Baskadia

Sheets of monsoon rain were so severe in the province; they had grounded our small jet-propelled plane before it could even start out on its return journey to Sukkur - the hub of World Vision’s work in southern Pakistan.

Today, driving through Sindh’s Khairpur District, I could see why World Vision extended its operations into the area last year. More than 12 months on from Pakistan’s cataclysmic floods, small huddles of tents and stick-shacks still sit on the outskirts of Sukkur city. Withered brown crops try to re-grow on small plots of land, and swathes of shining water, stretching away from the roadsides, offer a glimpse of the flooding that’s affecting more than five million people throughout the province again this year.

When we visited the Women and Infant Friendly Space (WAIFS) that World Vision runs in remote Kaiti village – relocated here in January from the flood relief camps where we first established them - Khadija Ghausbakha’s personal story really brought home to me what I’d seen. The rising floodwater wiped out Kaiti village and Khadija, along with her seven children and sick husband, had to flee, taking refuge with relatives. When they returned to Kaiti, a month and a half later, their home was destroyed. Everything had been washed away. And they are still, now, living in tent.

Behind the smiles and the beautiful, brightly-coloured shalwar kameez dress of these Sindhi women, it’s almost impossible to comprehend what they and their families must have been through.

Yet the WAIFS seems to offer some respite.

Despite the humidity, about 100 women, of all ages, from girls to grandmothers, gather here every day, in the grounds of Kaiti’s girls’ school. They come to use the sewing machines World Vision has provided, or to remove their niqhab, (the veil that covers their faces in mixed company) and talk to other women, while young mothers come to hear the health education sessions that World Vision offer on breastfeeding or good hygiene practices.

One woman, with hollow cheeks, sits cross-legged with one knee pressed against mine, cradling a toddler that’s being tormented by what looks like hundreds of flies. Sometimes World Vision refers children to the nearby feeding centre which they support. Or, if necessary, to its Child Stabilisation Centre an hour’s drive away in Khairpur town. Child malnutrition is a serious concern for World Vision in Sindh province and, even before this year’s flooding hit, our assessments recorded emergency levels of moderate acute malnutrition in children under five years old.

We visited the Stabilisation Centre later in the day, where a dozen beds played host to tiny children. Most lay listlessly with their backbones protruding through their t-shirts while one little girl, Sajida, who’s on the fifth day of her treatment, sat up, flapping her arms and screaming if anyone in a white coat came near her. She’s already learnt that these doctors usually come bearing injections or a cold-metal stethoscope. Sajida looks ten months, at most. My mouth literally fell open when I found out that she’s actually two years old – stunted by the malnourished start in life that’s brought her here. Dr Tasleem, World Vision’s Health Coordinator, explains that many of Sindh’s communities are living in extreme poverty and often struggle to scrape together one meal a day.

Just as the women are leaving the WAIFS, spots of rain grow into a torrential downpour and my heart goes out to Khadija who has only a piece of canvas to protect her young family from the elements.

As we reach Sukkur at dusk, deafening rumbles of thunder break through the city’s hustle-and-bustle and, in the distance, flashes of lightning illuminate the dark-grey clouds that are hanging heavy overhead.