Saba Trust Relief Work Continues in Flood Affected Areas
Press conference to announce the donation of medicines (left) and distribution of blankets (center and right)
The weather is getting colder everyday in Pakistan creating manifold problems for the flood-affected people living in tents or partially destroyed homes. Realizing their serious predicament, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints shipped blankets from the USA and the donor Dr. William Jackson of Deseret International flew to Pakistan to distribute the blankets personally. He stayed in Pakistan for almost a week. Saba Trust Chairman Saghir Aslam, Dr. William Jackson and the Trust staff spent several days in arranging the distribution of the blankets, leaving at 4 in the morning and working round the clock to ensure that the blankets reach the needy on time. They drove for two-and-a-half to three hours one way to reach the relief camps for the flood victims and distributed blankets.
In Charsadda, which is not a very safe area nowadays, once the Saba Trust team got on the motorway and reached the first police station where they were asked to pull over. The policeman enquired about the people in the car. The Chairman replied, “My friend Dr. Jackson and his friends.” The policeman then asked, “Where are they from?” The Chairman informed, “From America.” The policeman then directed, “Pull over and park your car, you cannot go.” After a few minutes, the In-charge of the station arrived and broke the good news, “Here is a police patrol car with five sergeants; please just follow them; they will make sure everything goes smoothly for you.”
It was a long day when we finally reached the main part where the river had washed away the heavy concrete bridge. One part of the bridge was lying at a considerable distance. We could easily imagine how strong the water current would have been during the floods. Frightening pictures were coming into our minds with awe!
Dr. William Jackson and his group along with Chairman of Saba Trust Saba Homes distributed a huge number of blankets, dry rations and other necessities to large waiting crowds. It was a great delight to see smiling faces as they received the blankets. Besides villages and camps, some of the remotest homes in the area also received the blankets. Serving people in the remotest areas has been an important goal of Saba Trust.
It was a pleasing sight to see Dr. Jackson many a time take out a blanket, open it up and present it himself to ensure that the needy flood victims enjoys the personal touch. One particular person was hesitant to put the blanket around his shivering body in the intense cold saying, “We are used to the cold, I will put it on when I go home.” But Dr. Jackson embraced the man and insisted that he use the blanket instantly. A million dollar smile lighted his face!
Chairman Saghir Aslam commented that distributing the blankets and helping the flood affected people gave him more pleasure than making thousands of dollars in a single stock market transaction. The pleasure of seeing a young boy, a little innocent girl, a baby and a mom with a grateful smile was definitely worth millions of dollars! The singularly important work continued tirelessly for almost a week.
The multipurpose antibiotic donated by Mr. Semnani Gobus Relief with the cooperation of Dr. William Jackson of Deseret International USA, was distributed in some hospitals of the flood affected area. One such hospital was D.H.Q Hospital in Charsadda besides many others.
“By the Grace of Allah subhana wa ta ‘Ala,” according to a message, “and due to the very high transparent credibility of Saba Aslam Education and Welfare Trust, the Saba Trust, Rawalpindi Pakistan recently received the following donations:
1. $14,000,000 to $15,000,000 worth of multipurpose antibiotics to be distributed in the 4 provinces of Pakistan among the flood-affected people through hospitals, clinics and medical camps.
2. Thousands, thousands and thousands of woollen blankets which have been distributed.
3. Containers full of books worth over a million dollars .
4. A brand new Eye Hospital in Baffa, District Mansehra, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwah, is being set up to serve patients with eyes ailments.
5. Brother Tariq Jalil, professional film maker/producer from Hollywood USA, sent a video team to Pakistan for two weeks in September to produce a documentary on Saba Trust Saba Homes.
- Mrs. Zainab Javed, Administrator Saba Trust Saba Homes
