Recent flooding has done a lot of damage, but only those who have visited the sites can understand how deep it really goes. Anoushey Ashraf traveled to Balochistan with RJ Dino Ali and musician Natasha Baig to help the flood victims and was saddened by the overall situation and neglect. She penned an impassioned note expressing her disappointment and blaming everyone who sympathizes with the state of the country at the moment.
On Saturday, she shared a video compilation of her visit and talked about sights that got her heart pumping. “Although the floods have devastated large parts of Pakistan, visiting the villages in Balochistan was of particular interest and high on my priority list. The province has been neglected for far too long. We don’t know much about what it’s really like,” she wrote. “As expected, we were saddened to see broken roads, flooded land, washed away bridges, etc., but more than anything, I was saddened to see the countless children affected by the neglect of their adults. Together we gave them next to nothing for their future. Not even slippers to wear. Today I just don’t blame the government, I blame myself, I blame you and any Pakistani who agrees.”
She spoke about the ignorance of the citizens and how they justify the wrongs in society instead of taking action. “We, the people who have learned to live with crises all around us as if they didn’t exist. Uncontrolled population growth, poverty, disease and poor health care should be our focus… Yet people turn a blind eye and find reasons to explain ‘why this is’…”
She poked questions at her followers, claiming that the general public was in a deep sleep. “If you can’t help fix it, why run to them for votes? When does your integrity and moral compass come into play? When does a spark of humanity awaken in you? In me? In fact, we are who we are because we are in a deep, deep sleep. While God periodically sends us calamities, one after the other, so that we can wake up. But unfortunately.”
She quoted a poem by Lawrence Tribble that emphasized the power of one person awakening and influencing another and then much more with the domino effect. “Thank you Dino Ali Natasha Baig and Hassan Ali Effendi for being the best of colleagues. We kept each other afloat. Thaila Sherwani zindabad!!” she closed.
In the video, Ashraf included photos and clips documenting her journey in distributing over 2,500 ration packs in a village in Wadh. “Broken back but heart healed a bit,” she wrote. She explained that they went there with a company that distributed aid and was guarded by Balochistan FC. She added that while she doesn’t encourage protocol, it has helped them get the items to the right place with no issues.
The time to act is now. Here is a list of organizations that are doing their best to provide aid to those affected by the disaster. Help us and make your contribution.
