Food and Other Necessities
for the Forgotten Earthquake Victims
By Saghir Aslam
Saba
Trust teams continue their hard work for the rescue
and rehabilitation of the October 8 earthquake victims |
After
my trip of one-and-a-half months to Pakistan to help organize,
distribute, and facilitate relief to the quake victims I
feel compelled to thank all generous donors who made generous
contributions to help the affected people tide over their
multifarious problems. It was the worst phase of their life.
All of them unanimously and repeatedly said that they thank
you in their prayers. Conditions have improved considerably
and the warmer temperatures have been a great blessing.
Their heart filled prayers and gratitude was evident as
they can never forget the generosity that so many of you
have offered when they were in dire need of it. It was a
pleasure to see how many victims were relieved by small
and large donations, and how we could help in distributing
and sharing our organizational and development skills.
As Saba and IEWS donors I am pleased to share the highlights
of my trip and discuss the 3rd annual interfaith conference.
I will mention our future plans for distributing educational
scholarships and provide an introduction to our new orphanage
which would serve as a home for children of the earth quake
victims.
Through our past association and coordination with the The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) we
received large amounts of food and drinks that filled up
40 containers. I am grateful to Allah S.T. that we were
successful in distributing the food and drinks to almost
70 villages. The distributed items included: lemonade, orange
juice, Hawaiian juice, pineapple juice and other fruit juices,
dried peaches, blueberries and pears, chocolate milk, tea,
canned carrots, almonds, crackers, noodle, canned corn,
canned chicken and turkey, beef, Hash brown, Italian parmesan
crispy, and many more.
The items were so many and so plentiful that it took the
Saba Trust team a month to unload, pack and distribute them
to remote villages. As in the past, Saba Trust team distributed
aid in 70 villages in far flung places.
Earlier Saba Trust team distributed 25000 pounds of dry
milk donated by Jason Hamlin, CEO of Genesis Project. Another
donor had generously given several large barrels (the size
of old oil). The Saba Trust team purchased plastic bottles
to pack the honey so we could easily deliver it to the majority
of the villages. Honey, like all the other items was appreciated
by every one, as a special treat. I was amazed to see the
large quantities of honey; these cans were heavy and it
took a considerable amount of time to pack them in to the
plastic bottles. Another item that was appreciated by everyone
was small boxes of raisin. We had received approximately
10,000 small snack type boxes and we tried our best to distribute
them among all villages.
The container also had canned beef, veal and chicken which
helped in promotinge Saba Trust interfaith work Christian
Bishops and Churches were overjoyed to receive poultry and
meat items; we were happy to be able to provide these items
to the non Muslim communities. We were proud to include
all victims among the recipients of the aid as a truly interfaith
organization.
Even though Saba Trust has been providing food items for
the last six months, we had to work with a budget within
which we bought as much food as we could which was most
crucial to the success of the aid program.
The Saba Trust team received tremendous appreciation from
everyone. Many quake victims who had never tasted such luxury
items were grateful for all your donations. I am deeply
thankful to Allah S.T. that he had blessed Saba Trust to
receive and distribute these items. It was Almighty God’s
blessing and faith in humanity that Saba Trust was able
to perform these humble services. I pray that Allah S.T.
accept our services towards humanity as a blessing. The
food items were worth more than a quarter million dollars.
Some unknown generous donors donated several pallets of
medicine and medical supplies. We were able to distribute
the medicine not only among our adopted villages, but also
among some of the local hospitals.
Saba Trust has started a scholarship program for earthquake
victims. Students are selected on the basis of merit and
financial need, and especially those who have not received
any assistance from other sources. Cost for each college
student including accommodation is $100 per month. You may
pick a student to sponsor and we will provide you with an
annual progress report. Please make your checks payable
to:
International Education & Welfare Society, 34 Shepard,
Irvine, CA 92620
Tax ID # 33-0716944
You can pay for the entire year together; pay twice a year
or every three months.
Ashiana (Orphanage)
We have also started the construction of our unique orphanage.
Our goal is to provide orphans with the best of accommodation,
medical assistance and education. If you like to pay to
build a room of your choice or support a specific orphan
please send your request immediately. We will be happy to
provide you with an annual report. Make checks payable to:
International Education & Welfare Society, 34 Shepard,
Irvine, CA 92620, Tax ID # 33-0716944, Phone: 949-654-3944,
Fax: 949-654-8276, Email: saghiraslam@aol.com
Please make your checks payable to:
International Education & Welfare Society, 34 Shepard,
Irvine, CA 92620
Tax ID # 33-0716944
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