Gypsy families anxiously waiting for help
By Rizwan Ehsan Ali
5/9/2008
Rawalpindi
The smell of burnt household items was still in the air on Thursday morning as poor men, women and children of a ‘katchi abadi’ in Dhoke Ali Akbar searched for whatever left in ashes.
In a matter of five minutes, around 125 huts were destroyed when nine days ago fire broke out in the slum late at night after a burning candle fell in one of the huts that went unnoticed.
“Only 10 huts could be saved while the rest of them were completely destroyed,” Mohammad Ajoob, a resident of the ‘katchi abadi,’ told ‘The News’ on Thursday.
While those who matter like nazims and chairmen of various welfare committees visited the site a day after the incident, until Thursday evening hundreds of men, women and children were anxiously waiting for some real assistance.
The majority of these gypsies, who migrated from Bahawalnagar some 25 years ago, have been living in makeshift huts on a piece of land, measuring 18 kanals, in Dhoke Ali Akbar. The April 30 fire was the first in all those years.
When fire broke out in the slum, men and women ran for their lives, carrying their children. All of them took refuge in a nearby school.
Talking to ‘The News,’ a few residents claimed that they were promised financial assistance, but for the last nine days, nobody has come and asked them what had happened to their huts.
Most of the slum-dwellers collect cardboards and empty plastic bottles and make their livelihood by selling them. However now their main worry is their damaged huts and how to restore them.
“Even our kitchen utensils were completely burnt. We have no vessel to cook food,” said Fatima Bibi.
The woman claimed that she had lost all new clothes and household utensils, which she had kept for marriages of her two daughters — Irshad Bibi and Gogi.
Some women in the locality, like Farida Bibi, believed that since they were poor maybe that’s why nobody is taking pain to come and see what had happened to them.
“Had this tragedy befell some rich people, their damages would have been compensated by now. But we are poor, who would listen to us?” Farida Bibi questioned.
Sakina Bibi, who cannot see, was more worried than others. Her son Ghulam Sarwar used a pushcart for collecting cardboards and empty plastic bottles from all over the city. Now as his pushcart had been completely burnt, Ghulam Sarwar has carry a big sack on his shoulders to carry on with his work.
“Who would come here? Do you have any idea?” Sakina questioned to this correspondent with tears in her eyes.
“When we have lost our source of income (a pushcart) how could we continue our lives,” she added in a sombre voice.
Poor men, women and children now have no other choice but to beg in streets of the nearby locality. They go door-to-door to collect household utensils and money.
While some succeed at the end of the day, the rest wait for another day in a hope they would get something for their children.
5/9/2008
Rawalpindi
The smell of burnt household items was still in the air on Thursday morning as poor men, women and children of a ‘katchi abadi’ in Dhoke Ali Akbar searched for whatever left in ashes.
In a matter of five minutes, around 125 huts were destroyed when nine days ago fire broke out in the slum late at night after a burning candle fell in one of the huts that went unnoticed.
“Only 10 huts could be saved while the rest of them were completely destroyed,” Mohammad Ajoob, a resident of the ‘katchi abadi,’ told ‘The News’ on Thursday.
While those who matter like nazims and chairmen of various welfare committees visited the site a day after the incident, until Thursday evening hundreds of men, women and children were anxiously waiting for some real assistance.
The majority of these gypsies, who migrated from Bahawalnagar some 25 years ago, have been living in makeshift huts on a piece of land, measuring 18 kanals, in Dhoke Ali Akbar. The April 30 fire was the first in all those years.
When fire broke out in the slum, men and women ran for their lives, carrying their children. All of them took refuge in a nearby school.
Talking to ‘The News,’ a few residents claimed that they were promised financial assistance, but for the last nine days, nobody has come and asked them what had happened to their huts.
Most of the slum-dwellers collect cardboards and empty plastic bottles and make their livelihood by selling them. However now their main worry is their damaged huts and how to restore them.
“Even our kitchen utensils were completely burnt. We have no vessel to cook food,” said Fatima Bibi.
The woman claimed that she had lost all new clothes and household utensils, which she had kept for marriages of her two daughters — Irshad Bibi and Gogi.
Some women in the locality, like Farida Bibi, believed that since they were poor maybe that’s why nobody is taking pain to come and see what had happened to them.
“Had this tragedy befell some rich people, their damages would have been compensated by now. But we are poor, who would listen to us?” Farida Bibi questioned.
Sakina Bibi, who cannot see, was more worried than others. Her son Ghulam Sarwar used a pushcart for collecting cardboards and empty plastic bottles from all over the city. Now as his pushcart had been completely burnt, Ghulam Sarwar has carry a big sack on his shoulders to carry on with his work.
“Who would come here? Do you have any idea?” Sakina questioned to this correspondent with tears in her eyes.
“When we have lost our source of income (a pushcart) how could we continue our lives,” she added in a sombre voice.
Poor men, women and children now have no other choice but to beg in streets of the nearby locality. They go door-to-door to collect household utensils and money.
While some succeed at the end of the day, the rest wait for another day in a hope they would get something for their children.
Labels: Aid, Gypsy, Katchi Abadi, Poverty
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