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Female Pakistani Quake Survivors Finding New Voice
Outside Balakot, in a tent city supported and coordinated by Church World Service, a woman pours a hot beverage for her family, bringing both sustenance and a degree of normalcy to their lives.
Photo: Paul Jeffrey/ACT-CWS
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Visiting Women's Team Sees Church World Service Women's Groups, Skills Training Opening New Hopes for Region's Isolated People
NEW YORK -- As the world celebrates International Women's Day, women from remote regions of northern Pakistan are finding their own voices, new acceptance, and the power of community amidst the backdrop of earthquake recovery, reports a visiting team from Airline Ambassadors International (AAI) and one of its humanitarian agency partners in Pakistan, Church World Service.
According to Airline Ambassadors' Maryanne Havryluck, "The October earthquake has brought many women together and in settings that are very different for them. Before the quake," she says, "women from remote regions were traditionally and typically quite isolated from people other than their families, particularly men."
Forced by the destruction and bitter winter, these women and their families have been living in tent villages. Many women had few social skills and had never before worked and talked in groups.
As the AAI team of three women have traveled around affected areas of Pakistan over the last week," Havryluck says, "we've seen education and skills training programs and programs for women set up by Church World Service that encourage women to speak with one another about family and health issues. The women's programs are having a big impact.
Havryluck says CWS is one of the few agencies that is concentrating on recovery and self-help development through women's support groups as well as skills and livelihoods training for men.
Last week, the Airline Ambassador team members visited the more than 1,400 residents of the Church World Service Pakistan-supported tent village in Balakot. "CWS is educating the displaced village residents there," she says, "including the women and children, to help them better their family lives and futures."
On Monday (March 6) the Airline Ambassadors team traveled by road to Rawalakot, which is a district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir to donate a 1,000 blankets from American Airlines and two large electric water coolers for medical facilities operating there. "We're bringing the materials with the assistance of the sardar (Minister of Finance, AJK) for the Pakistan-administered portion of the disputed Azad Jammu and Kashmir region.
"There are still a lot of tents that we've been seeing on our tour," says Havryluck. "But the Pakistan government is trying to shift the people back to their villages. There's a tight timeframe, because the government wants the transition to go quickly, and NGOs can't work any faster.
"Luckily the weather has been mild and warm the last few days," she says, "but returning creates a hardship for the survivors. There's still a lot of rubble, a lot of difficulty.
"It's hard for many of them to transition now back to an area where the earthquake happened," she says. "They have to rebuild their houses. And families will be living in isolation again.
"Even though these people had always lived in remote settings," she says, "it will be socially difficult now. In the tents they became accustomed to living in community. Now they're going back to remote living."
A 14-member Church World Service psychosocial team is helping with that transition, working with women, men, and children survivors.
Havryluck says her team saw men in a CWS training group "having a chance to learn skills they'd never learned before, from plumbing to electricity to carpentry.
"I've visited these areas of Pakistan in the past. We're familiar with the people and their way of life. And we're seeing an amazing transformation in these people.
"Some women, of course, are simply more private than others, or are not as gregarious or outgoing," says Havryluck. "But at one tent, all of the women came over to us.
"It used to be that their men didn't want them to socialize with the outside world, and they didn't see the benefit in their children going to school," she says, "but the men are now seeing the benefits."
Havryluck says the men now say they enjoy seeing their children play together and now better understand the advantages of educating family members.
"CWS is also sending a consultant to help identify a local female counselor who'll meet with the women and help give them the voice they've never had. It's a major step in the right direction," she says, "just getting these women interacting with one another. They're asking the women what they want in their villages, what they want for the future.
"Now the women talk to you about what they're going through, about family members they've lost, about health issues," she says.
"I've traveled enough around Pakistan and Afghanistan," says Havryluck. "This isn't the norm. It's a positive thing that's happening."
The airline industry goodwill ambassador says some men do feel threatened, "but others don't. I've seen much more excitement than anxiety, with optimism and hope for future.
"Many are still feeling tentative, and there's still a lot of progress that needs to be made," Havryluck says. "That's why the NGOs working with uprooted quake survivors don't want to just turn people back into their villages and leave them, but want to provide ongoing support so people won't just fall back into their old ways."
Church World Service and partner agencies are planning to encourage annual, monthly and weekly meetings to keep the educational, vocational and social development processes going.
"It helps give people a more optimistic outlook for the future," says Havryluck, "and so they won't feel so susceptible to their environment." Many affected Pakistanis are still afraid to go back to their villages for fear of future earthquakes.
"We asked people if they wanted to go back home," she says. "The men are more traditional and tended to want to go back. The women now are saying they want to go back, but only if there are these social groups. And the children say only if they can continue their education back home."
Havryluck says, "We wanted to prove that the news media has tended not to show the overall picture and hasn't represented how much the people of Pakistan have to offer. We also recognized that those rural people affected by the earthquake needed to know about the rest of the world.
"We wanted to show our support," she says, "at a time when America might turn away. The U.S. was so 'catastrophed' out, after the tsunami and the hurricanes. When it came to the Pakistan earthquake, many may have thought ‘why bother, that's where the terrorists live.'
"We came because we knew the majority of Pakistanis are not terrorists. They want a bright future like other people do. I was determined to make this trip," she says.
Havryluck says she believes the country's earthquake survivors are now experiencing the West differently. "All the men at the CWS vocational center we visited just wanted to show how they were learning to build houses, and they knew we had helped provide for those new skills. It's a positive change in the right direction, a more positive relationship with America. We haven't felt any aggression in our visits. We feel welcomed.
"You realize so many problems in the world stem from ignorance. The earthquake survivors see what's being done for them. Many who weren't as friendly are becoming so now. It's about interaction and education."
Havryluck says, "I think a great deal of the opening up we've seen among people here is due to the respectful way they're being treated by local and international aid agencies. They're trusting that you're coming in to help improve their lives, not just to change their way of life. As we travel around, our team members are wearing local dress and we cover our heads out of respect," she says.
The Airline Ambassadors' tour isn't just a one-off goodwill gesture. Agencies like Church World Service, which has fifty years' presence in Pakistan, will be around for the long haul of recovery in the country. But Airline Ambassadors says it will continue its commitment, too.
"We have to make future visits here," says Havryluck, "to bring ourselves into these villages and associate with these women. We have to see that they have support from the outside and to follow up with the progress that has been made.
"We'll do anything we can to help them."
Focused now on future self-sufficiency, Havryluck says AAI will be interested in helping provide materials for women to use in handicrafts, "to help them develop trade and commerce. We'll be interested in helping establish schools. And we hope other donor agencies will be, too."
What's needed now she says are donations for village rebuilding and educational materials. "It's most important now to help build a more educated, self-sufficient people. It's an incredibly tense time in Pakistan. This is our best opportunity. Donations from the West and ongoing exposure to the West will create better relationships," says Havryluck. "These people are the future of Pakistan. They in turn will care about us. It's a new beginning in a new region in Pakistan."
Havryluck told CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan Country Director Marvin Parvez, "Every person affected by the earthquake has lost so many family members. I thought this would be all about the tragedy, but it hasn't been.
"Helping people get past their trauma and sadness has required putting something new in front of them. And it's a transformation, as to what's happened.
"So many of these people didn't know anything about anyone else in the world or that anyone else in the world cared about them. Now they've come alive. There's hope in their faces," she says.
"These mountains are so incredible. There are still people out there who haven't been reached. To cover all would be nearly impossible," Havryluck says, "But I've seen such progress, way better than I'd expected." The Airline Ambassadors credited the Pakistan government and local police escorts for efficient coordination of their tour.
Founded in 1996, Airline Ambassadors International promotes understanding and goodwill among cultures worldwide and provides humanitarian aid, relief and development to underprivileged communities throughout the world. The organization has delivered $18 million worth of medicines, medical and school supplies, food, and clothing on missions to 44 countries and to children in 15 U.S. cities and has engaged more than 70,000 school children in creative humanitarian activities. This is the fourth trip of Airline Ambassadors to the Pakistan/Afghanistan region.
Church World Service is an international relief, sustainable self-help development, advocacy, and refugee services agency operating in some 80 countries, including Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Contributions to support earthquake survivors can be sent to: Church World Service Southern Asia Earthquake --#6979, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515. Contributions can also be made online or by calling 800.297.1516, ext. 222.
Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;
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