Education for displaced children affected by Pakistan floods

By Sanaullah Panezai

Quetta, Balochistan, 6 September 2010 -During the past three weeks, over 400 Internally Displaced People (IDP) fleeing from floods in Balochistan and Sindh have been hosted at the Headquarters of the Balochistan Boys Scouts Association. It is estimated that half of these desperate people are children.

Children suffer the most in any emergency and restoring a sense of normalcy often helps them to cope and build resilience in any crisis. Temporary Learning Centres provide opportunities for traumatized children to process what they have experienced in a safe and protective environment. With the support of trained teachers, they experience a sense of normalcy in what are usually abnormal circumstances.

UNICEF Balochistan, with the collaboration of the local Government, has established a Temporary Learning Centre for flood affected children. To date, 150 students have enrolled and been organized into two different age-group classes : 3-5 years and 6-11years. UNICEF has provided children with a School in Box kit, containing basic learning materials - mainly note books, color pencils, contingent school bags, erasers and sharpeners - amongst other supplies. A trained team of teachers has been mobilized from Pishin, the nearest district, in order to facilitate learning and recreation activities through child friendly methodology.

Farzana

Nine-year-old Farzana, from Jacobabad, Sindh,
draws with other children in
the temporary learning centre set by UNICEF
and local partners.
©UNICEF/Pakistan/Panezai
 

Nine-year-old Farzana is from Jacobabad, in the Sindh province, and during the flood she was residing with her parents in Rojhan Jamali, in Balcohistan. Before the floods she was a student in the 2nd class at Government Girls Primary school, Goth Ahmed Mia Somoro, Jacobabad, Sindh - her place of origin. She loves drawing and was excited to be able to restart this activity by using the supplies provided by UNICEF through the School in a Box kit. She was drawing pictures of flowers. When the floods came she was at home and her family members were asked to immediately quit the village.

Farzana has three brothers and four sisters. Her father is a laborer working in Rojhan Jamal, Balochistan. The floods hit Rojhan Jamali suddenly and her family and other villagers fled. Farzana's family couldn’t go back to her home town, which was already heavily flooded, and the roads from Balochistan to Sindh were already washed away. The only alternative was for her family to move towards Quetta, Balochistan. The Boy Scouts Association, one of UNICEF’s partners in the area, have mobilized their volunteers and accommodated around 400 IDPs.

While she is pleased to be safe, life under a tarpaulin is not easy. “There are mosquitoes and we are all cramped together," she says quietly, eyes cast down towards the ground. “I was scared,” she whispers. “Really scared.”

Like others in the UNICEF supported Temporary Learning Centre, Farzana is desperate to return home. “The first thing I want to do is see my best friends and my school teachers. I can’t wait to go home.”

Abdul Qadir Ali

Eight-year-old Abdul Ali, from Jafarabad,
is now benefiting from the UNICEF-supported
temporary learning centre,
in Quetta, Balochistan.
©UNICEF/Pakistan/Panezai

Eight-year-old student Abdul Qadir Ali is from Jafarabad, Balochistan. In the confusion and chaos that ensued when he ran with his sisters and brothers to escape the floods, he stumbled and grasped a live electrical wire, which caused him to suffer an electric shock and burn his right hand.

For seven days his wound remained untreated and infected, causing a very intense pain. Fortunately, the Balochistan Boy Scouts Association arranged for first-aid services to treat Abdul and now the throbbing pain that kept him awake at night has smoothen down. With a little smile he holds up his UNICEF school bag, filled with pencils, notebooks, erasers and a ruler. “I am going to have to learn to write with my left hand now, “ he says. “I am going to be a doctor one day, so if this happens to another boy, I can fix him quickly,” Abdul adds.




Education for displaced children affected by Pakistan floods

UNICEF ...Saving lives.. Providing Clean water to drink

By Jawahir Habib

UNICEF is committed to provide children and women access to sufficient water of appropriate quantity and quality for drinking, cooking and maintaining personal hygiene during the emergencies. About 700,000 people in Balochistan have been affected by floods and more then seventy five thousand households have been damaged by the recent floods in Balochistan.  During the natural disasters  like floods the access to clean water and hygiene is interrupted making the population more prone to water borne diseases.

UNICEF Balochistan is providing clean drinking water to estimated 251,000 people, as of today through 69 water tankers in the five most affected districts (Barkhan, Kohlu, Sibi, Naseerabad and Jaffarabad) with the help of local NGOs. To further facilitate the users Along with that 15,500 jerry canes and 7,000 plastic buckets distributed in three districts (Sibi, Jaffarabad and Naseerabad.

Two girls living in IDP Camp Quetta in front of UNICEF
Emergency Latrines

During the emergencies one of the great challenges is maintaining hygiene in the camps and open locations. UNICEF focuses its efforts on providing children and women access to toilet and wash facilities that are appropriate culturally and for both genders. 749 emergency latrines and 556 washing places constructed in five districts (Barkhan, Kohlu, Sibi, Naseerabad and Jaffarabad) through UNICEF Balochistan Support, benefiting around 29,960 people. 750 emergency latrines and 400 washing places constructed by WASH cluster partners in three districts (Sibi, Naseerabad and Jaffarabad) benefiting around 30,000 people. More than 1,190 hygiene sessions have been conducted and 13,000 hygiene kits have been distributed. These hygiene kits have benefited 91,000 people in the flood affected districts.

Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM): understanding and mapping Food Insecurity

WFP’s VAM unit has released the Initial Vulnerability Assessment (IVA) for the  12 severely affected districts of the province. The study was conducted from 30  August to 3 September 2010. According to IVA, the floods have damaged 85,076  households affecting 595,532 men, women and children in 12 districts of Balochistan.  The results from this assessment complement’s the estimates provided by the  provincial government.The World Food Program leads the fight against hunger and food insecurity  on many different fronts. Sometimes the front line is an emergency such as a war or a natural disaster . To provide an appropriate humanitarian and longer-term response to complex food crises or  chronic hunger triggered by poverty, WFP monitor the food security situation of populations  and assess their vulnerability to events that could plunge them into the vicious circle of hunger. VAM enables WFP and its partners to draw a full picture of people at risk of hunger and  malnutrition and enable to provide solutions, whether through food or other forms of assistance. Pakistan Flood Impact Assessment report September2010

Interactive Map : UNICEF flood relief activities in Pakistan

View UNICEF UK's Pakistan Flood Children's Appeal in a larger map


This map highlights UNICEF's activities in Pakistan along with success stories .The map also includes UNICEF Balochistans contribution for the province

The UNICEF Balochistan Staff...On field!

By Jawahir Habib

Children at a Camp waiting for food

More than 600,000 IDPs have flown from Sindh province to Balochistan after the floods and torrential rains that have affected more than 20 million people in Pakistan. UNICEF has focused its relief efforts on provision of clean water and sanitation in the affected districts, along with immunization, provision of essential drugs and nutritional supplies. Apart from that UNICEF is also focusing on child protection activities and is providing education through temporary learning centres in the camps.

UNICEF Staff Distributing Food

UNICEF Balochistan staff members raised Rupees two hundred thousand and contributed at a personal level in field relief efforts along with their daily professional responsibilities they have been performing during this time of crisis. UNICEF staff members with their provided 107 Dry Ration Packets which included flour, Sugar, Tea, Oil, Daal (grains) and High Energy Biscuits to over a hundred families in IDP Camp established by Government of Balochistan on Sariyab road Quetta. These families had been recently displaced from Jafferabad and neighbouring districts of Sindh.

Temporary shelter arrangement in the Scorching Sun

Ewan McGregor's Pakistan appeal film

The Daily Epidemiological updated Flood Response in Pakistan

epi

Child Friendly Spaces- A Ray of Hope for flood affected children

By Jawahir Habib

Children are the most vulnerable in the aftermaths of any natural disaster, war or conflicts. In emergencies such as floods children are at a very high risk of water-borne illnesses due to lack of clean water and sanitation. A child may get separated from his parents, may lose friends or siblings. Events such as leaving the home, their schools and living in overcrowded spaces may leave children distressed. These disasters are followed by instability which affects both children and adults and can result in psychological damage to children.

Child Friendly Space Quetta

Estimated more than 8 Million children have been affected in by the floods in Pakistan. UNICEF has built structured safe sites where children meet peers, play, get involved in some informal education, relax and learn skills to deal with the risk they are face. These spaces aim on promoting sense of safety in the children, keeping the children away from dangerous places and protecting the children from exploitation or abuse.

Unicef Balochistan along with its partner organizations has established eight child friendly spaces for IDPs in district Quetta and Sibi. Four of these child friendly spaces are established in Eastern Bypass IDP camp Quetta which hosts more than one fifty families.240 children have joined these child friendly spaces in IDP camp Quetta. These children are provided with a safe and friendly environment to get involved in indoor games, make friends and get involved in more informal education where main focus is on Health education, literacy and numeracy and on life skills.

These child friendly spaces are accessible to both genders, different age groups of children are involved in different activities. Based on the cultural norms boys and girls are provided with separate child friendly spaces. The volunteers working in these child friendly spaces are from the host community and are trained in providing psychosocial support to the children.

Four of these child friendly spaces are established in Sibi mela camp. About 300 children are provided psychosocial support in the CFS, given an opportunity to express and voice their feelings and provided with a sense of safety.

Most of us would worry about what a child may become tomorrow, yet some forget that he is someone today...We at UNICEF keep that in mind while planning for Children affected by emergencies and Child Friendly Spaces established by Child protection UNICEF are an example .Let us join hands and unite for Children of Balochistan affected by the floods.