When There's a Will, There's a Way

Photo: Jackie Lee/Mercy Corps

As I came into the dining room for breakfast, Josh asked if I felt last night's aftershock. I must have been really, really tired, because I slept through the whole thing! My colleague, Jill, who is very sensitive to noise, told me there was a crack in her room and she heard her wardrobe trembling and rattling against the wall. She said these tremors have been taking place many nights, usually around 4 a.m. I wonder if there would be another one tonight!

Today, I followed Charles Juhn, director of our Mansehra office, Dr. Umer and Dr. Khurram to see our health programs at two sites in the Siran Valley, Jabori and Nawazabad.

We arrived at the Jabori Base Health Unit around 9 a.m. Here, our doctors provide 24-hour consultation, treatment and medicine to approximately 250-300 patients each day. One of our water-and-sanitation (wat/san) units is also there helping families fix the village’s plumbing. I met with Qazi Rizwan Rashid, our wat/san engineer from Abbottabad, a local village in Mansehra. Qazi described that they were installing a water tank and pipes that would supply water to this health unit as well as the surrounding households. At the same time, a cash-for-work group was digging furiously in order to lay the foundation for the seven pre-fabricated structures that would replace the tents that house our basic health units. Soon, our doctors and patients will have a warmer place to provide and receive treatments as well as better storage space for medicines.

As I stepped into the health tent, there was a little boy being treated by our doctor on duty. Many rural citizens of the North West Frontier Province did not have basic healthcare available to them even before the earthquake. In Hong Kong, there are doctors on seemingly every corner, but these villagers do not have the same convenience and privileges as we do. Many must hike several hours just to have a chance to get treated by our doctors.

After seeing the progress of the shelters in this village, we moved onto Jabori, home to Mercy Corps' assistant logistics manager, Khurram. He invited us to his totally shattered house for chai. Khurram being his positive-minded self said to us, “What has happened, happened, there are nothing much we can do about that, but I will rebuild this house as soon as the government finishes assessing the damage, and get everything back to normal!” I believe as long as we keep the positive vibe going, everything can be conquered.

Our next task was to scout for a site for a new Rural Health Unit tent in Nawazabad. This one would be a full-size, heavy-duty, winterized tent with a heating system, where villagers could sleep when the weather got too cold in the mountains but would mainly be for treatment and care for the villagers.

We visited the site where the original health structure still stood but was badly damaged by the earthquake and have to be torn down once we got our tent up and running. But where? The space was incredibly limited. Some of the spots were full of rocks, others were just too close to the soon-to-be-leveled structure, so we had to move up the hill. Eventually we found the perfect site for our tent, which was also a Pakistani Military security point. Charles and Dr. Umer talked to the soldiers, who were very pleasant and kind-hearted. Not only were they all very welcoming of our arrival, they were also extremely accommodating to our idea, offering to relocate several of their own tents to make room for the health tent. Hidden beneath the tough appearances are beautiful, gentle and kind spirits. I see the magnificence of trust and understanding in such harsh times, which for me confirms the Confucian saying, “Kindness is the basic nature of men."

Our mission fulfilled, we headed back to town, stopping on the way at the Mercy Corps warehouse to verify that our material aids were organized and securely stored.