seven people on our team. Together with contractors, who will do the actual building work, we plan to begin work in two or three areas and to complete the reconstruction in six months, providing 30-35 houses in one community. If we can set up a model village, our hope is that others villagers will want to copy our example, and through this, change the overall standard of living in the area.

Our team will supervise the work; make relationships and support individuals and families: although money is an urgent need, the community also needs good health and educational facilities as well as specialised agricultural advice to help the farmers harvest more profitable crops. Our foreign brothers have the agricultural expertise; and we have a trained literacy person on team, plus local partners are willing to help with the medical requirements - a local Christian organisation. We have the possibility of approaching the UN for assistance in health and educational projects, should we decide to do so.

One of our issues is culture: in the South, the people live in mud homes. Do we give them homes above their expectations? We want to give them good houses but in an acceptable context. This is where we need much wisdom.

OM Pakistan has already received $1 million, and spent approximately 35% so far: on food, blankets, medicines, and the items listed in Phase 1 and 2. “God has provided us with all we need for the commitment we’ve made: praise Him! We can now do all the work; as we planned, more money came in, and we were able increase the number of houses, and bless more people as a result,” said the OM Pakistan leader.

“If additional funds come in, we may consider putting in dispensaries, centres, medical clinics, that sort of thing, as in many areas, the local facilities – schools even – are 10km away. We will have to see. God has been faithful, and we need to be faithful in our responsibilities.”

Please check this page for updated stories and reports from OM’s flood relief work in Pakistan.

Credit: OM International · © 2011 OM International