Pakistan: There is a good plan
By Thomas Schwarz, Media Director CARE Germany-Luxemburg
May 23 2009
Yesterday I was invited to attend a meeting of the United Nations (UN). A dozen people – diplomats, government officials and organizations such as CARE – met at the national library of Pakistan, located directly next to the prime minister’s house. The only topic on the agenda: How can we help the refugees in the best, most efficient and safest manner?
It was interesting to observe how everybody is working together during such a crisis. On one side there is the government of Pakistan. It was represented by Hina Rabbani Khan, the responsible minister. On the other side you see the UN. And there are the diplomats, speaking for their respective countries, praising the plan. The plan, loosely translated as “Humanitarian solution for Pakistan”, is 124 pages. This clearly states how complex the answer to such a catastrophe is.
Protection and care for children
CARE works a lot with the UN. Some say we are prime partners because we have such a long and versatile experience in humanitarian work. Examples are the Somali refugee camps in Daadab, Kenya, the crisis in Georgia last year and last but not least our assistance after the tsunami in Asia in 2004. And therefore the UN bestowed upon us another task: helping the refugees in Pakistan.
For thousands of children it is important to get psychosocial assistance in order to handle their traumatic experience of the flight from the conflict area. Therefore, CARE will help organise school lessons for the refugee children. Most of them are between five and eleven years old. Yesterday, at the donor meeting I met a school teacher. He works one and a half hours away from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. He told me: “When the children study together, they forget the hours of war and the noise of the arms for a few hours. Then they are fine. At least for this short time.”
