Von Thomas Schwarz.

The room is much too big for just one person. I  live here during my stay in Islamabad. When a Pakistani friend came to see me he said: “There would be room for more people.” He’s right.

These people have survived. They have been rescued by a boat from the flood. (Photo: CARE/Schwarz)

Thinking of the living conditions of those affected by the flood, I ask myself why I live in such a big room. I take some comfort in the thought that I travel a lot. Just to appease my guilty conscience.

(more…)

By Thomas Schwarz.

The Taliban help the victims of the floods and glorify this exploit. That’s what I read in the news.

That is the way most people in Punjab live now. (Photo: CARE/Schwarz)

Giving interviews Journalists ask me if it is correct that Islamic Taliban distribute relief goods and bless themselves for this help. I say, yes they do so. Of course they do. Everybody does, who do good deeds to others. However, is it really an important question at the moment? Should we really discuss this topic now? In my eyes: no!
(more…)

By Thomas Schwarz.

When we started early this morning from Islamabad, I didn’t exactly know what would be awaiting me in the region of Mardan.

There is still water in the streets and the victims are waiting for support. (Photo: CARE/ Schwarz)

I had seen many reports on TV, read the papers, listened to the radio and had spoken with my CARE colleagues. The whole weekend I had met UN representatives as well as other international humanitarian organisations.

(more…)

By Thomas Schwarz.

This week is a very special one in the flooded nation that is Pakistan. August 14 is the national Day of Independence.

Pakistan struggles against the flood. At the same time the Islamic month of fasting, Ramadan, starts. (Photo: CARE/Schwarz)

On August 14, 1947, the British colonial rulers granted independence to their former colony. At the same time as India, by the way. But on top of the national Day of Independence, Pakistan’s majority Muslim population will also begin the holy month of Ramadan this week, which includes praying and fasting.

(more…)

By Thomas Schwarz.

On a cable TV network I can watch the recorded world cup match between Germany and Uruguay. Football.

The TV shows football, the reality shows a disaster. Pakistan faces the worst floods since centuries. (Photo: CARE/Savawon)

It’s a draw right now. I switch to DAWN-TV, a Pakistani TV channel: Two anchormen talking about food support activities in their mother tongue Urdu.

(more…)

by Chandara Tith.

My friend Manika who came from Cambodia with me asked an interesting question: “Does the climate change people’s habits?” She noticed that people in Germany get up and go to sleep later than people in Cambodia do and that the sun in Germany sets later, too.

My friend, Michael said that in front of the University of Bonn, there are often many people sitting around, sun bathing, but now it looks so quiet. (Photo: Chandara Tith)

When I walked to the city with my friend Michael, he told me that the park in front of the University of Bonn was always full of people sun bathing during the summer. But now, less people go there. He wondered if it is too hot for people to do so.

(more…)

by Rick Perera.

I love watching the humming machine of the Haiti relief effort in action.  CARE has more than doubled our local staff since the Jan. 12 earthquake, and the well-oiled supply chain is cranking along.  Our huge new warehouse buzzes with workers loading and unloading, trucks rolling in and out.  It’s a sight to see.

Pierre Bayard, inhabitant of “CARE Village” in Port-au-Prince, is fed up with being fed (photo: CARE/Perera)

Yesterday I visited our largest-yet distribution of non-food items – a massive and well-run operation.  At the seaside district of Village Gaston, overflowing with makeshift shelters, nine trucks arrived at 4:30 a.m.

(more…)

by Rick Perera.

If charity begins at home, CARE is in the right place.  Just outside our Haiti headquarters, many hundreds, perhaps thousands – no one has counted them – of newly homeless people are camped out in the main square of Pétionville, a near suburb of Port au Prince.

Thousands of People camp out in public squares in Port-au-Prince (Photo: CARE/Evelyn)

They wait patiently in the hot sun, but their desperation grows by the hour.  At night, groups of people can be heard clapping and chanting.  Some have hung banners, painted on bedsheets, with messages like “We need help!” in English and Creole. (more…)

by Rick Perera.

We’re crossing the border at Jimení, between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Things are moving fairly quickly at least on the Dominican Republic side. We’re seeing supplies crossing the border including search and explore teams with dogs, many large tanker trucks with water, backhoes and other construction equipment, mobile kitchens from the Dominican Republic, and many journalists. (more…)

CARE’s Rick Perera is on his way to Haiti.

A group of CARE staff and journalists — 12 of us in all, landed in the city of Puerto Plata in the northern coast of the Dominican Republic early this afternoon. We were welcomed as tourists by a steel drum band, scantily clad dancers and free cocktails. It was a surreal experience.

Rick Perera is CARE’s Emergency Media Coordinator (Photo: CARE)

Shortly, we all boarded a bus, which is taking us on the first leg of our eight hour journey over land to reach the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. By all accounts, the scene will change dramatically once we cross the border. The lush green hills and gentle rain we see through our windows will give way to the harsh, deforested landscape of Haiti. (more…)