Students helping Pakistan
Amar Abassi, a 21 year old WFP Student Ambassador, was in Pakistan when the floods hit. A Pakistani national herself, she and her friends decided to respond. In the days following the floods, they created the Pehla Qadam project and began fundraising in their local communities. With the money raised, they purchase and distribute 5 day food rations to families in the flood affected regions. According to Amar, being a WFP Student Ambassador had helped her understand what food was needed in order to make sure victims received the right nutrition at the right time. In the first 10 days of the flooding, Pehla Qadam provided food to approximately 1,200 families. Realizing that food wasn’t the only need of flood victims, Pehla Qadam began collecting donations of clothing and household items. They carefully packaged each donation in plastic bags and marked them according to size and gender. Then, they distributed the clothing themselves as “gifts” for the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr. The entire process was documented by Shoaib Tariq, a friend whom Amar calls a “budding photographer.” The experience was “absolutely exhilarating,” Amar writes, “Just seeing those few smiles on the faces of the young children, and elderly people giving us their blessings was an experience none of us who took part in the task will ever forget.” To date, Amar and her friends have reached over 5,000 families in all 4 provinces hit by the floods.
