Fazilat, a 48-year-old Female Health Visitor in a small village in Upper Swat is working relentlessly in order to help the people in need. She was serving in the nearby village for the last eight years when the floods hit. The catastrophic flooding has devastated her area, forcing her and others to flee as her village and small traditional clinic was totally washed out. Along with her son and most of the people in village, she survived the 15-20-foot-high floodwaters.
“I couldn’t explain how it looked in the first day when it started raining because it was the worst day of my life…… It was raining and raining and raining and suddenly we saw the water level rising in the river,” said Fazilat. “I was serving in the nearby area before the floods so am quite familiar with the people around. Before the flood, I was treating 18 pregnant women in my area and now I can see only five of them in the camps around here. Among the women I was treating, 11 were in their seventh and eighth months and rest in their initial months. Two of them died in the floods.”
The heavy rains are affecting everyone but especially women and children, and it is going from bad to the verge of becoming "much worse.” Fazilat further added that “problems are increasing in these flooded areas, particularly for women and children. They have more emerging needs now which are not being met: they are more vulnerable, they need medical help, they live in shelters or in a local school building, they don't have clean drinking water - and the floodwaters are just not receding. The pools of water, with thousands of flies and mosquitoes, add to a dangerous health scenario.”
She said it was so depressing to see that children are playing happily in the water not realizing the hazards present in the water. The women, men and children are suffering from skin disease, water borne diseases like gastrointestinal illness and diarrhea, and even psychological trauma as they have witnessed their loved ones dying in front of their eyes.
One of the women sitting nearby said that she lost her husband and four children in the floods. Moreover, herself and her brother’s children are suffering from diarrhea since the floods happened.
“My eldest daughter needed immediate medical care, but no doctor has bothered to come and treat us until Fazilat reached us and has treated her and other females so all are grateful to her. Being women, it is really hard for us to get medical treatment from a male doctor, as we have some personal issues which only can be shared with a female health worker and that’s why we are pleased that at last we have Fazilat among us,” the woman said.
People, especially women, have not been able to bathe since this catastrophe started because there are no proper privacy arrangements and women prefer their children to be cleaned first. There are no sanitation facilities available so people have to use open places and dumping the human waste in mud.
“I am trying to bring women and children back to their lives. Health has been badly hit with the lack of sanitation but by giving them awareness to keep their area clean by removing plastic bottles, putting garbage in a bori (synthetic bags) and dumping it in the mud, this helps a bit,” she said.
Despite the horrific situation, Fazilat was optimistic, saying that, “this is God’s will and we cannot help what has happened, all we can do is to help all those around us and come back to life.”
CARE is supporting mobile health clinics so that primary health care is accessible to those who need it. To date CARE has supported four health units in Upper Swat and provided public health clinic services; approximately 5,424 patients (23 % men, 31 % women and 46 % children) have been treated through two mobile teams and four static units.
Fazilat has also lost her house, but she is supporting and helping women and children in the camps. She is a widow and her own family resides in Peshawar, but the passion of serving the people has compelled her to stay in the flood-affected area and serve all in need. She says that we are thankful to CARE who have supported us in addressing the needs of people this far where no one else could have reached until now, but that women urgently need hygiene kits.
“The women and children in the tents were in grief and scared last week but now they are coming back to life. Being a soft-hearted women it was really difficult for me to stay focused and do my work as I have to control my own emotions while treating others, but I am glad and proud of myself that God has given me this opportunity and the courage to serve my country in such a critical moment. At the same time, I urge all those to step out and serve the people in need, as this is a national cause for all of us and there are still many people waiting for our support.”
