When the England men’s Test and white-ball teams arrived in Pakistan last September for their first visit since 2005, swathes of the country were still submerged in the devastating floods that washed away millions of homes and livelihoods just weeks before.
The floods affected 33 million people, eight million of whom were left homeless. In response to this crisis, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which brings together 15 of the UK’s leading aid charities, launched the Pakistan Floods Appeal.
The cricket community responded to this crisis with immense generosity. The ECB matched a donation from England’s men, while Ben Stokes gave his match fees from the Test series in Pakistan to the appeal. Cricket clubs around the country put on fundraisers. The appeal has since raised £48 million in total, including £5 million matched by the UK Government through the Aid Match scheme.
In December, I arrived in Pakistan myself to visit communities still reeling from the floods. With large areas still under water even then, people who depended on the land for food and income were struggling to get enough to eat, and illnesses related to the flooding were still rife. But I saw the money that was so generously donated being put to such good use and making a real difference.
I went to a mobile health clinic run by DEC charity Concern Worldwide. The medical team drives out every day to the hardest-to-reach communities, providing free healthcare. For these communities, this was the only help for miles around. Even if they could get a prescription they couldn’t afford medicine. This was their only way to get healthcare.
The clinic was packed. There must have been a couple of hundred people there getting medical support including distribution of medicines prescribed by the doctors. Despite that it was so organised and efficient. That’s where the expertise of our member charities really comes in.
I met 35-year-old Naju there, with her baby Krishnan in her arms. Krishnan was 15 months old but when I saw him I thought he was only five or six months.
“He’s getting weaker by the day,” said Naju, who was also clearly malnourished herself. Krishnan’s father had lost his work as a farm labourer because the fields were all under water, leaving the family without money to buy food.
“For a long time now, all we eat is chapati [flat bread] and green chillies with water, two times a day.”
Because of DEC funding, baby Krishnan got the help he needed that day. He was seen by doctors at the clinic and prescribed sachets of nutritious peanut paste. This inexpensive treatment is a real lifesaver and can help children quickly regain weight.
Elsewhere, DEC charities have been providing tent schools and safe spaces for children to continue learning and playing - which for many children in Pakistan of course means cricket. Eleven-year-old Arslan lost his home in the floods and his school was damaged.
A local partner of Save the Children used DEC funding to set up a tent school with a washroom and safe play area. “I relax here,” said Arslan. “I like playing cricket… and focus on winning.”
In the first six months of the appeal alone DEC funding helped hundreds of thousand of people. We provided healthcare to over 158,000 people. We provided tents or temporary shelter to 66,400 people, and food assistance such as wheat, rice, sugar and cooking oil to 50,400 people, and much more.
It’s basic stuff, but so important to people who lost everything in this disaster, and DEC charities are always working to make the funds we have raised work smarter and reach further.
Looking forward, DEC charities are helping families plan for the future. We are training farmers in new agriculture methods that are more flood and drought resistant, digging waterways and irrigation channels, and building flood-resistant homes. We are helping people buy animals, plant crops, start shops and generally get their lives going again.
None of this would have been possible without the solidarity of the UK public, including the generous support of the cricket community. On behalf of all the DEC charities working in Pakistan to reach people like Naju, Arslan and hundreds of thousands more, thank you.
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) brings together 15 of the UK’s leading charities to respond to large-scale humanitarian crises overseas www.dec.org.uk