Ottawa Pakistani community collecting supplies for flood-ravaged homeland

Unprecedented monsoon rains have ravaged Pakistan, leaving large swaths of the south-Asian nation underwater. More than 1,000 people are dead, millions more have been displaced and aid is urgently needed in a country that is submerged in a catastrophe.

Homes are destroyed and whole villages have been wiped out, leaving millions with nothing more than a handful of belongings.

Pakistan is appealing for help. Canada has pledged $5M in humanitarian assistance as the United Nations seek $160M in emergency aid for food, water and sanitation.

“Pakistan is awash in suffering,” says UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres. “The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids the relentless impact of epical levels of rain and flooding.”

Sadaf Ebrahim, president of Canada-Pakistan Association for the National Capital Region has been following the devastation and is turning to the community for help.

“It’s such a sad situation with so many lives lost,” says Ebrahim. “We are collecting clothes, toys and all kinds of items to send in a 40-foot container to Pakistan and if anybody wants to donate money they can also do that so we can buy new blankets.”

Some of the new and lightly-used clothing and linen items The Canada-Pakistan Assocition hope to receive are:

• women’s shalwar kameez (traditional combination dress)
• men’s shalwar kameez
• men’s pants
• baby and children’s clothes
• sweaters and jackets
• pillow cases and bed sheets

Ebrahim says volunteers will be collecting donations throughout the month of September, on weekends from 1 to 3 p.m., at various locations across the city. Details and volunteer contacts are available on the association’s Facebook page.