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Pakistan: Host families' kindness an example to us all
Written by: CARE International
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By Rick Perera, a member of CARE International's Emergency Reponse Team in Pakistan No one deserves to be driven from home by conflict, but somehow the plight of displaced people in Pakistan seems particularly unjust. The horror of mass population flight runs deep in this country's psyche, given the trauma of partition that accompanied its creation. In 1947, as the former British India was divided into what today are India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, as many as 12.5 million people fled their homes in one of the largest population movements in history, amid bloodshed and ethnic strife. So today's mass flight in northwestern Pakistan - at least 3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and growing - touches a particular nerve in this country. Maybe that helps explain why Pakistanis are so sympathetic to the plight of their displaced compatriots. Families and communities have opened their doors, taking in about 80 percent of the IDPs, at great sacrifice to themselves. Most of the displaced people so far are staying with friends, relatives, or even strangers - many of them very poor themselves. In some cases, dozens of people are sheltering in a single room. I've felt the warmth of Pakistan's hospitality myself, since arriving last week to help with CARE's emergency response. My own movements have been limited, given the strict security measures imposed due to ongoing violence. But the Pakistanis I've met have been unfailingly kind and gracious. So I can understand how their neighbors would extend that hospitality to those in great need. Local tradition encourages people to share everything they have, even if it's little. The host families, many of them of limited means themselves, are stretched to the limit. When I watch news about the conflict, I see constant images of government actions against militants, and relatively little coverage of the humanitarian consequences. The few images of IDPs tend to focus on camps, where families are living in tents in blistering heat. But these camps shelter a minority of the displaced. Some of the greatest needs are hidden behind closed doors, scattered among the poorest villages and towns that have taken in the newly homeless. I'm thinking of those generous families, and hoping they will get the help they need. Their compassion should stir ours.
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