Sacramento Pakistani Community Steps Forward for Flood Victims
By Ras H. Siddiqui
Since this writer has been covering community events over many years in the Sacramento, California area, one storyline has been consistent. Whenever there is a humanitarian disaster in Pakistan, our community steps forward to help. The 2005 earthquake or the 2010 floods in our country of origin are a case in point. Sacramento Pakistani-Americans stepped forward with whatever resources that they could share. Yeh Dil Waley Log Hain (these are people with a lot of heart) and even though the faces may have changed over the years, the level of concern and enthusiasm has not. And this fact is not confined to this area alone. Stockton, Lodi, Live Oak, Chico, and the San Francisco Bay Area community members are doing their share too.
To focus on Pakistan, once again, the need is great. Floods have devastated the country, and this time the provinces of Baluchistan, KPK and especially Sindh have been hit very hard. It is a huge calamity, the effects of which will be felt for many years to come. The flatlands of Sindh where rain is rare and often quite welcome got hit by a deluge breaking many known records. Places which get around 8 inches of rain the entire year received close to double that amount in a couple of days. The Indus River overflowed its banks, and it appears that not many lessons were learnt from the 2010 floods as once again drainage was inadequate and countless villages were soon underwater, homes swept away, and millions perilously perched under the open sky and rendered homeless. As of this writing large areas of Sindh are still under water.
On Friday, September 9, 2022, a fundraising event was held at the Haveli Grill & Banquet Hall in which the Sacramento Pakistani Community Members (PCM) partnered with the Safa Marwa Foundation (SMF) to focus on assisting one really hard-hit area of Gambat, Sindh. The event was arranged with the help of Sohail Shahzad, Waqar Khan, Ammad Hussain, Qumar Ashraf, Jawad Haq and Ahmad Nazar. Chief Guest and Keynote Speaker was Imam Mumtaz Qasmi of the historic Sacramento Downtown V Street Mosque.
The evening started with emcee Sohail Shahzad welcoming everyone. Sohail thanked Imam Qasmi for his continued guidance and participation here. He briefly explained the seriousness of the situation in Pakistan and said that Allah will bless all who assist our people in their time of need. He next invited Qumar Ashraf of the PCM to speak, and he thanked Waqar Khan (owner of Haveli) for his generosity in hosting us. He also proceeded to thank all PCM members and others for attending this event and stressed the importance of donating as Zakat is an important pillar of Islam.
Sohail returned and shared that the Go Fund Me effort started a few days before this event had already collected $10,000. He also pointed out that Sister Rukhsana Qumar had started an effort asking her friends to donate starting with just five Dollars and that outreach eventually yielded $2800. Mrs. Qumar was invited to speak too, and she explained that her the social media appeal to her friends took little effort and could be duplicated by others for a worthy cause. And in a follow up Sohail shared that non-Muslims too had donated (including Sikh friends) and that there are no boundaries when it comes to humanitarian causes.
Young Zaina next came to present a painting by her mother (Mrs. Saleemi) and said that the expectation was to auction it with all proceeds going to this cause. Also added to the auction list was a Cricket Bat signed by the 1992 Pakistan Team Captain and former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Imam Qasmi in his keynote started off with a Durood Sharif recitation and asked everyone to participate. He appeared in a somber mood this evening and reflected on the magnitude of the tragedy that had befallen flood victims in Pakistan. The basic question he asked was that if someone asks you what Islam wants or requires from you, what reply should you give them? He said that the correct reply would be 1) The Five pillars including prayers and 2) To Serve Humanity. Put your head to the floor (prayers) to serve Allah and serve humanity, said Imam Qasmi. He said that he has been an Imam of the Downton Mosque for over 30 years. He has himself witnessed people who when newly arrived from Pakistan had nothing. But through their hard work in America, many have achieved success now. Allah gave us a chance to come to this land of opportunity, he said. Allah now wants us to serve humanity. For donating to those in need Imam Sahib added that the earning must be Halal. He said that the current situation demands real action from us and asked everyone to be generous.
Aftab Javed next presented a nice Naat. To set the tone for the fundraiser a moving video prepared by PCM was shown. Fact: In certain cases, a family of 4 people can be fed for a day for just $5. Bags of food for one week are being prepared and some have been distributed already. With this in mind, the fundraising started and did not last long and after the auctioning of the painting and the Cricket Bat, things quickly ended.
Imam Qasmi was presented with an award of community appreciation by Waqar Khan on behalf of PCM. Waqar Khan also had the opportunity to express his appreciation and offer the closing remarks for the occasion as dinner was served. By the end of the evening approximately $77,000 was collected for this worthy cause which included the amounts collected earlier.
To conclude, once again the Pakistani American community of Sacramento has risen to the occasion and stepped forwardfor those impacted by disaster in their Watan. But one more observation is warranted. Who says that people from Punjab and KPK are not really concerned about people in Sindh? The main organizers and donors here at this event were from Pakistan’s two Northern Provinces. They are more than concerned and have really shown that they care!
