Past Emergency appeals

Friday, 17 August 2007

India: Food aid helps a family face the long road to recovery

Khushbu's front yard is still under water, many days since the floods peaked in the northern Indian state of Bihar. Insects swarm around the muddy bog left behind by the floods that inundated the family home and grocery store, their only source of income.

The watery debris that surrounds the home is not only making clean-up operations difficult, it is also leading to skin infections and other illnesses for 13-year-old Khushbu and her little brother Manish. The children complain of an itching sensation all over their bodies and their feet are covered in blisters. “I suspect that the filthy water has caused all of this,” says Khushbu’s father Ganesh.

The floodwaters came at midnight and the family fled for their lives into the darkness. Apart from destroying belongings, the floods have also contaminated the family well.

Khushbu's family is one of thousands in this district to receive World Vision emergency food supplies of rice, lentils, flour, salt and biscuits.

Ganesh believes it will be some time before the family can re-open their grocery store, and in the meantime they are relying on ongoing relief assistance. For now they are living one day at a time, and World Vision food aid is providing sustenance as they face the daunting task of cleaning up and starting over.

Friday, 17 August 2007

Bangladesh: Sorowar’s anxious wait to return home

Every day Sorowar, 35, makes his way along the slippery village road to check if the floor of his home in the village of Ulipur is dry. Sorowar and his family have been living with others in an emergency shelter for several days since knee-high floodwaters burst into their house in rural Bangladesh.

Authorities are urging families to go home, but Sorowar believes it will take another rain-free week before the floor of his house is dry enough for them to return. His feet still sink into the muddy clay surface. “It would be very difficult for us to live on it,” says the father of three.

When the floods came, Sorowar and his wife fled with their children, the family goat, some clothes and household goods to the nearby shelter at a local school.

After arriving, they received World Vision relief supplies including rice, lentils, cooking oil, sugar and salt, as well as candles and oral rehydration solution.

“World Vision stood beside us just when we were in extreme need,” Sorowar explained. “It was a great relief from a huge burden of searching for food during such high floods. At such times everybody is in need. There is little scope to lend money or food from others.”